Green Pool, NOT ALEGAE and NOT COPPER? Really need help from you pro's!

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tcrote5516

tcrote5516

0
Jun 17, 2014
111
New Hampshire
Hello,

I have a 25,000 gallon/in ground vinyl/sand filter. The pool is older (25 years or so) and we bought the house 2 years ago, this is our third summer with it. The filter just wasn't working well the first 2 years so I changed the sand out this year and its working well.

Now I have a totally new problem that never happened before. The pool has a green tint though it's perfectly clear, not foggy at all, just a light green tint to it. The deep end show's it the most. This ONLY happens right after rain (even a small amt) or I top off from my well, again even a small amt will cause the deep end to go green. It takes 2-3 day's to return to clear but it does return to crystal clear on its own every time. I just re-tested my well water for copper and iron and it has none. Below are my pool water test results from this morning. With my limited knowledge I can't see anything here that would explain this?

Temp - 74
FC - 4ppm
TAC - 4
CH - 110
CYA - 35
TA - 7.0
Base - 5
Copper - 0
Iron - 0
TDS - 500

Thank you all in advance for your time and any assistance!
 
Welcome to TFP!

Those sound like pool store test results. You could probably get better data rolling dice than the testing at most pool stores. Try a different place for testing and see how their numbers compare. Iron in well water is very common in New Hampshire, and the yellow tint it gives the water can look green with a blue liner.
 
Welcome to TFP!

Clear transparent green water with reasonable FC levels is almost invariably copper or iron. Copper can come from several places: algaecide, ionizers, mineral systems, or very low PH etching copper out of a heater. Iron usually comes from well water. Metals tests are not especially reliable, I would ignore them showing zero.
 
Thank you both! Yes the test results are from Leslie's pool supplies and I have been pool store prey, but it appeard to be a pretty decent test procedure. I also picked up a (basic) iron and copper test strip to compare (I'm guessing like most test strips these are not accurate) and they also show zero presence of iron or copper. I would think if its enough to cause green water (or yellow against my blue liner) that it would be enough to register on even a basic test kit; no?

John, I just went back out top look at the pool and when compared against the white stripe I have on the pool floor it does look a shade yellow. Against the blue it looks green. GOOD CATCH!

Also, CYA at 35 is high? I thought that was low?

So I picked up a bottle of "metal free" just in case it was metals. Do you think I should try it with a little DE in the filter and then backwash after 6 hrs or so? Also, is my current chlorine level too high for the Metal Free to work properly?

Thank's again! I have a 80 person 4th of July party coming and this has me freaked out!
 
This ONLY happens right after rain (even a small amt) or I top off from my well, again even a small amt will cause the deep end to go green. It takes 2-3 day's to return to clear but it does return to crystal clear on its own every time
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What is the pH? Lower it to about 7.2ish. Rain causes aeration which could make the pH rise, and high(er) pH tends to knock metals out of suspension & that can in turn make water look a clear green. The well water is apparently introducing metals, since that also makes your pool clear green.

I don't think you need the DE, but you do need a start-up dose of sequestrant.
 
Well I gave it a start up dose of sequestrant 36 hrs ago and it has not improved in the least. Still clear. Still with a yellow/green tint. I have brought my PH to 7.2 as well. Cholorine levels are steady at 4. Anyone have any ideas? Do I need to drain and refill?
 

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It's a liner. There is nothing on the walls or the bottom it's perfectly clean and smooth to the touch (other than a couple of leaves that are the black spots). What you are seeing in terms of the color is in the water itself. Notice how the shallow end is so much blue'er then the deep end. Both ends are clean its all the tint of the water itself.
 
Based on your pic and your descriptions, you are dealing with the same struggle I've been having for the past 2 years. I'll bet it is metals in the water. Buy a small bottle of vitamin C tablets and crush 3 or 4 in a sock and wipe the liner in a spot with it. I tried cleaning the liner with all kinds of stuff and the vitimin C was the only thing that immediately and easily removed the liner discoloration. That told me: METALS.

I have well water too, and in the beginning of last year I was using a lot of a copper based algaeside on top of it. My pool store tests showed no copper and only .2 ppm of iron.

If the vitimin C thing tests positive, search this forum for the Asorbic Acid treatment thread. I ended up using several pounds of citric acid, Jacks pink stuff, and polyquat 60 over the course of several days. This turned my liner from a tingy yellow/orange/green back to the original blue. Don't be impatient while doing the AA treatment, give it full 24 hrs to work the discoloration off the liner before re-balancing water.

Every now and then if I let the ph creep too high or put too much bleach in (not sure which is the cause) the green water tint you describe comes back. When it does, I lower the ph with muriatic acid and use jacks pink stuff and by the next day it's back to clear and blue.

Btw - Last year I originally mis-diagnosed this for some kind of algae, and wasted a lot of time and money shocking the **** out of my pool with bleach. Which had absolutely no positive effect.

I also put a CuLater packet in my pump which is supposed to remove metals. Figure it can't hurt.
 
The same thing happens in my pool. IMO, there is a 99% chance it is iron.
I would think if its enough to cause green water (or yellow against my blue liner) that it would be enough to register on even a basic test kit; no?
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"No" is the correct answer. It doesn't not show on my iron test, either.
I have brought my PH to 7.2 as well.
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From where? What was your pH prior to this adjustment?

The cure to this temporary problem is proper testing (and not guessing which is what you are currently doing). Once you have your problem identified, proper testing and keeping your pH and chlorine in tight control will eliminate it.

For now,

1. keeping your pH down at 7.2

2. FC not exceeding the suggested values found in the FC/CYA chart in Pool School

3. The use of more sequestrant

Those three measures will almost surely result in the blue returning to your pool.
 

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