First off, I am so glad to have found this forum! Love forums and I am on several others, mostly automotive. I believe in the sharing of information and this is where it's at.
I also want to apologize for the long post as this has been a very challenging season and want to give as much info as possible as to how I got to this point.
This is my fourth season with this pool after having moved in. I estimate it is over 20 years old. I converted it to SWG when I moved in, which was great the first year. Second year, I didn't clean the cell and wound up with a swamp. Recovered it but it is always a challenge with the pH always having to add acid. Last year I accidentally emptied a third of the pool and had it refilled by a truck. Otherwise was uneventful except for the Ph and acid.
In May this year, I was trying to empty the winter cover tarp of the water that accumulated over the winter and spring with a small electric pump I threw onto the cover, which is what I usually do every year. What I didn't see was that there was a tear in the tarp and I accidentally emptied out more than half of the pool, basically exposed the shallow end. I refilled it using our well water from the softener, which is new so it does a good job. But then I got sidetracked and left the pool as-is after filling for over a month and it turned into a swamp, frogs and all. Then in mid-June, I finally got it going, shocked the heck out of it (bagged shock), SWG was working but not producing as much chlorine as usual.
The first real problem was extreme milky cloudiness in the water. Couldn't see farther than 6 inches into the water, making vacuuming difficult. I was still under the pool store spell and threw a bunch of clarifiers and other chemicals without success. I then tried floc and it worked well but of course I had to vacuum to waste three times before I got rid of it all. It was worth it through as the water was now clear.
Second problem was grey/greeninsh stains on the liner that wouldn't scrub off. Again, tried pool store junk, didn't do a thing. Then I found TFP and saw the light! Read pool school and everything else I could find here. Wanted to do the AA treatment as the vitamin C test told me metal stains. Couldn't find AA but did find Citric Acid at the pool store. Brought my pH down to about 7.0 and chlorine to 0 and used 4kg of citric acid (almost 9lbs). While I had no Chlorine and doing the treatment, used an algaecide. After a full 24 hours, pool was crystal clear! It actually brought me to tears! :-D . But then I had real problems keeping any chlorine and getting my pH back up with Borax but I think that may have been because I went overboard with the citric acid. I even thought my SWG was not working and that my cell was borked from when I cleaned it because I had no chlorine but the system said it was generating. Kept adding bleach just to keep it clear.
Third and current problem. My water now has this green/teal tinge to it. I don't think it's algae. Its' still clear, just a light green tint. I put a sequestrant but only a couple of days after the treatment. I thought that maybe it was the metal that restained the entire liner but I tried vitamin C again, no change except for some stains at the water line. I couldn't find a real test kit (I'm in Canada where we can't get anything) so I got a small pH and Chlorine kit (OTO and red phenol). Chlorine is off the chart (deep yellow 3+) and pH was at 8.0. Got pool store tests done (yeah, I know) and they were all over the place but Store B actually uses a Taylor test system. Store A uses some sort of sealed test vials they fill with water and read by an electronic reader.
Tests done on the 15th of July:
Store A:
FC: 2.3
CC: not run
pH: 7.7
TA: 150
CH: 240
CYA: 15
Salt: 3400
Store B:
FC: 2.0
CC: not run
pH: 7.8
TA: 117 (with stabilizer correction)
CH: 250
CYA: 10
Salt: 2800
My tests:
FC: 3.0+
pH: 7.8 or 8.0 (colours are hard to read on this cheap kit)
My tests today:
FC: 3.0+
pH: 7.6 or 7.8 (colours are hard to read on this cheap kit)
Salt: SWG reading: 3300 Test strip: 2930
I turned off the SWG for now to see if the FC lowers and added acid last night to lower the pH to where it is now. I had added about two cups stabilizer a couple days ago but waiting to see if it comes up later in the week as I understand it takes a while to register and I don't want it to go too high so taking it slowly.
Any help would be appreciated. I realize that I might just have a chemical soup right now. I'm seriously thinking of emptying it and filling it with balls because that's all I've been doing this summer is dealing with this mess.
I also want to apologize for the long post as this has been a very challenging season and want to give as much info as possible as to how I got to this point.
This is my fourth season with this pool after having moved in. I estimate it is over 20 years old. I converted it to SWG when I moved in, which was great the first year. Second year, I didn't clean the cell and wound up with a swamp. Recovered it but it is always a challenge with the pH always having to add acid. Last year I accidentally emptied a third of the pool and had it refilled by a truck. Otherwise was uneventful except for the Ph and acid.
In May this year, I was trying to empty the winter cover tarp of the water that accumulated over the winter and spring with a small electric pump I threw onto the cover, which is what I usually do every year. What I didn't see was that there was a tear in the tarp and I accidentally emptied out more than half of the pool, basically exposed the shallow end. I refilled it using our well water from the softener, which is new so it does a good job. But then I got sidetracked and left the pool as-is after filling for over a month and it turned into a swamp, frogs and all. Then in mid-June, I finally got it going, shocked the heck out of it (bagged shock), SWG was working but not producing as much chlorine as usual.
The first real problem was extreme milky cloudiness in the water. Couldn't see farther than 6 inches into the water, making vacuuming difficult. I was still under the pool store spell and threw a bunch of clarifiers and other chemicals without success. I then tried floc and it worked well but of course I had to vacuum to waste three times before I got rid of it all. It was worth it through as the water was now clear.
Second problem was grey/greeninsh stains on the liner that wouldn't scrub off. Again, tried pool store junk, didn't do a thing. Then I found TFP and saw the light! Read pool school and everything else I could find here. Wanted to do the AA treatment as the vitamin C test told me metal stains. Couldn't find AA but did find Citric Acid at the pool store. Brought my pH down to about 7.0 and chlorine to 0 and used 4kg of citric acid (almost 9lbs). While I had no Chlorine and doing the treatment, used an algaecide. After a full 24 hours, pool was crystal clear! It actually brought me to tears! :-D . But then I had real problems keeping any chlorine and getting my pH back up with Borax but I think that may have been because I went overboard with the citric acid. I even thought my SWG was not working and that my cell was borked from when I cleaned it because I had no chlorine but the system said it was generating. Kept adding bleach just to keep it clear.
Third and current problem. My water now has this green/teal tinge to it. I don't think it's algae. Its' still clear, just a light green tint. I put a sequestrant but only a couple of days after the treatment. I thought that maybe it was the metal that restained the entire liner but I tried vitamin C again, no change except for some stains at the water line. I couldn't find a real test kit (I'm in Canada where we can't get anything) so I got a small pH and Chlorine kit (OTO and red phenol). Chlorine is off the chart (deep yellow 3+) and pH was at 8.0. Got pool store tests done (yeah, I know) and they were all over the place but Store B actually uses a Taylor test system. Store A uses some sort of sealed test vials they fill with water and read by an electronic reader.
Tests done on the 15th of July:
Store A:
FC: 2.3
CC: not run
pH: 7.7
TA: 150
CH: 240
CYA: 15
Salt: 3400
Store B:
FC: 2.0
CC: not run
pH: 7.8
TA: 117 (with stabilizer correction)
CH: 250
CYA: 10
Salt: 2800
My tests:
FC: 3.0+
pH: 7.8 or 8.0 (colours are hard to read on this cheap kit)
My tests today:
FC: 3.0+
pH: 7.6 or 7.8 (colours are hard to read on this cheap kit)
Salt: SWG reading: 3300 Test strip: 2930
I turned off the SWG for now to see if the FC lowers and added acid last night to lower the pH to where it is now. I had added about two cups stabilizer a couple days ago but waiting to see if it comes up later in the week as I understand it takes a while to register and I don't want it to go too high so taking it slowly.
Any help would be appreciated. I realize that I might just have a chemical soup right now. I'm seriously thinking of emptying it and filling it with balls because that's all I've been doing this summer is dealing with this mess.
To keep the metals sequestered you need to add a maintenance dose of sequestrant each week. If you only added some in the beginning it's already worn off and you need more. Add a good dose to teh water and let us know what happens.
