It’s me again...

[mommytotwins]

Hi Friends!


Tell me how I’m doing! We’ve had rain EVERYDAY for about 3 weeks now and just had Alberto come through. I’ve been trying to keep my levels stable. I know I need bleach, but here is my readings from this morning.
CYA-40
FC- 1.5
CC- not present
PH- 7.4
TA- 100
CH- 200

What do I need to add? Is the CH the reason my daughters hair feels “crunchy” after they get out and why is their hair turning green? Lol!

Thanks ya’ll

 

[Mendy48]

Hello!!!

With a CYA of 40, use the FC/CYA chart in my signature to determine what your FC should be (add bleach-The plain stuff - no splashless, scents, or polymers. Plain only.no Clorox no cloromax). As far as your daughters hair turning green and crunchy, that's worrisome. I'm not sure if it could be ammonia or your CH level. I'll let the experts chime in here.

 

[Texas Splash]

why is their hair turning green?

My guess - copper. How have you been typically chlorinating? Have you been using ANY products with the word "Blue" in them? Any algaecides? Refresh our memory … did you just take-over the pool? If you go out today, take a water sample to the pool store and let them do a free test. Ignore all the regular testing stuff and just smile , but focus on the iron/copper readings. Let us know what it says.

Any dark staining starting to show up around the pool anywhere?

 

[Divin Dave]

Hi,
Your numbers are OK except for FC. You need to add some bleach and get it up to about 5 to 6 ppm.

Blonde hair turning green is because of copper in the water. The major source of copper is algaecide. The other most likely source, which I doubt you have, is a water bonding system, where a sizeable chunk of copper is in direct contact with the pool water. Pool Heaters with copper piping - yup.

It happens to blond haired dogs too and if you've never seen a green dog, well let me tell ya, it's hilarious as all get out!

A thorough washing of the kids hair with Ketchup will get the green out. A rinse and repeat may be needed.
Pics are required! haha.

The "crunchy" most likely is because being in the pool removes the natural oils in hair. At shampoo time, after the ketchup treatment, use a conditioner for dry hair and it will be just fine.

 

[mommytotwins]

We built the pool about 3 years ago but always let the pool guys do the work. This year I want to be smarter! I’ve had copper in years past. I didn’t realize it was because I used algaecide. Last year I had an algae problem that sprung up from nowhere and I spent lots of $$$ to clear it up before I closed the pool. I’ve always bought metal out from the pool stores. Is that what I need to get again?

 

[mommytotwins]

Any dark staining starting to show up around the pool anywhere?

I do have a couple tiny of brownish stains on the pool liner. I never put those together.

 

[Texas Splash]

Well, unfortunately when iron or copper get into the water, they don't just leave. :gone: You have two choices:
1 - A good water exchange. Maybe not all, but enough to make a difference and lower the copper content.
2 - Rely on the frequent use of a good sequestrant.

Depending on the amount of copper in the water, even both options above are required. But unfortunately I suspect that's your problem. Personally, I would recommend a healthy water exchange. It's up to you as to how much, but I'd consider about half to see if that resolves any hair or staining issues. You could still take a sample to the pool store to check what level they show. Anything over .3 becomes alarming. Now don't be totally surprised if the pool store doesn't show a high level of copper because we know how reliable their testing is , but sometimes once the chlorine is added it skews the reading a bit. But I'd still be curious to know.

 

[Divin Dave]

Jacks Magic, the Blue Stuff is a good product for removing copper from water. Its not exactly cheap, but its about as good a solution as there is short of draining the water and refilling.
http://jacksmagic.com/product/metal-solution-too-the-blue-stuff/

I would recommend, that you make a dilution plan, to ultimately be sure all the copper is outta the pool.

There are 2 options.
1. periodically drain x amount of water and refill. Thats the slow way and may take a year or more. Backwashing your filter regularly will eventually take care of this.

2. The fast way would be completely drain and refill, which most folks usually do not want to do.

Going forward, if you ever decide you need to add algaecide again, be sure to use a Non Copper Algaecide.
Look on the ingredients, and if the main ingredient is Poly.. something or other and ends with 60, then thats what you want.
We refer to it here at TFP as Polyquat 60.

The actual name of the stuff is like 39 letters long, and not even doctors can pronounce it properly and no body at all can spell it

hope this helps,

 

[mommytotwins]

Jacks Magic, the Blue Stuff is a good product for removing copper from water. Its not exactly cheap, but its about as good a solution as there is short of draining the water and refilling.
http://jacksmagic.com/product/metal-solution-too-the-blue-stuff/

I would recommend, that you make a dilution plan, to ultimately be sure all the copper is outta the pool.

There are 2 options.
1. periodically drain x amount of water and refill. Thats the slow way and may take a year or more. Backwashing your filter regularly will eventually take care of this.

2. The fast way would be completely drain and refill, which most folks usually do not want to do.

Going forward, if you ever decide you need to add algaecide again, be sure to use a Non Copper Algaecide.
Look on the ingredients, and if the main ingredient is Poly.. something or other and ends with 60, then thats what you want.
We refer to it here at TFP as Polyquat 60.

The actual name of the stuff is like 39 letters long, and not even doctors can pronounce it properly and no body at all can spell it

hope this helps,

Thanks!

I will get what you recommended. So why do they sell algaecide with copper in it if it’s so bad for the pool?

 

[bmoreswim]

Copper helps keep algae from forming. That’s its strong suit. It doesn’t do much to kill algae which is surprising to most. It’s also really good at turning hair green and emptying your wallet trying to fix it. The last one is really good for pool store profits. Nothing too mysterious, just not all beneficial to pool owners.