greenish yellow water Can not see btm of 4' pool

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bf35gjd

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Jun 13, 2008
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Pool has turned greenish yellow in the past 6 days. The water has been tested professionally and is in all necessary perameters. I have used sparkle-up from bioguard twice and I still have no results. When I vacuum the bottom it appears as though silt is comming out of the jets. When the backwash is done the glass turns clear.
I am told that there may be a phosphate problem. There has not been any fertilizer around the pool

Does anybody have any suggestions
 
Please post a full set of water test results.

Also, when you say greenish yellow do you mean a clear transparent green/yellow or a cloudy murky green/yellow?

Phosphates are almost never a problem, though many pool stores will try to convince you otherwise so they can sell you expensive chemicals you don't need.
 
welcome to TFP!

Can you please post your test results, a full set, so we can help you better?

Also where do you live (normal weather conditions?)

Also what kind of equipment do you have....?

Before I found TFP, the pool store told me my water was in normal parameters too; I know now they were very, very wrong.... :roll:
 
We are located in Western PA. The weather has been very good during this time.
We have a hayward 1HP pump with an 18" sand filtering system.

I went to a different pool store that deals in Bio-Gard products almost exclusively. These folks have a testing system called ALEX. These are the levels found last night.
Saturation index = 0.2
CYA = 100 T. Chlor. = 1 F Chlor. = 1 ph = 7.6
T Alka. = 153 Adj. Alka. 123 T. Hardness = 240 copper, iron = 0

These are the result from a test last night.
There was phosphate found in the water as well.
They recommended something called Phos-Floc. (4lb).
I placed this in the water and turned off the pump overnight. This morning there appears to be a cloud on the bottom of the pool. I can now see the bottom.
The instructions call tovacuum out to waste ( NOT THRU THE FILTER ).

This may take care of the problem. I am going to have the water tested again this afternoon.
 
This was one of the questions asked.

when you say greenish yellow do you mean a clear transparent green/yellow or a cloudy murky green/yellow?

The water was a cloudy murky green, I could not see the bottom of a 4' pool.
 
Hi again,

If you do a search on phosphates, you will find that these products are big money makers for the pool stores and they tend to push them.....

Your PH, TA, and CH are fine,

But your chlorine is too low and your CYA is WAY TOO HIGH.

You will fight a losing battle with algae if you continue to let your CYA be that high. The only way to lower CYA is a partial drain and refill with fresh water, about 1/3 of your pool at a time. This will lower the CYA into a more acceptable range. 30-50 is normal, 60-80 if you have a SWG.

The more CYA in your pool, the more chlorine it takes to be effective against algae outbreaks and other "icky" things like bacteria, etc. With a CYA of 100, you need at a minimum of 7ppm FC in your pool, a more realistic number would be 11ppm and to shock your pool, it requires 39ppm. THAT'S ALOT OF CHLORINE!!!

I've been thru this before, you need to lower your CYA.

Good luck.
 
Thanks for the info


I read with interest that the CYA was high. The recommended levels are 30-200 and what what I have is 100. Any suggested reading on this.

One other note, I found out this morning that 3 other pools in a 4 block area have had the same problem in the past 2 weeks. I am beginning to wonder if the problem is from Spraying the trees for gypsy moths from overhead.

The Phosphate levels went off the chart. The reading exceeded 2500. Nitrates were 1.5 and I understand this number should be 0.

If CYA is to high, what do you use to bring it down to a more reasonable level.
 
Did the pool store tell you about "other pools having the same problem"? Just curious. :roll:

You lower your CYA by doing a partial drain and refill of your pool, about 1/3 at a time. Add fresh water, allow it to circulate. You can repeat.

Anything over 100 is too high. 50 is a much better level. You can read all about CYA on here, various threads and articles and such. 100-200 is not "acceptable" - in an alternate universe maybe....hehehehe

How did it get that high? Stabilized chlorine sources like tri-chlor and di-chlor contain CYA, many people use that as their main source of chlorine (pucks, granular shock).

Be sure to read the ingredient label. You are best off using plain old clorox bleach (or Wal-mart brand, or a store brand you trust) for chlorine, and adding CYA (a.k.a. stabilizer) seperately. With your levels, you won't need to add any, for a while I would say....

But unless you want to go through the process over and over, I would suggest staying away from chlorine sources that also contain CYA.

Hope this helped. :)
 
Thanks to all. The questions and answers were very helpful.
The pool is still not as clear as I want but it is getting there.

The problem appears to be the Phosphate. A neighbor had the trees sprayed to control catapillars.
I added PHOS-Floc to the pool. The pool sat for 15 hrs with the pump off. The cloudy water seemed to drop like a rock.
The next morning the pool looked as though is had a white cloud on the bottom. This was vacuumed to waste. Sure does use a lot of water, but this falls in line with a suggestion to replace some of the water.

Thanks again to all.

PS does any one know how to become a TFP member without going thru PAYPAL. I have had some very bad experiences with these folks.
 
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