Pool Turned Brown Again!!

[Racingpools]

For the next 24 hrs or so, I'd just continue to maintain the FC of 20 as best as you can consistently and keep the filters stuffed with fresh paper towels since those seem to be working better.

I decided to wait til tomorrow to SLAM because I don’t have the availability to watch the FC levels today.
In the mean time, these are some pics of what I pulled from the skimmer box. Iron or Algae?

 

[Texas Splash]

Wow. I've gotta go with iron, but it looks more like an oil slick in there. That is crazy. And all of that just from the fill water and reaction on Day 3 when they added chlorine? I'm not ruling-out that you have an algae issue by now since a month has gone by, but algae won't look like that by itself. Quite the cocktail. Tomorrow - Friday should tell us what to expect and what actions are best going forward. Once you are able to maintain the proper SLAM level, really brush that pool well, and monitor the rags & paper towels, we should see clear changes. The proper SLAM level should help to make the water clear, even if it is brown. At the same time, the SLAM level FC should help to collect more iron in the filters. If by the weekend you don't see that transition, it may be time to consider water replacement. Do the best you can with available time and keep us posted.

 

[Racingpools]

SLAM in progress. Pool is already starting to lighten up and I can see the floor of the shallow end for the first time in 3 weeks. Getting a nice clear ice tea color going on (camera makes it look more green than it actually is)- definitely taking some staining but that can be addressed later.

I threw in a couple pics of what’s going on. This is what my filter looks like every 12 hours with the filter fiber stuff. Pool store owner recommended skipping the filter fiber stuff so it doesn’t block up so fast, will see what the results are in 12 hours.

You can see from my bucket of polyfil that the paper and filter fiber is doing all the work and nothing is catching in the polyfil for some reason. The saga continues.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Have you ever added clarifier or FLOC to that water? I've never seen a filter so solidly packed with....stuff?

That the polyfil isn't capturing anything makes me wonder if there are variations in types of polyfil?? Cotton vs polyester vs ??? Its just odd.

Maddie

 

[Texas Splash]

I agree it's odd how that white stuff isn't doing anything, but glad to hear you are finally seeing some positive movement. Hopefully your schedule will allow you to "maintain" that elevated FC SLAM level until you pass the 3 SLAM criteria. That is key. Good work.

 

[Racingpools]

Have you ever added clarifier or FLOC to that water? I've never seen a filter so solidly packed with....stuff?

That the polyfil isn't capturing anything makes me wonder if there are variations in types of polyfil?? Cotton vs polyester vs ??? Its just odd.

Maddie

I haven't tried flocculant yet but it's getting higher on my list. I was holding off because I read it can block things up? Any experience with this? If everything sinks, will the automatic pool cleaner scoop it up? I don't have a vacuum to waste option.

The filter looks so packed because that's the filter fiber stuff in there, which is doing the heavy lifting catching all what I hope is iron.

There has to be a difference like you said, but I did use the original Polyfil brand that everyone has used in other posts. I'm going to try some other kind of stuffing, maybe shredded foam or some kind of paper based stuffing. Will report back!

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Please avoid using FLOC..... too many horror stories here about how it messed up folks pools.

 

[Racingpools]

Please avoid using FLOC..... too many horror stories here about how it messed up folks pools.

My reason for it being the absolute bottom of my list haha!
I’ve been through enough heck in the last 30 days, I don’t need any more torture.

 

[Racingpools]

Starting to make progress with things, the pool is definitely getting lighter every day but the staining is still worsening.

I found that shredded foam was most effective but I’ve switched to the big blue filter with the 0.5 micron string wound polypropylene filter, hooked up on my submersible pump and it’s pulling about 5gpm so will probably take a couple of days to turnover the whole pool… we’ll see how it does.

I’m holding the pool at approx 20ppm FC until I get all 3 criteria in the SLAM process which I’ll check again overnight. It’s time to start thinking about the stain removal process, does anyone have any tips for this? It’s not ideal to do ascorbic acid in summer in FL… TIA!

 

[Snoobug]

Starting to make progress with things, the pool is definitely getting lighter every day but the staining is still worsening.

I found that shredded foam was most effective but I’ve switched to the big blue filter with the 0.5 micron string wound polypropylene filter, hooked up on my submersible pump and it’s pulling about 5gpm so will probably take a couple of days to turnover the whole pool… we’ll see how it does.

I’m holding the pool at approx 20ppm FC until I get all 3 criteria in the SLAM process which I’ll check again overnight. It’s time to start thinking about the stain removal process, does anyone have any tips for this? It’s not ideal to do ascorbic acid in summer in FL… TIA!

Tell me how this works for you. I ordered the same pentek filter house and a 0.5 micron filter.

 

[Snoobug]

How is the pool looking? Can you post a pic?

 

[Racingpools]

How is the pool looking? Can you post a pic?

It’s looking great! I don’t know how much is exclusively due to the big blue but I’ve been battling this issue for a month and the two pictures is the difference from about 24hours of use.
I’ve been keeping the FC at 20+ppm to get as much of the iron to oxidize and just accepting the staining until I run the ascorbic acid treatment. So far so good.

 

[Snoobug]

Looking so much better!!!

 

[Snoobug]

Have you opened the pentek filter yet to see what's inside?

 

[Texas Splash]

Nice to see that progress.

 

[Racingpools]

Have you opened the pentek filter yet to see what's inside?

I haven’t yet. I’ll take a peek in a couple of days and report back.

 

[Auburn02]

Update? I'm invested here.

 

[Racingpools]

Update? I'm invested here.

Haha!! FC has fallen to 14ppm. Crystal clear OCLT <1ppm and CC <0.5ppm. I’m waiting now for FC to fall so I can test all the other parameters and conduct the ascorbic acid treatment.

I’m going to vary my approach to the treatment a little. I’m not going to let FC go to 0ppm, instead I’m going to wait for it to hit 4-5ppm and get all other chemistry into parameters then I’ll add 2lbs of ascorbic. From my research keeping some FC could just take a little extra acid to get the stains out but I’m fine with that and want to avoid SLAMing again… the vitamin c pill lifted stains in seconds so I’m hoping a large dose to the whole pool will be sufficient regardless of the FC.

I’m also not going to use sequestering agent. I’m going to let the big blue filter do it’s work without it to grab all the already oxidized iron.
Any pointers from the pros are appreciated.

 

[Racingpools]

Here are some pictures of the filter as promised. I’ve ordered a fresh one for the ascorbic acid treatment.

I got called away on work duties, so the treatment will have to wait 10 days. I had to use some tricholor tablets to keep the chlorine up in my absecence. Fortunately my CYA is only 30-35ppm right now, so a little bump shouldn’t hurt.

Report back when I do the acid treatment.

 

[Texas Splash]

Great to see all that work pay off.