New Sand - brown/green water

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Bensnorman

0
Jul 15, 2016
17
Lexington, south carolina
I put new sand in my filter a week ago. It was only off for a day while I was working and redoing some plumbing. After I turned the filter on, my water was brown by the end of day.

I've balanced everything perfectly and used algaecide because it turned green. It's currently green/brown but all the chemicals are perfect. I can't figure out what's going on. It's been running nonstop for 4 days.

Do I just give it more time?
Thanks
 
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Sorry, but terms like "chemicals are perfect" really do us no good. We like numbers.

What test kit are you using?
Please post up a full set of test results.

A pool turning green is a chemistry problem, not a filter problem.
Also, we rarely ever recommend the use of algaecides ... they are a preventative (not needed with adequate FC) and are not meant to try to clear up a problem.
 
My apologies.

I do not have the Taylor test kit I see referenced in here a lot. I'm currently using a pool master 22270-5-way test kit from Amazon.

As of this morning:
FC = 5
CC = 5
pH = 7.6
TA = 100

I have a 30k gallon in ground vinyl pool with all brand new hayward equipment.

I had no issues until I put the new sand in, which turned the water mostly brown. Since then, ive worked with it more and it's turned into a bale brown greenish color. I've been running it for about 4 days with not much change.

Any information is much appreciated

I apologize for the confusion and hope this helps.

And I am hoping to purchase a Taylor test kit soon.
 
Thanks for the information.

I've just started exploring the idea of SLAM and how useful it is.
I have been researching all day and am now shuttering at the thought of adding all the useless "pool store chemicals" I added this week.

My Taylor k2006 is on the way and I am waiting with bleach on hand to get this pool back up
 
My Taylor k2006 is on the way and I am waiting with bleach on hand to get this pool back up
Click to expand...

Good Decision.

Is that the K2006 with the 0.75 oz bottles of reagent? If so, order refills now for the FAS-DPD and CYA reagents from TFTestkits.net. You will blow through the tiny amounts in that kit very fast.

Take care.
 
I just want to double check this, did you use #20 grade pool sand??
The turning brown has me a little worried the wrong sand was used or something is wrong with the filter and the media is blowing back into the pool

I agree with all the other comments btw, your decent test kit is needed asap to clear that algae
Post up all the results once it arrives so we can get it sorted together
 
Update:

I received my Taylor test kit and found my CYA to be around 120-140ppm. The kit doesn't test over 100ppm, so I used half pool water and half tap water and doubled the results.

I am so upset with myself for letting the cya get that high. I was just following clorox's ideal range of 100pm. But then all the clarifier, algaecide, and "blue shock" made my cya skyrocket(if I had only known then what I know now).

Today I drained about a 1.5-2ft of water out and am currently refilling.

I know it's going to be very difficult to get the cya down enough to attempt a successful SLAM.

My numbers as of this morning before the partial drain were as follows:
FC: 15
CC: 1
pH: 7.4
TA: 120
CYA: 120-140

I guess I have two questions moving forward:

1) Should I just continue to drain/refill until I get cya down to 50pp?

2) Should I continue to add bleach while I'm draining/refilling just so the algae does continue to take over?

Everyone who has seen it keeps saying it might be mustard algae and I need floc. But they also do not use the TFP method.

I am open to all advice and suggestions. Thank you guys so much for all the help so far!
 
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Please fill out your signature with your pool and Equipment details. I don't know how large your pool is. I would certainly continue to drain and refill to get to the CYA lower and you can add some amount of bleach to keep the algae at Bay.
 

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Which products have you been using normally, and what have you added recently? You mention Clorox... did you use any of those Blue products? If so, you've added copper to your water which isn't a great thing. Copper turns hair green and causes stains to pools.

You might want to consider draining a significant amount of pool water and refilling if your problems persist.

Maddie :flower:
 
Update:
My numbers as of this morning, first morning after partial drain, were as follows:
FC: 19
CC: 1
pH: 7.4
TA: 100
CYA: 100

40-50 cya is my overall target, but I may try to slam if I can get it down to 70-since the season is coming to an end here.


To answer the above question, I had been using garbage Clorox brand everything prior to going TFP. I put a lot of the "recommended" blue stuff in there.

What are the thoughts on attempting a SLAM at or around 70 ppm CYA?
 
It can be done but of course will take a lot more liquid chlorine.

I'm an hour south of you and don't believe the season is coming to an end.... i'm hoping for a nice Indian summer up to early October.

Do you close your pool?

Maddie :flower:
 
Maddie,
I don't mean ending as in next week or anything, just that it's winding down. And the water I've been adding during the partial drains is 65F so it's brought my temp down to low 70s. Glad to know of other TFPer(s) nearby! :)

PA girl,
This all started because I went on vacation on the person I had watching my pool went to go drain some water out because we had a lot of storms that week. Well, he successfully drained to waste, but only turned the filter back to backwash. So I lost a lot of sand(which was already old from previous owners) and the lateral assembly inside the filter had completely snapped in half.

So that is how this all began.
I had the filter off for about a day while I was doing all this work. After I backwashed and rinsed, I let the filer run continually. By the end of the day, the water was brown.

I used the pool store's recommended #20 sand. But somehow between the pump being off and new sand, I ended up with a brown/green pool in just a day. I used pool store "recommendations" to try to get it back to normal at first. Then I got desperate and found this forum, of which I am incredibly grateful.

I have switched to BBB and after 2 partial drains, bleach, and a good test kit, my pool is looking much better than it did two weeks ago.

Still not quite there, but hopefully all will be back to normal soon.
 
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