OCLT passed, water is getting clearer, but not blue

[FredFredrickson]

Looking for some advice. Using sand filter as shown in my signature. We have a pool that's unfortunately partially positioned under a big tree. We have also had iron problems in the past with the well water.

About a week ago we finally passed the OCLT and I've kept the chlorine high all week because it's at the grandparents and some days I don't make it over to clean.

Water has made a ton of progress, today is almost perfectly clear (see attached -- this is right before I vacuumed so there's stuff on the bottom but it's not cloudy)


Problem is it's been stalled at this color for a few weeks as clarity has cleared up.

Last week I ran it through a polyfill bucket overnight and to my surprise the polyfill didn't fill with rust as it did years past.

I'm wondering if this might be pollen that I'm dealing with. Here's a pic from my pool last year at around the same time of year:



Any ideas? Should I try poly fill again?

I know it's sacrilegious but I added an oz of clarifier to give the filter a little boost.

Obligatory test results:

FC 13
CYA 40
PH 7.6
TA 70

 

[zea3]

You may have iron but not enough to oxidize and turn the water brown. I am assuming you had to top off the water to get the pool up and running. Do you have any recent test results? If you are passing the OCLT then I would try adding some sequestrant and see if clears the water. What I think may be happening is that you added iron ladden water to the pool when it was topped off, but there wasn't enough iron to turn the water brown. Instead you got a little yellowish tinge that looks a bit greenish against the blue pool liner. There may be enough iron to see the color change if you get a clear glass and fill it with pool water and put a white piece of paper behind it.
Get a good metal sequestrant and dose the pool as directed on the label. If this is the issue you should see results within the day. Sequestrant needs to be dosed about once a month to keep any metal in solution. Check the label before you buy. Sequestrants based on HEDP, phosphonic acid, or phosphonic acid derivatives are the most effective.

 

[FredFredrickson]

Yes, we ended up adding maybe 60% to top it off for the season from the well. The color definitely reminds me of day two or three of the polyfill bucket method. What confuses me is that this year I did the polyfill bucket and it didn't really do anything at all. I have sequesterant on hand that I have never used because I heard you have to keep dosing it. Is there a possibility that low enough iron is just visible enough to look green against the background but not enough to get caught by polyfill?

If I use sequesterant does that preclude me trying the polyfill in the future?

 

[FredFredrickson]

So we just had a big rain storm just after I last posted, and here two days later the pool is looking different.


Definitely less green. I haven't had a chance to add sequesterant nor use the polyfill bucket again. I'm thinking this may have been at least partially pollen after all.

Still not the same blue as last year yet but at least we're making progress.