I'm helping a friend with his pool.
He bought a small 3300 gallon intex and asked me about what to do to keep it up since knows i have a pool. I told him about TFP and told him that since he was dealing with such a small pool just to get a chlorine drop test and maintain.
I also told him about BBB and not to get tablets etc. but of course he didn't listen...
He called me on Saturday saying his pool water was turning green in the midst of his kid's pool party. I told him not to worry about and to shock it that evening when the party was over.
I asked him if he bought bleach like I told him and of course he told me he bought tablets. Told me that he added the tablet that day.
I later found out that water had been sitting in the pool for four days so I explained to him that tablets were for maintaining FC at best and that he basically had no chlorine in the pool and thats why he had algae. No big deal I figured.
He mentioned that he added a half bag of trichlor because the "bleach didn't do anything."
I went by his house this morning to test his pool with my TF kit so I could give him all his numbers to use in the calc. On the way he's telling me about how green it is etc. and I'm joking with him about him not listened to me in the first place and now he's gone and bought a tub of tablets AND powder shock (trichlor).
I get there and the water is yellow. I'm talking pee yellow. The water is clear not cloudy.
Here's his values for start:
FC: 12.5
CC: 1
PH: <6.8
CYA: <30
TA: <20???
I figure he needs to get his PH up first of all. and then continue to shock. I have no idea about the yellow water. I know shocking a pool throws off the PH but with it at only 12FC I don't think it would throw the test that bad (mine usually reads really high while shocking).
I read a little about metals in the pool school and saw that yellow water can by symptomatic of that. He has well water, and we just got a ton of rain over the last couple days.
Also the TA test kind of had me puzzled. After two drops the test turned from green, slight pink, then clear. As it sat there it started to turn almost a charcoal color...really bizzare.
To my knowledge he's added a half bag of trichlor, a tablet, and some bleach. All I can figure is that he's got some weird reaction to the metal in his water? I jokingly told him he needed to get his water tested and they would probably condemn his house.
So far I've left him with a list to get bleach and borax from the store. Should he try to use a sequester while the PH is low right now? I dunno my knowledge just tells me to SLAM till the water is clear but this beats most anything I've seen.
The pic doesn't do it justice imo...I feel it is more golden yellow than this. Maybe it is just an algae bloom. The pick seems kind of greenish.
Here's a pic:
He bought a small 3300 gallon intex and asked me about what to do to keep it up since knows i have a pool. I told him about TFP and told him that since he was dealing with such a small pool just to get a chlorine drop test and maintain.
I also told him about BBB and not to get tablets etc. but of course he didn't listen...
He called me on Saturday saying his pool water was turning green in the midst of his kid's pool party. I told him not to worry about and to shock it that evening when the party was over.
I asked him if he bought bleach like I told him and of course he told me he bought tablets. Told me that he added the tablet that day.
I later found out that water had been sitting in the pool for four days so I explained to him that tablets were for maintaining FC at best and that he basically had no chlorine in the pool and thats why he had algae. No big deal I figured.
He mentioned that he added a half bag of trichlor because the "bleach didn't do anything."
I went by his house this morning to test his pool with my TF kit so I could give him all his numbers to use in the calc. On the way he's telling me about how green it is etc. and I'm joking with him about him not listened to me in the first place and now he's gone and bought a tub of tablets AND powder shock (trichlor).
I get there and the water is yellow. I'm talking pee yellow. The water is clear not cloudy.
Here's his values for start:
FC: 12.5
CC: 1
PH: <6.8
CYA: <30
TA: <20???
I figure he needs to get his PH up first of all. and then continue to shock. I have no idea about the yellow water. I know shocking a pool throws off the PH but with it at only 12FC I don't think it would throw the test that bad (mine usually reads really high while shocking).
I read a little about metals in the pool school and saw that yellow water can by symptomatic of that. He has well water, and we just got a ton of rain over the last couple days.
Also the TA test kind of had me puzzled. After two drops the test turned from green, slight pink, then clear. As it sat there it started to turn almost a charcoal color...really bizzare.
To my knowledge he's added a half bag of trichlor, a tablet, and some bleach. All I can figure is that he's got some weird reaction to the metal in his water? I jokingly told him he needed to get his water tested and they would probably condemn his house.
So far I've left him with a list to get bleach and borax from the store. Should he try to use a sequester while the PH is low right now? I dunno my knowledge just tells me to SLAM till the water is clear but this beats most anything I've seen.
The pic doesn't do it justice imo...I feel it is more golden yellow than this. Maybe it is just an algae bloom. The pick seems kind of greenish.
Here's a pic:
