Dish soap turned algae bloom?

[tacys_lane]

Helping out my sister. . .

Our kids went a LOT nuts with a dish soap bubbles recipe last week and long story short it looks like about a gallon of dawn dishsoap ended up in her 15000 gal in ground pool.

Fast forward to today, it's completely green. Getting ready to start a slam, or should we consider draining?

I'm unsure if dawn soap and it's constituents can be treated with liquid chlorine.

Thanks


Tacy

 

[mknauss]

The soap did not turn it green. No chlorine does that.

I suspect the pump is not working very well with the surfactant in the water. You may want to consider draining. What type of pool is it?

 

[tacys_lane]

I calculated it's a rectangle diving pool, approx 15000 gal pool. In-ground, pebble tech. In Chandler AZ. Filter is DE.

 

[mknauss]

Have they checked the filter pressure? It may be plugged up.

 

[tacys_lane]

Have they checked the filter pressure? It may be plugged up.

 

[tacys_lane]

Looks like it's hanging around at 12psi

 

[mknauss]

What is clean filter pressure?

You can try using chlorine to break down the surfactants. It will eventually work.

 

[tacys_lane]

I'm not too sure. She uses a pool service typically, but they are out of town and I'm house sitting for her. Figured I would take a stab at rectifying the green monster.

Walmart near me has 10% bleach for 2 bucks a gallon. So guess I will go buy a dozen or so bottles and start a slam. See of I can breakdown all that dishsoap along with the algae.

 

[mknauss]

You most likely will need more than 10 gallons but a good start.

Do you have a test kit that will give you CYA level? And a FAS-DPD for FC? Also, lower the pH to 7.2 before you start.

 

[tacys_lane]

I do have both of those, but down in Tucson, not here with me... ?

I'm gonna try to do it by the pool calculator, assuming everything (cya, pH, etc) is high. And if it doesn't work, I'll let my sister handle it with her pool service when she gets home next week.

By my calculations 4 gallons 10% should get the pool from 0 to 30FC, guess I'll start with 5 gal for good measure.

I'm going rogue!!

 

[mknauss]

You can try. If she uses a pool service and pucks, there is a good chance the CYA is well north of 100 this time of year. Probably going to need to drain it anyway. I bet her pool service will tell her she has 'chlorine lock' or 'high TDS'. Typicaly excuses for poor water chemistry maintenance.

 

[tacys_lane]

The high cya is very likely the case, since her pool guy only comes once a week. My sister and her family do no independent maintenance. I had to go buy a pool brush, and leaf skimmer for their empty pool pole, they don't have any tools to speak of.

 

[proavia]

In addition to the CYA being high, I bet the CH is also high. May be better to do a drain/refill and start off with fresh water. You may still need to SLAM, but it should go quicker.

 

[tacys_lane]

Ok well.... I'm two days into my slam. Probably slamming extra hard (hanging out around at least 30 FC) since I'm without my trusty testing kit, and I'm just going by the math and erring on the high side. Water IS clearing up however, albeit slowly. Green is closer to blue. Bottom is starting to emerge. Pictures tomorrow.

So far I'm 2 days and 22 gallons of 10% chlorine in. The first day I added 5 at 7AM, 4 at noon and 4 at 9pm. Day 2 I added 4 at 8AM 2 at noon and 4 tonight at 8pm.

Pool math gives me 4 gal to get to 30 FC in a 15000 gal pool. Here are my two questions.

The CYA is certainly sky high, if I wanna TRY a pool store to test it, I know their machines run only so high with cya levels. So . . . 3 questions:

Could I dilute the pool water to tap water 1:4 or 1:8 and try the pool store just for cya numbers? Anyone in Gilbert, AZ know a quasi reliable pool water testing store nearby (or wanna invite me over to use their kit???)

Is there a significant risk to the pool tile, pebble tech surface or pump and filter running FC above 30 for a long slam?

What can I do to test pH without a kit (mid slam now)? I've got no clue on that number at all, I'm just acting as though it's 8.0.

 

[mknauss]

I have no idea on a pool store. You can try a 1:4 but I still would not believe the data. Up to you. Does not really matter if it is over 70 or so. You will not clear the pool if it is higher than that.

pH testing is invalid with FC above 10.

High FC will not harm any of the surfaces you have.

 

[tacys_lane]

So I've gotten it to here. . . Blue, not green. I'm gonna let the filter run through the day, see what it can do for the clarity. . . 26 gallons of 10% chlorine into the thing!!

 

[tacys_lane]

Ok, water is clear, I'm taking a sample down to the pool store today just to try to get an idea of what my final numbers are.

 

[tacys_lane]

Thanks for the advice and the community, you guys are great!!