Green, Green, Green! Help!

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C

CRC

0
May 3, 2015
11
Alabaster/AL
Help! Our pool is still green after shocking!
We we bought our house as foreclosure 9 years ago. Initially, we used tri-chlor and di-chlor, then went to a SWP. Loved our SW pool! Well, cell went bad then board got struck by lightning. Last year, we went back to chlorine for $$ reasons. Pool turned bright orange when opened (shocked) for summer. Got orange out of water, but could not get off liner or anything else. We found info on your site about using citric acid and followed directions. Worked! This year, we went out of town for 1 week. Hadn't opened pool, but was not covered over winter. Came home to green, green pool. Shocked with di-chlor since CYA not high. Wrong idea. Faint orange ring on fixtures and around pool. Yikes! not again. Started researching.

Today, I decided to SLAM pool. No more tri-clor or di-chlor. Brushed down pool, backwashed. CYA very high, but read where someone had theirs around 200 and still used bleach to rid algae, ours is 120. Used FC -CYA chart and figured need 7 bottles, 2quarts of 121 oz, 8.25% bleach. Brushed pool again, backwashed, added 8 bottles of bleach. Waited 30 minutes - tested FC. Yikes! I could not get the test to turn back to white. By drop 72 of R-0871 the color turned dart violet, well, kept counting and swirling. I got to drop 90 and stopped. Ridiculous to continue.

At this point, I don't know what to do.
I would be so appreciative of any recommendations!

Found your site last year, it is awesome!

last test with Taylor kit late last night
CYA - 120,
FC - 8,
CC- .4,
PH- 7.4,
TA - 40
 
Welcome to TFP!

How did you get the CYA of 120ppm? You really should replace water to lower this first.

Also are you using a 10ml water sample for the FAS-DPD chlorine test, so each drop is 0.5ppm?
 
Thanks for your reply!

I had read on a thread that it was recommended to use 1/2 pool and 1/2 tap water when reading was too high to read. I got 60 so multiplied by 2.

For the chlorine test I used 25ml of water.

We initially drained pool down to first step and got the CYA down to the high end of normal range. Then my husband shocked with Di-chlor and we were using tri-chlor tablets. Once he shocked - yikes!! it spiked again.

Draining again, wow, I am afraid to see our bill, but if must... guess we will. Hate to waste the chlorine I just dumped in there.

Your thoughts?

Thanks!
 
Hi CRC, welcome to the forum.

That Dichlor is raising your Cya level, so you ought to consider another form of Chlorine. You need to SLAM your pool. Take a look at the link in my sig line for the info. While your browsing, take a visit to the ABCs in pool school to get started. It will help.
 
Thanks Patrick_B!

Thanks to TFP forums we realized that Tri-chlor and Di-clor was our high CYA problem!

We started SLAM today after reading your link couple of days ago. Jason recommended draining pool down to lower CYA (we just did this 2 weeks ago but made the mistake of shocking with Di-clor after refilling - ooops!!!). Live and learn. Guess tomorrow I should start vacuuming to waste water and begin draining again. I will also visit the ABC's of Pool Chemistry!!
 
Hey, good deal. That's a plan, as you don't want to slam with that level of Cya. If you run into questions, don't hesitate to ask. We'll be here to help as long as you feel like learning. Just let us know.
 
Welcome to TFP.

Sometimes we learn from our biggest mistakes n sometimes not. Reading Pool School will help you immensely understand what and why things were happening in your pool. You also seem to have a metal problem.
 
Thank you Casey.
Yes, last year we became aware of the metal problem. We started researching on TFP. Found out that if your CYA gets too high and you don't keep on eye on the other levels - the metals in the water will leach out and attach to surfaces. At this point, not sure if rust or other. If rust, guess it is coming from somewhere we are unable to access to fix. Does that mean we will have to start adding metal out products to maintain? We tried putting a camper filter on our hose last time we drained down and filled (wondered if something in our fill water). Don't think it made a difference.

What are your thoughts?
Thanks for your time!
 
You'll need a sequesterant. Do you have well water?
 

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Don't feel bad.... I once poured five bags of shock, over about three days, into my 7000 gallon AGP and wondered why it wasn't killing the algae. I never realized that most shock had CYA in it till I read it here. I think those bags of shock can be OK if you want to raise your CYA in small increments without going to the expense of buying stabilizer but otherwise I'd stay away, from what I've been told.
 
Patrick_B,

That is good to know.

Our pool is now blue and very cloudy. Yesterday, it was blue and cloudy after the night before adding 8, 121 oz jugs of 8.75% bleach. I cleaned skimmer, backwashed and vacuumed to waste over and over again until water was almost to second step. Then filled pool back up.

Here are my readings from this morning (Taylor kit).

hardness - 120
FC - 17
pH - 7.4
TA - 80
CYA - 70

Do you recommend bringing levels to normal range at this point? I am going to brush and vacuum again (just to be safe). Would bringing the pool to normal levels take care of the cloudiness?

Thanks for your help!
 
Ok. Thanks!
I will use the FC-CYA chart and then Pool Math to figure how much I need.

Is it ok to add the required bleach to continue SLAM during the day while sun is on the pool- or will this eat up the bleach/chlorine? There will be partial shade over pool by approx 2:00 - safe then?? Or is it best to wait till night?
 
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