Algaecide and Sodium Bicarbonate turned water green!!

[poolnovice19]

Today I went out and added Algaecide and Sodium Bicarbonate to a pool, the pool was blue before and just had a few green areas. Now the water has turned green. Not sure why, I listed the chemical readings below:

Total Hardness: 250
Total Chlorine: 0
Total Bromine: 0
Free Chlorine: 0
PH: 6.2
Total Alkalinity: 40
Cyanuric Acid:100

Why did it turn green? Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

 

[JamesW]

Picture of algaecide label?

 

[poolnovice19]

My Cyanuric Acid levels are at 100, should I stop using chlorine tablets if I can't drain the water (I am in a drought zone) since the Cyanuric Acid is high? Is it better not to use them? Will the bleach get depleted? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[JamesW]

ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry

Overnight Chlorine Loss Test

SLAM Process

PoolMath

FC/CYA Levels

Test Kits Compared

Recommended Levels

Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[poolnovice19]

Thanks for the resources! I attached the label of the one I use.

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum!
For sustained use, you should be using bleach / liquid chlorine or a SWCG to add your chlorine.
You need to follow the FC/CYA Levels.
How are you testing your pool water chemistry?
I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry.

 

[JamesW]

Showing the ingredients?

 

[mknauss]

That is granular trichlor. It adds cyanuric acid, chlorine, and is very acidic.

 

[TampaKathy]

If you create a signature listing everything about your pool (see Marty's and mine as examples) it will help people answer questions.

 

[JamesW]

It looks like pure trichlor.

Most likely, you have had a reaction with iron in the water.

Do you have pictures of the water?

You never want to add two different chemicals at the same time.

What are all of the chemistry readings?

 

[poolnovice19]

It looks like pure trichlor.

Most likely, you have had a reaction with iron in the water.

Do you have pictures of the water?

You never want to add two different chemicals at the same time.

What are all of the chemistry readings?

Whoops sorry didn't realize the other picture didn't upload! I use the Aquachek testing strips so those are the only chem readings I have
Total Hardness: 250
Total Chlorine: 0
Total Bromine: 0
Free Chlorine: 0
PH: 6.2
Total Alkalinity: 40
Cyanuric Acid:100

I attached a picture of the pool before but have to take one of the green tomorrow morning...I did order some testing strips that test the iron but they haven't arrived yet. I really appreciate the help! Also I read through the resources you provided and I saw that I have to wait 10min in between each chem, which I will now be implementing!

 

[poolnovice19]

That is granular trichlor. It adds cyanuric acid, chlorine, and is very acidic.

Would this acidity in it cause the pool to turn green when mixing it with Sodium Bicarbonate?

 

[Bperry]

Would this acidity in it cause the pool to turn green when mixing it with Sodium Bicarbonate?

Are you in the pool maintenance or building industry? The test strips are likely a big problem.

 

[poolnovice19]

Welcome to the forum!
For sustained use, you should be using bleach / liquid chlorine or a SWCG to add your chlorine.
You need to follow the FC/CYA Levels.
How are you testing your pool water chemistry?
I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry.

Thank you for the welcome! I am testing it with the Aquachek 7-Way Test Strips but I read through the material and saw that I should probably get a different testing kit. Would it be best for me to stop using the chlorine tablets? These are my chem #'s:
Total Hardness: 250
Total Chlorine: 0
Total Bromine: 0
Free Chlorine: 0
PH: 6.2
Total Alkalinity: 40
Cyanuric Acid:100

 

[mknauss]

As you do not know what your water chemistry is by using strips, I would suggest you add about 3-5 ppm FC per day using liquid chlorine until you get a test kit to properly measure your pool water chemistry.

It is very likely you will need to drain some of your pool water. And if your FC is as low as you show, you likely have algae.

 

[poolnovice19]

Are you in the pool maintenance or building industry? The test strips are likely a big problem.

I'm a newbie in the pool maintenance industry! I read I should probably using a different testing kit and I ordered the recommended one. Should I be testing the pool with that every week?

 

[poolnovice19]

What is the difference between light soda ash and dense soda ash? Do I have to up my dosage with the light soda ash vs the dense soda ash?

 

[JamesW]

Until you get a good test kit, I would not have any confidence in those readings.

They are in ranges that create a lot of false or misleading values.

How did you allow the pH to get so low?

When was the last time you tested and what were the numbers?

 

[poolnovice19]

As you do not know what your water chemistry is by using strips, I would suggest you add about 3-5 ppm FC per day using liquid chlorine until you get a test kit to properly measure your pool water chemistry.

It is very likely you will need to drain some of your pool water. And if your FC is as low as you show, you likely have algae.

Ahh yeah I am going to have to time the draining as we are in a drought at the moment but I have been dosing it with LC, I'm just not sure if I should leave the Chlorine tablets in the floaters or take them out...?

 

[poolnovice19]

Until you get a good test kit, I would not have any confidence in those readings.

They are in ranges that create a lot of false or misleading values.

How did you allow the pH to get so low?

When was the last time you tested and what were the numbers?

Honestly I just got my pools off of someone else and I think they were dosing wrong, they told me they would dump huge amounts of shock into the pool every time they went to service it and wouldn't test for anything. That sounded way wrong to me so I'm trying to see if I can get it back into the right readings without having to drain as we are in a drought right now...though it's seeming like it's not a possibility. The numbers above are from today, the last time I tested them it was 11/8 but it was the same numbers. The time before that was 11/1 and these were the numbers:
Total Hardness:100
Total Chlorine:3
Total Bromine:3
Free Chlorine:1
PH:6.2
Total Alkalinity:120
Cyanuric Acid:100