SLAMING my neighbors pool

[mrswilson]

I am trying to help my neighbor clear her pool. She has a vinyl liner 26,000 gal pool. Cartridge filter and Trinton whisperflow pump. Her old pool guy has a blue mineral unit in her filter basket, which I had never heard of until I Googled it. She has also shocked her pool a few weeks ago and it did nothing but turn it a bright green color. I am trying to find a place in town today to test her copper levels after reading several threads on here about high copper. Plus some of her blonde daycare kids hair turns green or did last season. So thats why I am suspecting high copper?

We are started SLAMING yesterday. I had her bring up her cya to 40 first a few days ago, now we are keeping the pool at shock level of 16, her cc's is .50,
TA 140
CH 50
PH 7.2.
CYA 40
I have her filter running 24/7. Here are pics of her pool. Can anyone help me identify the stains on the stairs? And I should I be doing anything else?

I cleared my pool years ago with this method and haven't looked back but I don't have a ton of experience. Thanks so much!

 

[Newdude]

Hey Mr. S !! Here’s a refresher cuz it’s been a while since you did it last: SLAM Process. The PH is perfect to start so SLAM away.

The cliff notes are to keep it at SLAM levels based on the FC/CYA Levels. Every minute counts so get over there and test/add as much as possible. The first day or two is the most important. Every 2 hours will make it go that much quicker.

And GREAT on you for being a helpful neighbor!!

Tell her membership # 253,216 is hers for the taking if she wants it.

 

[mknauss]

Be careful - SLAM level FC could really push the copper to stain. I suggest a healthy water exchange before anything. That bright green you saw when you added the chlorine was copper. Only way to get rid of it is to drain and replace.
Throw the mineral thing away. I suspect she all ready has some copper staining. And a vinyl liner pool, it is best to replace the liner to get rid of the stain.

 

[mrswilson]

Be careful - SLAM level FC could really push the copper to stain. I suggest a healthy water exchange before anything. That bright green you saw when you added the chlorine was copper. Only way to get rid of it is to drain and replace.
Throw the mineral thing away. I suspect she all ready has some copper staining. And a vinyl liner pool, it is best to replace the liner to get rid of the stain.

For financial reasons she wants to get more year out of the liner, it doesn't look terrible but I am worried about her stairs, those don't replace easily. So high FC will set the copper stains? Yikes!

She just spent money on CYA and all this chlorine so replacing a lot water might scare her off.....would Jacks pink stuff work at all? Ugh. I am very confident in the TFP method but I have to be careful how much to push because she's never had issues until last year.

 

[mknauss]

The Jacks is sulfamic acid. It might release some of the stains, but then you must drain the pool to get rid of the copper. And the sulfamic acid will disrupt the FC/CC testing for quite some time.

 

[TexEdmond]

She just spent money on CYA and all this chlorine so replacing a lot water might scare her off.

It makes sense that people get scared and want to resist "throwing good money after bad." It was hard for me to focus on the swirling issues around pool chemistry until I couldn't deny that none of my problems were going to get better until I diluted the bonkers high CYA in my pool. Your neighbor's situation is similar, and it's unfortunate she's apparently having similar issues detoxing from the pool store mystique. It's even more scary considering she's got a daycare with other people's kids swimming in a pool that's right on the edge of being unsafe chemically as well as biologically. Maybe that might be where you want to help her to focus: "This copper level is way out of whack and I'm sure your clients don't want their kids coming home with green hair. That, or a closed pool with algae could hurt your business, to say nothing of whatever liability you might face if someone gets sick or hurt." There is no alternate to replacing water in order to get copper under control, and if she's worried about the cost of a new liner next year, well, that's next year's expense. If she doesn't want to fill the pool twice in two years, she really might want to consider simply closing the pool outright until she's ready to change the liner. If the cost of CYA and chlorine is a concern for her in comparison to the larger ticket stuff like liner and cost of water, well, that's another conversation altogether.

 

[Newdude]

Maybe that might be where you want to help her to focus: "This copper level is way out of whack and I'm sure your clients don't want their kids coming home with green hair

Or the ‘swimmers itch/rash’ causing bacteria typically found in pools relying on copper devices instead of chlorine. It doesn’t go away without a trip to the Dr for antibiotic cream.