Cloudy/light green, but no FC appitite

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DirtyRat91

0
Jun 5, 2013
144
Opened pool May 25th. First season on TFP method. Never used bleach before, but so far, so good. Water has been clear until yesterday.

My numbers all seem good

PH 7.3
TA 140
CYA 45

Never seen hardly any reading for CC.
Let FC bounce up and down between 4 & 6.

Pool's appetite is very predictable, about 1-1.5 FC loss per day. Did the overnight test several times, always within .5 of previous night's reading.

What happened, there's been a light green scum on the 'slopes' of the pool for a couple of weeks. My pool has a regular depth of 4', only ~8 inches from the wall does it ever slope up, then there's a straight angle up to the wall, it's this slope that collects the garbage. Probably because Aquabot doesn't get this area very well, and neither does my lazy vacuuming.

Anyrate, attacked the slopes with a brush yesterday. The green dust vanished. It seemed to 'push' along the floor as well as dirt will push through water. I tried to knock it all toward the drain. This stirred up a bunch of junk, and entire pool has been cloudy since, with very light green color.

Still no increased FC usage, and I've ran pump since.

Does my pool need a SLAM?

And if so, are my boys okay to swim with FC in the 20ppm range?

My boys are 2 & 3 and LOVE the pool this year.

Thanks for advice.
 
You may have a lot of pollen. The only way to be sure is to run an overnight loss test tonight. Raise FC up to 6 a couple hours before bed and leave the pump running. Maybe brush a little to ensure it's well mixed. Then take your reading before bed and set the alarm for before sunrise and go recheck it in the morning. That will rule out organics or not. If you lost more than 1, take it up to shock level. It's safe to swim up to shock level, so the kids can get in within a few hours. You'll just prolong the process a little if you let FC drop during the day. If you passed the test. keep doing what you're doing.
 
Update on my pool, first with the log for the last two days:
Sat 6-21 7:15 AM
7.3 PH
3.5 FC
Added 128 of 3.0% bleach
Brushed - green dirt on slopes
Whole pool turned cloudy, light green tint
2:45 PM
Added 128 of 3.0% bleach
9:00 PM
Still cloudy
6.5 FC

Sun 6-22 7:00 AM
6.0 FC
11:00 AM
Water still cloudy, light green
Added 5 gallons of 3.0% bleach
12:55 PM
16.5 FC
Added 2 gallons of 3.0% bleach
4:30 PM
15 FC
Added 3 gallons of 3.0% bleach
9:30 PM
19.5 FC

3.0% bleach? Yeah, I know. My first year on TFP again, so I had my mom on the alert for good deals on bleach. I explained to her the % of strength of the bleach, but Big Lots duped her. She say Big Lots had bleach for $1.50 a gallon and grabbed 20. A quick google search found out the Sno-EE Big Lots bleach is actually water, with a hint of bleach.

Anyhow, as you can see by the log I kinda hit it hard with bleach today, trying to ramp up the FC's. Each gallon is about a 2 FC boost. Never seen such a loss of FC's before (about 5 FC drop between noon and 4:30), I don't know if that's because I've never run such high levels of FC's. I've heard CYA protects a PERCENTAGE of FC, so that the higher the FC's you run the more you will lose to sunlight. Correct? Because the day was overcast except between noon and 5, then we got big sun, and my FC's took a big dive. (~25% loss) But that's technically what I lose during the day. 25% of 6 FC = 1.5, which is typical loss.

But water appeared to have very little change in cloudyness today. My drain is in sight, but hazy. There's some crud on the bottom, but I can hardly see it. Was able to make out a shrew on the floor this AM, and netted him out. Has a light green tint all day, around 7 PM when I peeked out the hue looked clearer (Less green). Took a flashlight out at 9:30, and cloudyness seems similar. Can make out vinyl seams, but barely. Will recheck FC's in the AM. I typically check around 6:30, sunlight exposure is minimal by this point. And yes, the FC's dipped below 4 (my minimum) yesterday, that was the first time it's been so low. And the green buildup has been there all along. This was just the first time I brushed it up.

So if it's just junk that I've stirred up, I just got to wait it out for it to clear? Pump's been full throttle since I brushed.
 
The next day:

Last night 9:30 PM 19.5 FC
This morning 6:15 AM 19.0 FC

Pool color, rather blue really. Clarity, improved. Can see much more of the dirt on the floor, still hazy but definitely a noticeable improvement.

Still a bit of that green gunk on the slopes, I'm a bit weary of brushing it, as I like the improvement, but I'd like to be rid of it. One thing I haven't mentioned in my sig, and surly contributes to the dirtiness of the pool is that I use a pool cover. This renders the skimmer ineffective, stuff does sink to the bottom along the edges that might otherwise get filtered.

Also, I have a pool light, that doesn't work, or rather I'm not sure where the 'on' switch is. But the housing is definitely a ugly shade of green. Is there a link toward a good thread for cleaning these puppys? Everybody always suggests removing and cleaning the light. If I can render it a clean pool light that doesn't work, that alone is a win. I've been meaning to try to figure out how to fix it anyway. May do that while I'm tinkering.

But water is improved today. Not perfect, but much closer.
 
Although you're passing OCLT, that alone isn't sufficient to end SLAM, you need to continue SLAMming to get rid of the "green gunk"...

I think you're supposed to leave the cover off when slamming, someone will correct me if I'm wrong...

For pool lights there's usually a (Philips) screw on the 12 o'clock position, you remove the screw and the light fixture tilts out... Long hands help... Once it's out, brush niche, it tends to harbour algae...
 
Two ideas for you:

1. Add DE to the filter, article/directions in Pool School.

2. Add skimmer socks.

What is the CH level?

- - - Updated - - -

For the light fixture, find the power source first and turn it off.
 
Update:
I recovered pool Tuesday morning, as color was perfect, just a little hazy still. With the still elevated FC levels, I wanted the solar blanket to get a thorough FC treatment, in case any uglies were making homes on the cover.

I pulled off the cover this morning and did a full vacuum. First good one it's had this season, I just got a new vac head, as the old one's bristles were so worn down, I could barely move it across the floor. It suctioned itself into one spot and was very difficult to move.

As for the light, I don't think it's the style I've seen with the removable metal housing. I believe it's just a plastic cover with a hollow spot in the concrete beside housing the wires and bulb fixture...just checked again, I can't tell what's going on. There's no screws on the pool side, but the bulb is hidden by a plastic cup on the concrete side.

Also, CH is around 350.

Yellow (more yellow than green) dust on the slopes is much reduced today.
 
Meant to mention this morning the water was crystal clear. You've brought up an interesting point though Butterfly, that is the CH level of my fill water. I just tested it at 250. And this number is verified by PoolMath and my pool's log. When I first got my TF-100 kit, I tested the water at CH of 450, and CYA of almost 90. I did a 50% drain and refill to get my CYA to ~45. By the numbers, 250 CH fill water would've cut my initial CH of 450 down to about 350, which is where it tested at after the refill.

Furthermore, I added roughly 3000 gallons of water to the pool initially before my first reading. Meaning, my pool water was probably around the 500 CH level before I did anything to it. Do the 3" pucks raise CH? As I used nothing but 3" pucks and occasional shock up until this year. Otherwise why would the CH be so high?
 
Ran a full slate of tests on pool water this morning, and now I'm confused.

Thurs 6-26 6:50 AM
6.5 FC
7.5 PH
CYA 45
140 TA
225 CH

How did my calcium drop from about 350 back on 5-27-14 to 225 today, when just yesterday I tested my fill water at 250. I didn't think CH went away, meaning I'd never be able to drop below 250 without gobs of rain water. My CYA hasn't changed, why has my CH?
 

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Well, I don't know. If you are not adding CH other than fill water, I suggest testing error? Maybe back in May with the drain/refill it had not mixed completely prior to testing? Are you using the 10ml or 25ml for CH testing? Maybe used different size for each test? Maybe someone else will chime in.

Assuming the CC is .5 or zero, your current test results are fabulous! :goodjob: Enjoy your pool :snorkle:
 
Round 2?

Should I open a new thread, or revive this one, as my pool is cloudy/light green again, and showing no signs of consuming FC. The same appearance of when I first wrote this thread. Started over a week ago, first it was progressively getting cloudier. So I attacked the pump filter, thinking channeling or something. I went for a deep clean. Wound up finding issues with the filter, standpipe cracked (was cracked?) in the process. Filter was out of commission for 2-3 days, in which time the cloudy pool became a cloudier light green pool. I did run the pump (on recirculate) the whole time to maintain good FC numbers, but here I am again.

I'll admit I let up on the SLAM before the pool was clear several weeks ago when this thread was active. As the numbers drifted down, the pool cleared up. I figured (wrongly?) that SLAMing while the pool cleared was unessisary. The lack of CC's and the passed overnight FC test suggested dead algaes (I figured) and that further SLAMing only helped clear the pool quicker, at the expense of time and bleach. Did I let something linger by not SLAMing for several days? I'll SLAM this thing for a week if it meant never having to do it again. I want to be done with the stinking green cloudy pool, this is the same headache as last year when I used tablets.

I'm not blaming TFP, or the system, but rather my misunderstanding of what I'm doing. I just want to be rid of murky water!

DSCN4030.JPG


I took the pic around 8:30, but this is what I returned to from the lake weekend trip. I left on Friday with 6.0FC, and jacked up the FC's to around 11. Returned to 5.0 FC. Pool was slightly green/cloudy prior to trip, I blamed that on filter being down for a few days, but I'm running the filter wide open now, and still yucky water.

DSCN4031.JPG


Can't tell if the camera caught it or not, but dead center of the pic is the main drain. (Only 4' below the surface of the water) You can barely make it out.
 
Fri 7-11 7:30 AM
6.0 FC
Aim for 10.5 FC as we leave for lake.
Added ~ 70oz 12.5% bleach

Sun 3:30 PM
5.0 FC
7.6 PH
Still light green water.
Added ~1.6 jugs of 128oz 12.5% bleach
Uncovered pool, Aquabot tossed in.
5:20 PM
16 FC
Added ~20 oz of muriatic acid, 128oz of 3% bleach, ~30oz of 12.5% bleach
6:55 PM
21 FC
9:05 PM
20.5 FC
 
As you have indicated, your previous SLAM was not followed to completion - you had OCLT<=1 and 0 CC, but it the water wasn't totally clear.
This means there could have been some algae lingering in the water which wasn't killed off, that's why there are 3 criteria to end SLAM.

Did you test your CYA level?
Also, I noticed that you added muriatic acid when your FC was 16. pH reads artificially high when FC >10, that's why we recommend getting pH in line before starting SLAM.

Reading back through the history, it appears we didn't ask you to post a picture of your lights, I'd advise you to do so when you pool has cleared enough that the light is visible.
 
Did you test your CYA level?
Also, I noticed that you added muriatic acid when your FC was 16. pH reads artificially high when FC >10, that's why we recommend getting pH in line before starting SLAM.

Reading back through the history, it appears we didn't ask you to post a picture of your lights, I'd advise you to do so when you pool has cleared enough that the light is visible.
Click to expand...

I've tested CYA at least 4 different times, I always get right around 45. So I use 50 PPM figures for my FC levels.

The acid was added as my PH had consistently read above 7.5 prior to green in pool. Not as high as 7.8, I figured it around 7.6. I did retest PH after adding the acid, but as you mentioned, the readings are skewed by the high FC. I got around 7.8 after the acid add, but I didn't record as clearly this didn't make sense.

I definitely am guilty of lake cross contamination. All swim suits go straight into the wash when we get home, but the boys' puddle jumpers get no such treatment. Is there any good way to 'disinfect' life jackets before returning to the pool?

Also, I did snap some pics of the light, but never uploaded them. I'll see if I can find them again.

Here's same angles as last night. Lighter green, did drop to 16 FC this morning, down from 20.5 last night. Something's dying.

DSCN4033.JPG

DSCN4034.JPG


And here's the light. Bit blury, but there is no fasteners pool side to remove & draw out light. I think it's just a sealed lens cover.

DSCN4036.JPG
 
Today's journal:
Mon
6:30 AM
16 FC
.4 gallons 12.5% bleach
10:00 AM
18.5 FC
28 oz of 12.5% bleach
Noon
18.5 FC
Added 30 oz of 12.5% bleach
2:30 PM
Added 35 oz of 12.5% bleach
5:15 PM
20 FC
8:15
17 FC
Added 88 oz of 12.5% bleach
11:10 PM
23 FC

I'll admit, a little sloppy and careless. Measurements of bleach are rough guesses. Had my wife do the 10 AM check, she did well, seemed to be predictable, and an overcast day helped with that. I checked and dosed at lunch, and had her just toss in a good dose of bleach at 2:30 PM. I took over after work. Never seen green pool/cloudy mess clear up so quick, huge improvement today. From barely seeing the drain this AM, to clearly seeing the seams in the vinyl on the floor and the dirt and such. You can make out the dirt on the bottom in my pics. I'm assuming this is dead algae, as I don't recall this before it was cloudy. I'll be disappointed if it isn't quite clear in the morning.

My boys and I splashed around at 7PM, to agitate everything, and attacking the walls with a brush from inside is much easier (and cooler) than trying to do that from above.

DSCN4037.JPG

DSCN4038.JPG


At 11, when I checked FC level, I checked clarity with a flashlight, cloudiness is way down. Big improvement from even pic taken at 6PM.
 
Now for those yummy clear water shots. Note, these could've been taken yesterday AM, but I was pressed for time, and didn't get to them. FC was 23 at 11 PM when I went to bed, and 22 when I checked at 6:15 AM. CC drops hardly pinkened (word!?) the water.

DSCN4053.JPG

DSCN4054.JPG

DSCN4055.JPG

Max camera zoom here.

And finally the question I fear the most. Water temp has dropped below 80 degrees. I want to throw the solar cover back on. This cover has been on the pool the last two times it has been green. It's likely a big part of my reoccurring problem. How do I warm my water without sacrificing the cleanliness?
 
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