Levels are good, water is clear, but kind of looks yellow in sunlight

Jun 23, 2014
36
Ok guys, I think I need some guidance here. I have to add my info in to my post here as it seems tapatalk has gotten rid of the signature option, or I just can't find it.

Im in Long Island ny, and have an intex ultra frame 16'x48" round which is about 5000 gallons. I'm using the intex 635t 1500 gph filter. I'm using a Taylor k2006 to test.

Since I set up the pool this year I have been using the tfpc method. I've consistently kept my fc above minimum levels, and have been on the higher side of levels since opening.

Here's my issue. I feel as though whenever I look at my pool in sun light, it has a yellowish/maybe slightly greenish tint. You can clearly see where the water line is how the blue and white color of the liner changes. The water is clear, not cloudy. The sides and bottom do not feel slippery or slimy. When I look at the water at night, it looks clear and blue. I do have some trees overhead and wonder if the sun shining through the leaves is projecting this off color.

Here are my levels as of last night.

Fc 6
Cc .2
Ph 7.6
Ta 90
Ch 60
Cya 40

My fc has consistently been at 5 or greater. For a while it was up at 16, than I let it drift down to 10. I was going to slam, but am not sure that that's what I need to do. I'm not losing excessive fc, maybe 1-2 ppm per day of being in direct sunlight.

Any thoughts on what I should do? Should I slam and see if it does anything? I don't think it will as I was up at fc 16 for a while with the water looking the same. I thought maybe fc was too high and that was why it looked yellow from the bleach.

Here's a picture for reference, taken from an iPhone camera.

This was with sunlight on the pool

venameza.jpg


And this was after dusk when the sunlight came off the water.

ava9adeh.jpg


In these pictures the sun shines from the left, and there happens to be a small tree right there that it shines through.
 
You can get iron in the water from old pipes. That's especially a problem if you live on the end of a long run and they haven't flushed the line in a while and all of the sudden you start drawing a lot of water to fill a pool.

For the short term, keep your pH in the low end of the range. If you have a decent pool store nearby, have them test for iron in the water, but don't count on the accuracy of their results 100%.
 
Wish I would have known that before I brought it up from 7.2 to 7.6. Should I lower it from where it is now. I have a Leslie's nearby I can probably go to to check iron levels

I'd head to Leslie's when you can. The lower pH is just a precaution as it would keep the iron in the water rather than on the liner if it is iron.
 
K so I tested my water first than headed off to Leslie's to have them test it for me also. Got all the same numbers as my tests and said my chemistry looks great. I asked him to test for metals also as I have a yellow tint. Seems a common problem on Long Island is soft water which corrodes the pipes and absorbs metal and copper into it. He told me I had .6 copper and 1.0 iron. So far seems I'm lucky to have a pretty good store(or just had two good guys) who are more interested in helping than selling products. He actually advised me to go on amazon and purchase sparkle conquest. Anyone ever heard of it? Does that sound like what I need? Thanks.
 
My water looked the same after i used our city water from a hydrant. Cleared up after 2 days.
 

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@Northrn Yes I read that article. I don't have any staining, just tinted water.

@kpromero My water has looked like this since I filled the pool at the beginning of the month. I don't think I'm going to be lucky enough to have it disappear on its own.
 
Seems you have some metals and drain and refill will most likely yield the same result. northrn is right on the money with that link.
stained or not, you need a sequestrant to contain it as recommended in the link she provided.

BTW
very nice job on those test numbers. :goodjob:
 
Seems you have some metals and drain and refill will most likely yield the same result. northrn is right on the money with that link.
stained or not, you need a sequestrant to contain it as recommended in the link she provided.

BTW
very nice job on those test numbers. :goodjob:

Yep, definitely have some metals. Drain and refill will certainly yield the same result, so no point in that. It seems a lot of people have had this problem on Long Island. I read up on the sparkle conquest and read pretty good things about it. It seems to be chemically the same as the other sequestrants listed. But somehow, does a slightly different job. Guess I will be going to go get some and see how it turns out.

And thanks, I've been trying to stay on top of things. It's not very hard to understand and execute. It's certainly much easier to maintain good water than to have to battle a problem from neglect.
 
So I'm waiting for my fc levels to come down a bit before I use a sequestrant. It's going to take a few days as I only lose about 1.5 fc per 24 hour period. I figured I would do a full round of tests while I was at it.

Fc 7
Cc .2
Ph 7.5. (It wasn't quite light enough for 7.4 or dark enough for 7.6)
Ta 80
Ch 10

Ch 10? Is that possible? Last I tested I used 10 ml sample and got 50. I had the pool store test that same sample and they got 50 too. I just tested using 25 ml sample and got 10, twice. I double checked as I thought maybe I made a mistake on the first test. Does this matter? Is this possibly too low? Or does it not matter since I have a vinyl liner.

I'd like a little more advice on how to proceed. Do I need to add ascorbic acid first than a sequestrant such as conquest or whatever? Can I just add the sequestrant since I don't have stains and only tinted water? I see polyquat 60 mentioned in a lot of these threads, what does that do? Do I need to add it? Seems everyone who adds that and has to deal with metals gets an algae bloom right after. Thanks in advance.
 
Ok, so I wound up using a product called metal magic by pro team. Many people on here recommended it and it said it was able to be used with an fc of 3. I dumped half the bottle in the pool and let it run. By the next morning it was like a new pool. No more tint just nice clear water.

ahu8evyp.jpg


Here are updated readings.

Fc 4.6
Cc .2
Ph 7.2
Ta 70
Ch 10

I seem to be losing a little more fc than normal. I checked it this afternoon after adding yesterday and found it at only .2. I bumped it up right away and all seems good.

Should I raise my ph, ta, or ch? Or am I good where I'm at and just focus on maintaining my fc?
 
Ok, so I wound up using a product called metal magic by pro team. Many people on here recommended it and it said it was able to be used with an fc of 3. I dumped half the bottle in the pool and let it run. By the next morning it was like a new pool. No more tint just nice clear water.

Here are updated readings.

Fc 4.6
Cc .2
Ph 7.2
Ta 70
Ch 10

I seem to be losing a little more fc than normal. I checked it this afternoon after adding yesterday and found it at only .2. I bumped it up right away and all seems good.

Should I raise my ph, ta, or ch? Or am I good where I'm at and just focus on maintaining my fc?

Well, that's a positive step! Don't forget sequestrant isn't permanent and you'll probably need to add more periodically.

Wouldn't worry about CH. How does your pH want to move on it's own? If it naturally rises, you can just wait on it. Otherwise you might nudge it up to 7.4, but no urgency.
 
Yea, maintenance says 1 oz per 5000 gallons per week, so 1 oz per week from here on out. Should be more than enough to get me through the rest of the season. Ph seems to stay pretty stable. It lowered from 7.6 to 7.2 but I assumed that was from the sequestrant addition. I'll give it a while and see what it does I guess. Does keeping the ph low help contain the metals also?
 
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