Shiny oil or film on water surface

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Badpoolmom

Gold Supporter
Sep 26, 2023
245
Indiana
Pool Size
10000
Surface
Fiberglass
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
Hello, I searched some older post abt this. None had answers or “results” if you will.
There is a shiny film on top of the water. Seems to be tiny tiny bugs or debris that don’t skim away. The area is currently in front of my skimmer but was in a diff place yesterday. Doesn’t seem to actually be pulling into skimmer either. If I take lid off skimmer I can see a very small bit of “shiny” almost like separated oil in water looks, but more so on the water .
Recent bout with white water mold.
Cya 200+ (diff thread)
Friday FC was 12.5
CC 0
Added one gallon 12.5 % that evening
Saturday
FC 15
CC 0
Added 1 gallon 10% (shooting for 20fc)
This morning
FC 17
CC 1

We do not use any lotions or sunscreen.
We shower before entering pool
We do not go under the water (shampoo etc)
There are only 2 of us that use it, neither had been in for 10 or 11 days

Any idea what this is and how to treat it?
With having the cya issue I don’t think it’s possible for me to reach required slam levels.

I will mention I saw this shiny film prior to treating for wwm. Haven’t seen it since until yesterday and it’s not as large or colorful/reflective as before. Before it had a prism like look, rainbow ish if you will.

Ty
 
It's an oil slick of some kind, and it may have been drifting around for quite some time. Toss 2 tennis balls in each skimmer and they'll soak it up. I keep the tennis balls in there all season and they work wonders.
 
Badpoolmom said:
Where should I start a wwm thread?
Click to expand...
Ooof. That's tricky. It's usually a baquacil issue but you thankfully didn't ride that turnip truck. It's not algae (it's a fungus?), so that leaves 'Testing and balancing your water' because it wouldn't happen in properly balanced (sanitized) water.
 
Badpoolmom said:
Hello, I searched some older post abt this. None had answers or “results” if you will.
There is a shiny film on top of the water. Seems to be tiny tiny bugs or debris that don’t skim away. The area is currently in front of my skimmer but was in a diff place yesterday. Doesn’t seem to actually be pulling into skimmer either. If I take lid off skimmer I can see a very small bit of “shiny” almost like separated oil in water looks, but more so on the water .
Recent bout with white water mold.
Cya 200+ (diff thread)
Friday FC was 12.5
CC 0
Added one gallon 12.5 % that evening
Saturday
FC 15
CC 0
Added 1 gallon 10% (shooting for 20fc)
This morning
FC 17
CC 1

We do not use any lotions or sunscreen.
We shower before entering pool
We do not go under the water (shampoo etc)
There are only 2 of us that use it, neither had been in for 10 or 11 days

Any idea what this is and how to treat it?
With having the cya issue I don’t think it’s possible for me to reach required slam levels.

I will mention I saw this shiny film prior to treating for wwm. Haven’t seen it since until yesterday and it’s not as large or colorful/reflective as before. Before it had a prism like look, rainbow ish if you will.

Ty
Click to expand...
If your CYA is really 200+ then you can’t let your FC ever go below 16ppm and it really should be up around 21ppm or more. If you’ve got any kind of organic contamination you would spent a lot less time money and effort to just replace 75% of the water to get rid of all that CYA and it may get rid of whatever the oily stuff is along the way.
 
I’m trying 😊 can’t drain all once so making the best of what I can do.
I keep adding chlorine nightly. But the following day lose some to sun, drain/fill.
The way it has to happen (drain)is still requiring lots of time, money and effort.


After the mold treatment FC was 5 combined 15. Several bottles of LC later FC 20 Combined 0. But then drain fill started.

seems yall think I’m crazy or off on the cya testing . Wish I was and this nightmare would end

Taylor 2006 - did reg cya test mentioned above
Did the 50-50 pool/tap sample still over 200 didn’t do further testing as was told over 200 is moot point anyway
Pool store consistently cya 225
Non reliable test strip 300 - ironically enough it’s prob the closest to accurate .

Using submersible pump to drain. Shiny seems to stay on top.

Running vsp 24/7 do all season
 
Badpoolmom said:
I’m trying 😊 can’t drain all once so making the best of what I can do.
I keep adding chlorine nightly. But the following day lose some to sun, drain/fill.
The way it has to happen (drain)is still requiring lots of time, money and effort.


After the mold treatment FC was 5 combined 15. Several bottles of LC later FC 20 Combined 0. But then drain fill started.

seems yall think I’m crazy or off on the cya testing . Wish I was and this nightmare would end

Taylor 2006 - did reg cya test mentioned above
Did the 50-50 pool/tap sample still over 200 didn’t do further testing as was told over 200 is moot point anyway
Pool store consistently cya 225
Non reliable test strip 300 - ironically enough it’s prob the closest to accurate .

Using submersible pump to drain. Shiny seems to stay on top.

Running vsp 24/7 do all season
Click to expand...
I don’t think you’re crazy, but I do wonder why not stop adding chlorine and start a no-drain water exchange to reduce the CYA. Doing many small drain and refill steps wastes more water than the no drain exchange and is way slower. Then your nightmare can end. 😉
 
Pardon, someone shared that article already and I read it. No place to drain that much water at once. No sewer. Ruralish area on septic. Neighbors yard suffering with partial drains
 
Bperry said:
If your CYA is really 200+
Click to expand...
We're addressing that over here

Cya

So, received my Taylor k2006 5 min ago. Tested cya first thing as I have been partially draining and refilling for almost 2 weeks. According to the kit I’m wellll over 100 . The only way I can explain it to you is … down the side of the cya test “tube” there are numbers 9, 4.5 and 1.8 . The dot...
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

I tell ya, when we keep every topic in one thread, it's confusing. When we split seperate topics off, it's confusing.

To quote Bartholomew J Simpson......... Gotcha !!! Can't win, don't even try. :ROFLMAO:
 
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Badpoolmom said:
Pardon, someone shared that article already and I read it. No place to drain that much water at once. No sewer. Ruralish area on septic. Neighbors yard suffering with partial drains
Click to expand...
Don’t have a lawn that needs watering? Should be ok to drain over the septic field as well.
 
Newdude said:
We're addressing that over here

Cya

So, received my Taylor k2006 5 min ago. Tested cya first thing as I have been partially draining and refilling for almost 2 weeks. According to the kit I’m wellll over 100 . The only way I can explain it to you is … down the side of the cya test “tube” there are numbers 9, 4.5 and 1.8 . The dot...
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

I tell ya, when we keep every topic in one thread, it's confusing. When we split seperate topics off, it's confusing.

To quote Bartholomew J Simpson......... Gotcha !!! Can't win, don't even try. :ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...
all the problems stemmed from cya soo… but hey you the mod
 
Badpoolmom said:
all the problems stemmed from cya soo… but hey you the mod
Click to expand...
We try our best to keep things orderly. Some days, the best intentions isn't enough. Whattayagonnado ?


Badpoolmom said:
Using submersible pump to drain
Click to expand...
Is it new/newish ? Old pumps leak oil when they are going bad. (For the oil filled pumps anyway). Or was anything else but pool water pumped ? It may have been contaminated from last time when you dropped it in the pool.
 
Thanks this post is pretty old. I believe the shiny film was part of my wwm problem. I haven’t seen it this year THANKFULLY. I have never seen signs of anything leaking from the pump. Just had extremely bad luck with those pumps
 
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