Green/Yellow Pool not improving

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hellokelli

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Jul 14, 2017
28
Baton Rouge, LA
We opened our pool in April and did all the usual- started the pump, cleared out any debris. The pool was covered all winter. We do this every winter, but this year as been the hardest year to get the pool up and running. It just seems like it isn't responding to anything, and we have spent much longer trying to SLAM it than ever before. We have been keeping the FC high (well over 10) for several weeks now. The color nor clarity are not changing at all. Every morning it looks just as bad as before. And it seems to hold the FC level pretty good overnight, but still no where near blue. Can anyone offer any advice?

DSC_1689.jpg
Here are my levels that I checked last night:
FC: 43 (yes, you read that right)
CC: 0
pH: 7.4
CYA: 35
TA: 75
CH: 50 ( I know this needs to go up)
We also brought a sample to the local pinch-a-penny to have it tested for metals, none showed up. They just said phosphates were high.

We changed out the sand in our filter 3 summers ago. Could it be time for new sand now? Our pressure gauge on the filter isn't working, so that has me wondering if it's something with the filter. We bought a new pressure gauge and changed it out, but it still always reads zero pressure. We also changed out the multiport valve in april because we thought maybe that was the problem with the pressure, but it made no difference. We run the pump 24/7 on filter and backwash once a day.
 
Something seems odd if you've been doing a SLAM as you say for several weeks now. Algae simply cannot survive in highly chlorinated water balanced properly. Yours looks like lake water still. So let's back up a bit and go over some basic things to get the whole picture.
- How old is your K-2006 test kit?
- Can you describe how you got the FC number? Sample size, number of drops, etc?
- How are you chlorinating, and how did it get so high? Your SLAM FC level is only 16 based on a CYA of 40. FC/CYA Levels
- Even if something is wrong with the filter or sand, the water should be changing from the chlorine, so something is off.
- Have you added any other products to the water since winter closing? There appears to be blotches on the surface unless that's just reflections or something.

We may have to exchange info more than once, but we'll do your best to help get you back on track.
 
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Thank you for the reply!

My test kit was pretty old. At first (in april) I noticed that no matter how much chlorine I put in, the R-0870 wouldn't turn the water red. I kept adding more chlorine. This is part of why the FC level is so high. I purchased a new pack April 21st and suddenly it would turn red. The R-0871, that one I bought toward the end of last summer. It does eventually turn the water clear. I just checked the expiration date and it says 12-19. Wow, could that be the culprit?

The way I get my number is by filling up the cylinder up to the 10 mark, add in 2 level dippers of R-0870, then count the number of drops until the water is no longer red (with swirling in between). I then divide that number by 2.

I am chlorinating using 2.5 gallon jugs of liquid chlorine from pinch-a-penny. It got so high because at first my test wasn't working and I kept thinking I needed to add more chlorine. Now, normally we only use pinch-a-penny for their chlorine, because we have found that the simple method of slamming and balancing water on our own works better than anything they try to sell us. But after my chlorine was higher than shock level over a week and that wasn't showing any improvement I got desperate and tried asking pinch-a-penny for advice. They told me to "nuke" the pool, twice, with 7 jugs (17.5 gallons) of liquid chlorine each time, 48 hours apart. After I went back to them and told them it made no difference, they said they it should have worked and tried to sell me some additives or other stuff that I know has never worked before, so here I am.

The only thing added other than the liquid chlorine was 4 bags of "stop yellow" from pinch a penny. It's also possible mud or dirt has been added to it because my dog does get in it, but since the chlorine levels have been so high we have blocked off his entrance. So nothing should be getting in now.

There are bubbles/bits of foam floating on the surface. I am not sure what it is from, and the cloudiness of the pool has never been this bad. I can barely see maybe 2 inches down.
 
OK -- not good. But hopefully the bromide level is not high enough to require a drain and refill.
Let's ask @Donldson for his opinion.
 
Sodium bromide. Don't get me started on sodium bromide. It's really funny, if you put a bunch of copper in a pool with no chlorine it will kill algae. You'll staining everywhere, so don't do it, but the algaecide will indeed cide the algae. Do you know what happens if you put sodium bromide in a pool with no chlorine? Absolutely nothing. It isn't an algaecide. How it can be sold as such boggles my mind. It just turns chlorine in to bromine and somehow that's considered a legitimate way to fight algae.

Sorry, sorry, rant over. Ok, 12 ounces of bromide in to 25,000 gallons. If I'm doing my math right that should give you about 1.2 ppm bromide bank. That is right on 50/50 mark for causing trouble. See, bromine is not stabilized against sunlight like chlorine is with CYA. It doesn't burn off as fast as unstabilized chlorine, but much faster than chlorine in a pool following the FC/CYA chart. And as the bromine burns off, it reverts back to bromide and the chlorine instantly converts to bromine again. Bromine is kind of a first-in/last-out sanitizer. So you will always have some bromine in your pool at this point and it could cause issues with chlorine demand from burning off in the sunlight. However, 1 ppm is hit and miss at to whether it will cause any issues.

If, after clearing things up, you notice that you can pass an OCLT but are losing more than 4 ppm of chlorine during the day, then you will want to exchange some water. Return or dispose of those other two bags, they are not helping your pool and will make this "wait and see" issue in to a "major water change needed" one.
 
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It's been a week now. In that week we changed out the filter completely, went with a cartridge filter from doheney's, and the free chlorine level stayed above shock level the entire time. I didn't have to add any chlorine in the week, it has been holding steady at 19 for several days. We do not loose any over night, and none during the day either. I find that unusual, usually during the day it looses at least come FC. I haven't checked the ph or ta since the FC is so high I doubt it would be accurate, and I haven't added anything that would increase the CYA.

So all of that, and still no change in the color or clarity. The new filter has been running for 3 days now, round the clock. I really thought there would be at least some progress by now. Is there anything else I can do to see progress? ?
 

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Just popping in to say please keep your dog out of the pool until you get a handle on what is happening! 🐶
 
DSC_1701.JPG
Here is the water today. We got quite a bit of rain from a recent tropical storm, which seemed to make it look WORSE now. The FC was 10 today. My thought is that since it's been above shock for so long (month or more), my plan is to let it drop down to 4 so I can test the pH and see if maybe that is why it is so cloudy. I also read it could be cloudy from high FC. But I'm really at a loss right now, I'm just grasping at straws! I would greatly appreciate any advice!

We do not fill from a well, we have city water. However, the first year we moved into the house we filled it quite a bit with city water and found out the hard way our city water has iron in it. That year we had to use the sock method to remove the iron slowly, and it did work. Since then we have been very careful to not add water, we just wait for it to rain. This year we put the sock back on to see if maybe it could be iron again, but we aren't catching any rust looking stuff in the sock. We also had pinch-a-penny test for iron or other metals to be sure, and they said it was completely clear of metals.
 
You have been struggling for a while now. Take a look at this thread:

From brown to 😍😍. Thank you polyfil!

We filled our pool from our well. We knew the risks and knew we would have a battle when the water was 12" deep as it looked green from the metals. Our fears were confirmed when we added chlorine and the water turned brown almost immediately. Enter 5 gallon polyfil filter. It worked...
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
I like the idea of a barrel of polyfil. Does polyfil help anything other than metals?

And yes, it is foaming somewhat. It has bubbles on the surface. We also have our return pipe aerating, so that could be part of it. Here is another photo where you can see it better:
DSC_1704-edit.jpg
 
How often are you able to test and raise FC? TO me from the pics, It looks like it needs more FC...
The pool seems well shaded, are you targeting SLAM Process level FC for CYA/40? Using FC/CYA Levels

I am catching up on your thread, I did see the discussion about the addition of Bromide and wondering if that is tying up the FC? So there is actually less fighting the algae?

hellokelli said:
I like the idea of a barrel of polyfil. Does polyfil help anything other than metals?
Click to expand...
Yes, because we use it in aquariums for different filtering reasons :) But for the pool, the size would not be as effective.
 
I have not had to add chlorine since over 2 weeks, it was over 20ppm and held overnight. It just now (yesterday) came down below my SLAM level for my CYA. I was testing it several times a day (at least 3), and it would hold steady the entire day. Just within the past 2 days it's started coming down. It went down from 10 to 7 overnight today, so it sort of seems like it was "locked" at high FC before and now somehow "unlocked". I do realize both 10 and 7 are below my SLAM level. My idea was to let it get down to 4 so I could test pH, TA accurately then start over with SLAM. If this is a bad idea, please, I'm all ears and willing to change it.

Is there a way to tell if Bromide is tying up FC? It certainly seems to me (with limited knowledge) like the chlorine hasn't been doing its job.

And I'm going to look into the ployfil filter method to see if we can't make something similar, cheaply.
 
There is no way your FC would not drop over a two week span. Something (maybe the bromine) is messing with your testing.

Why are you waiting for your FC to drop to 4 test pH? Once FC is 10 ppm or less, the pH test is valid.

I believe a 50% or greater water exchange to fresh is warranted.
 
hellokelli said:
I have not had to add chlorine since over 2 weeks, it was over 20ppm and held overnight. It just now (yesterday) came down below my SLAM level for my CYA. I was testing it several times a day (at least 3), and it would hold steady the entire day. Just within the past 2 days it's started coming down. It went down from 10 to 7 overnight today, so it sort of seems like it was "locked" at high FC before and now somehow "unlocked". I do realize both 10 and 7 are below my SLAM level. My idea was to let it get down to 4 so I could test pH, TA accurately then start over with SLAM. If this is a bad idea, please, I'm all ears and willing to change it.
Click to expand...
You can accurately test PH with FC of under 10 :) (as you seem to be aware).
Run your full set of tests and please share the results. I'm guessing you are going to need more liquid chlorine :)
If your CYA is slightly higher then tested, plus the known bromide addition, you might need a higher FC level
:edit: or what marty said ;)

hellokelli said:
Is there a way to tell if Bromide is tying up FC? It certainly seems to me (with limited knowledge) like the chlorine hasn't been doing its job.
Click to expand...
 

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