Green pool, I'm losing faith in the fight!!

May 29, 2014
170
Charlotte, NC
Long time lurker, first time poster.

Hi all, my name is Chris and I have a pool that has been kicking my butt all season!

22,000 gallons
Vinyl Liner
Sand Filter

PH - 7.2
FC - 10
CC - 0.6
Alk - 110
CYA - 100+ (see picture)

20140529_133627.jpg


I have been studying up on the site, using the pool calculator, and test with a Taylor K2006.

My main struggle all along has been dealing with a .3 level of copper. I have run two full courses of metal out from Leslie's along with a CULator in the skimmer. Still, when I add shock or a decent level of chlorine it turns my liner green.

This aside, I am now dealing with an algae bloom!

I had my FC up to 18 for two days, and it has just started to fall down to 10.

This pool has been a struggle this year! I'm starting to waver in my resolve :(

Please guys, if you have a second, work with me to get it back to the blue it used to be!

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OK, so first problem is that with CYA >>100 (looks like ~150 to me) you need really high levels of chlorine to have any effect. Plugging a CYA level of 150 into PoolMath says your "normal" FC range is 11 to 18 (ie never let it get below 11), shock level is 59 (!!!), mustard shock level is 79.

AFAIK the algae will just laugh at an FC level of 18 with that much CYA because the "active" chlorine level is so low.

My first thought (to keep the thread alive until the experts come along ;)) would be to start doing partial drain/refill cycles to get the CYA down and then SLAM to clear the algae. You could start a SLAM at your current CYA level but AFAICS you would need ~12 121 oz jugs of 8.25% bleach to get up to shock level and a lot more to finish the SLAM.

The copper issue probably makes one of these courses of action more attractive than the other but unfortunately I don't know enough to say which one.
 
Not sure where the copper came from, the former owner said he had issues with copper in the past, I'm guessing it's residual.

I'm currently draining some water, 2 inches so far...

I also vac-to-waste any algae I could find with a pair of goggles

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
 
How much you can safely drain kind of depends on the that ground water level ... but you should always leave at least 1 foot in the shallow end to lower the likelihood of liner issues.
 
Drain as much as you can on this first try. After you refill the CYA and copper will be diluted and each drain will remove less.

An example: if your CYA is 150 a 50% drain all at once will drop it to 75. But if you do two 25% drains it will only lower it to about 90 using the same amount of water.

Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt.
 

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I almost forgot, make sure to leave some water (6-12 inches) in the shallow end to keep the liner in place. Looks like you are almost at that level by your last picture.
 
Just turned off the hose. I'll be sure to get test results tomorrow to see where we are at.

Just for my own knowledge, how much time do I have to start getting chlorine in the water?

I'm assuming my next step would be test the CYA and then SLAM if the number is low enough?


Thanks for the help so far!
 

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