Leslie's says there's copper in the water

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A

Acropora1

New member
Aug 15, 2023
2
New England
Pool Size
25000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
I have a new plaster pool that was built this spring and put online in June in New England. It was filled with water that was trucked in. It was converted to saltwater at the beginning of July. The pool is roughly 25,000 gallons, saltwater and has a heat pump and cartridge filter. Initial plaster protocol was followed for a month, daily scrubbing 2-3x and addition of muriatic to maintain the pH between 7.4-7.6. We did have an issue with the pool guys somehow dropping the pH and alkalinity when they added the salt and cya, Im guessing they added muriatic as well or the cya just really killed the alk. Alk dropped to around 40, pH dropped to 6.8. Was told to keep brushing sides, but after 3 days of brushing with only slight increases in alk and pH I added Leslies pH increaser (supposedly just bicarb) to bring it back over 80. Tests at this time showed copper at 0.2ppm. One week later 0.3ppm, and just recently, about 3 weeks later 0.4ppm. During this time pH has been 7.4-7.8 with muriatic acid additions every other day or so. Alkalinity did dip to around 50 after we got 6" in rain in a week that required a few water level lowering sessions in between storms. Salinity has dropped from 3200 to 3000, but still in range for the salt cell. Alkalinity has been brought back up to 80 with Leslies pH increaser after the storms were over and the water level was decent. I have not added anything else chemical-wise, except a little bit of thiosulfate back in July to lower chlorine because the swg was initially set way too high.
So my questions are:
-Where could have the copper come from? Even if the water was a "corrosive" for 3 days, the heat pump is titanium not copper. No algaecide
-Are Leslies tests even accurate for copper? Their tests are usually way way off for salt, chlorine and calcium hardness compared to my taylor tests, and somewhat similar for alkalinity. Im hesitant to spend a ton of money on correction if their tests are not reliable.
-They may have used some sequestering product during the fill up, Im not sure, but if they did, could that be losing its effectiveness after a month and now releasing copper back into the water?
-Whats the best course of action to take to remove/sequester the copper? A drain and refill is not an option, besides the ridiculous cost to do it, the ground is so saturated with water. Leslies suggested culator, but I haven't done anything yet.
Oh current values
FC 4 taylor 2.5 Leslies
pH 7.6 taylor 7.4 Leslies
TA 80 taylor 70 Leslies
CH 275 Taylor 201 Leslies
Iron 0.2 Leslies
Copper 0.4 Leslies
CYA 49 Leslies
Thanks
 
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Welcome to TFP! :wave: You are right to be skeptical about pool store testing, to include iron/copper levels. Sometimes we go there for metal testing as those kits can be a bit pricey, but the local store testing is still questionable at best. The fact you have not added any copper algaecides and have a titanium heater core also makes their numbers questionable. Since you have an SWG, we can assume you have no auxiliary mineral system in your equipment.

For now I would say continue with normal operations. "IF" there is copper in the water, your only way to remove or lower its content is water exchange. You will probably change some of it soon as part of your winter prep, so that would help. You might check with your local city/county water authorities if anyone is aware of elevated copper levels in the water.

But for now, be sure to test your own water with a TF-Series test kit (link in my signature) or Taylor K-2006C. That's the only way to care for your pool. Stay far away form the pool store unless you need some very basic like chlorine, acid, or a pool toy.

Be sure to bookmark our Pool Care Basics and let us know if you have any questions. Enjoy the forum. :swim:
 
Welcome to TFP.

I would take your pool water to two or three other pool stores and see what their tests for copper tell you. You never know how well they handle your water sample or clean their machine between tests.

Some people say CuLator works and many say it does not.

If you truly have copper in your water then you can sequestor it or drain the pool to remove it. If you don't have any copper staining or blonde hair going green then the copper in your pool may not be a real problem.

Copper in Pool Water - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
Thanks for your responses. I did open the filter and I did not see any blue spots on the cartridge. We got another big round of thunderstorms and I had to drain another 2.5-3” from the pool. Brought water to be tested in two places. Got results of the copper being 0.2 at Leslie’s and 0.1 at the other place. Iron went down to 0.1 at Leslie’s and 0 at the other place. It’s unlikely that 3” of rain would dilute the copper and Iron 50% or more so I’m guessing the results are just wildly inaccurate. The results for both places were quite different from each other in all other parameters as well except chlorine, which was a full 1ppm lower than my Taylor test, so Im not really sure where to go from there.
 
Still a mystery as to where the metals may have come from. :scratch: Perhaps it has something to do with the source of where the truck obtained the water you had delivered. In either case, all you can do is move forward. Between the recent rains and upcoming winter prep, hopefully any metals will become further reduced and no longer be an issue for next season. Fingers crossed.
 
Hint - just aerate when you need to increase PH, or use regular baking soda if you are also trying to increase TA. You don’t need to spend extra money for the pool store label.
 
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