Instant Green water before your eyes

[DustBunny]

Hello all, first post here. I’m a new member as well as a new (to me) pool owner. My wife and I just moved to Olive Branch, MS and the house we bought came with a 15,000gal in ground, SWG gunite pool. Over the last few weeks of winter when we moved in, I learned which pumps/ lines control which feature of the pool, learned about backwashing, brushing, and vacuuming. It’s been a lot of fun learning something new. As the weather’s been getting warmer I have known it is finally time to learn to tackle the beast that is water testing/balancing. I used the TFP kit left behind graciously by the previous owner, all dyes and reagents seem to still be within their shelf life. Initial results were:
FC- ~0
PH- 8.0
TA- 100
Cya- <30 (though I’m guessing 0)
Calcium- 80
Temp- 71°
So first order of business was to get the algae fighting stuff done first. Went to Home Depot and got 2 of their 10% pool chlorinator jugs ( $4/gal) which was less expensive than buying 4 of the 6% Clorox they had for sale, though I plan to try to find different bleach prices at Walmart or Aldi. I also picked up 2 bags of the clorox cya stabilizer. Went home and added a whole gallon of the 10% and one bag of the cya. Before my very eyes the clear blue water I added it to turned to emerald, but still very clear. Just sharing this for anyone in the same situation. Thanks to consulting these forums, I didn’t go chasing my tail trying to blue up the water with any additives like Metal Free or ANYTHING. The one takeaway from the posts I could find from people in my situation was to WAIT IT OUT! Apparently it’s the chlorine reacting with trace metals, although I’m uncertain if I am dealing with iron or copper. The bond or reaction they are undergoing is temporary and they will “precipitate” out. Sorry for butchering this explanation, all you chem nerds out there . Attached you can see the before and after, after waiting about 48hrs. Now time to go get some calcium and mya. Remember, WAIT IT OUT, DONT FREAK OUT!

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP Bunny.

A few tips that you may find helpful.

Stay away from Clorox bleach for your pool. I think you will find just about all of it says it contains Cloromax Technology which are polymers that cause foaming and are not suitable for the pool.

Have you downloaded the PoolMath app? It woudl have told you that adding 10% chlorine to your 15,000 gallon pool would have raised your FC by 6 ppm. That is a lot when you have no CYA in the water. Refer to...

The Free Chlorine and Cyanuric Acid Relationship

Managing your cyanuric acid and Free Chlorine levels is key to stabilizing your pool. Learn how these two items affect each other.

www.troublefreepool.com

You should be adding about 3 ppm a day of liquid chlorine which is about 1/2 gallon. So expect to go through 2 gallons of liquid chlorine a week.

Let us know how your water color changes.

 

[zea3]

Hi, welcome to TFP! So are you back to blue now with just filtering 24/7?

 

[DustBunny]

Welcome to TFP Bunny.

A few tips that you may find helpful.

Stay away from Clorox bleach for your pool. I think you will find just about all of it says it contains Cloromax Technology which are polymers that cause foaming and are not suitable for the pool.

Have you downloaded the PoolMath app? It woudl have told you that adding 10% chlorine to your 15,000 gallon pool would have raised your FC by 6 ppm. That is a lot when you have no CYA in the water. Refer to...

The Free Chlorine and Cyanuric Acid Relationship

Managing your cyanuric acid and Free Chlorine levels is key to stabilizing your pool. Learn how these two items affect each other.

www.troublefreepool.com

You should be adding about 3 ppm a day of liquid chlorine which is about 1/2 gallon. So expect to go through 2 gallons of liquid chlorine a week.

Let us know how your water color changes.

Thanks for the info! And appreciate the insight on Clorox bleach. Just viewed the chart and it justifies what I added, as I did use the Pool Math app. I was shooting to raise CYA over 30 and to get somewhere between 3-6ppm of FC. I wonder if the green reaction came from simultaneously adding both chems at once while both CYA and FC were 0. Other members have mentioned this happening only when opening the pool and it doesn’t recur when just maintaining. Also just set the SWG to 55%, hopefully that will reduce the amount you suggested I add daily. Hoping do reduce to just 1-2x/week at most considering the SWG. Will test my numbers tomorrow probably and start doing that Sundays and maybe also Wednesdays in the early stages of learning how well I’m holding FC. Not sure if you saw my attached pics but the water is back to perfect crystal clear after just waiting for the green to “precipitate” out.
Best

 

[DustBunny]

Hi, welcome to TFP! So are you back to blue now with just filtering 24/7?

Yep just filtering 8hrs/day actually from 11am-7pm. I did however just adjust to run for 9 hours starting at 10am because that’s when the sun is getting directly on my pool. I took the “leap” of faith to just do nothing about the green, and glad I did. Seeing as it wasn’t an algae problem it was a chemical reaction. It’s back to crystal clear and I’ll be swimming today! 85° and sunny out here in MS!

 

[kellyfair]

Glad it cleared! Go slow with your CYA - better to add in increments than to overshoot and end up with too much.

 

[DustBunny]

Glad it cleared! Go slow with your CYA - better to add in increments than to overshoot and end up with too much.

So i’ve been told, i’ll definitely use the “can always add more” method. Thanks!

 

[ajw22]

Thanks for the info! And appreciate the insight on Clorox bleach. Just viewed the chart and it justifies what I added, as I did use the Pool Math app. I was shooting to raise CYA over 30 and to get somewhere between 3-6ppm of FC. I wonder if the green reaction came from simultaneously adding both chems at once while both CYA and FC were 0.

Dry stabilizer takes 48 hours or more to dissolve and distribute through the water depending on how you add it. So while you added chlorine and stabilizer at the same time the liquid chlorine disperses in about 15 minutes into what is effectively 0 CYA water.

Also just set the SWG to 55%, hopefully that will reduce the amount you suggested I add daily. Hoping do reduce to just 1-2x/week at most considering the SWG.

It would help the conversation if your signature showed all of your pool equipment.

With a properly sized and operating SWG you should not need to add in any liquid chlorine. But I don't know what SWG you have to comment further.

 

[DustBunny]

Dry stabilizer takes 48 hours or more to dissolve and distribute through the water depending on how you add it. So while you added chlorine and stabilizer at the same time the liquid chlorine disperses in about 15 minutes into what is effectively 0 CYA water.



It would help the conversation if your signature showed all of your pool equipment.

With a properly sized and operating SWG you should not need to add in any liquid chlorine. But I don't know what SWG you have to comment further.

Went with half the bag in each skimmer and that makes total sense about the chlorine dissolving into essentially 0 cya water. I just updated my signature to include the Hayward Aqua Plus SWG although I’m unsure of the exact model/size. It doesn’t appear to be marked anywhere to indicate that. And the manual i have for it is an all-in-one showing various models.

 

[ajw22]

In the future we recommend adding dry stabilizer using the sock method.

Solid/granular cyanuric acid (CYA) should be placed in a sock and the sock put in the skimmer basket or suspended in front of a pool return. After adding CYA you should leave the pump running for 24 hours and not backwash/clean the filter for a week. Squeezing the sock periodically will help it to dissolve faster. Test and dose chemicals in your pool assuming the amount of CYA added is in the pool according to Poolmath. CYA can be tested the day after it is fully dissolved from the sock.

Recommended Pool Chemicals

Which should I buy? TFP's recommended pool chemicals are cheap, easy, and won't unbalance your pool water.

www.troublefreepool.com

Knowing the size T cell your SWG has is important for discussions about it. Look for a T-XX number on the cell.

What filter do you have?

What pump do you have?

 

[Mdragger88]

Hey neighbor! Welcome to tfp
@ajw22 has you all covered

To be a sure you don’t have any organics you can always do an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test with your swg off.
As for a liquid chlorine source - If you go near Southaven much, Smith pools on airways sells 10.5% in 2.5 gal refillable jugs For cheaper per gal than walmart or Home Depot & it’s always been pretty fresh for me.
I am just the bleach lady there I think they know better than to ask if i need anything else. Although i have purchased salt, sand ,other odds & ends there -i do like supporting small businesses when possible.
It’s possible your water comes from the artesian wells like Memphis if you are on OB city water. Other members near here have had some metals issues although i never have. It’s also possible before the pool was maintained the tfp way some sort of copper containing products were used. A pool store can test for these so u know where u stand.
Glad you’re here & what a nice looking pool!

 

[DustBunny]

Hey neighbor! Welcome to tfp
@ajw22 has you all covered

To be a sure you don’t have any organics you can always do an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test with your swg off.
As for a liquid chlorine source - If you go near Southaven much, Smith pools on airways sells 10.5% in 2.5 gal refillable jugs For cheaper per gal than walmart or Home Depot & it’s always been pretty fresh for me.
I am just the bleach lady there I think they know better than to ask if i need anything else. Although i have purchased salt, sand ,other odds & ends there -i do like supporting small businesses when possible.
It’s possible your water comes from the artesian wells like Memphis if you are on OB city water. Other members near here have had some metals issues although i never have. It’s also possible before the pool was maintained the tfp way some sort of copper containing products were used. A pool store can test for these so u know where u stand.
Glad you’re here & what a nice looking pool!

Thanks, Bleach Lady! I’ll have to check them out, thanks for the recommendation! I’ve been planning on going to have my water tested at Duvall Pool, to compare their readings to mine, maybe that will give me some insight on whether or not trace metals are present. Not positive of the source of our water, having just moved from East Memphis to OB. It does seem to taste the same, i’ll look into that. Love the artesian wells here! Some of the world’s best water!