There's been alot of Ammonia pools this year....

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frustratedpoolmom

frustratedpoolmom

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In The Industry
May 20, 2007
12,237
Key West, FL
Here's another one. Thought folks who are finding themselves in this situation might appreciate this:

20140520_121526 by poolmom11, on Flickr

Crystal clear water - I was able to clearly see the bio-film coating the entire pool... oh and a million worms. Ammonia between 4-6, guessing 5ppm. This was yesterday about Noon.

Brushed as much of pool as we could see before it became too green and cloudy to see where we might be missing... 5 cases of 12.5% in.

Started this one at 3pm. Black - Tea leaves black... Ammonia about 3ppm. 3.5 cases in. This one has no filtration so I'm temporarily using portable submersible pumps for circulation (She's got a party in 2 weeks - no time to waste till the cracked pipe is repaired....)

20140520_161042 by poolmom11, on Flickr

With both cases after adding the FAS-DPD powder I got a light pink result that I would from prior experience as .5 FC, clearable with 1 drop typically. One drop would turn it clear, for about 5 seconds - then pink would bleed through as I've described to some of you. Already the high CC/ammonia interference. On the second pool, same thing - a shade of pink I would describe as clearable with one drop when doing normal FAS-DPD chlorine tests. As it sat while I reached for the r0871, it turned a darker shade of pink, without me swirling. Confirming the ammonia before I did the FC tests - I knew the initial tests might be skewed. I also knew the first round of testing after initial chlorine addition wouldn't mean much cuz a lot more chlorine is in order. But this is the tricky part when advising newbies on the forum who are dealing with a similar situation.

Will keep you posted.... Back to both pools today.
 
Isaac, Nothing on the pumps. strictly circulation...

Day 2. Ammonia gone....switched from recirculate to filter.

20140521_135142 by poolmom11, on Flickr

Day 2 in filterless pool:
20140521_155414 by poolmom11, on Flickr
Distinctly bluer... is that a word? No ammonia left here either...

20140521_160403 by poolmom11, on Flickr

Can almost see the bottom. If only I had an operating filter and could vacuum!
 
Day 4

48 hours into filtration via Sand filter
Cloudy blue, can make out the vac plate on the bottom despite the cloudiness. Vacuuming to waste the millions of worms...
20140523_175614 by poolmom11, on Flickr

Filterless pool - Pipe has been repaired and waiting for it to cure. Filter-less circulation yields a view of the pattern on the liner!:
20140523_113321 by poolmom11, on Flickr

Kinda ironic that the pool with no filter is getting as good, if not better, clarity than the filtered one...
 
I wonder how much the extreme weather this winter plays into the problem. I had ammonia on opening last spring and I had stopped caring for my pool the prior October due to the train wreck that was my personal life at the time. Took a couple of weeks to clear up. This year we are coming off one of the longest, coldest winters we have ever had. I let the pool go over the winter again and opened to ammonia again, worse than it was the previous year. I have been cloudy green for a couple of weeks now and my work schedule has not allowed me to dose the pool as frequently as I should to slam effectively. I hope to get on track this weekend. If you get ammonia once are you more likely to get it again?
 
I don't think so. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason. One pool that had ammonia last year opened fine this year. This black pool above - they've been a client for 4 years and I've never seen ammonia in it till now.
 
Filterless Pool: So here is the "Schmear" patch to the cracked PVC... seems to work awesome. Turned the filter on Saturday. Will check it out in the morning but the Pool owner is watching for leaks.

20140524_121522 by poolmom11, on Flickr

Day 6 at first ammonia pool:
20140526_121757 by poolmom11, on Flickr

Lets see those main drains!:
20140526_121828 by poolmom11, on Flickr
 
Update - need a "pretty pic" to finish the one pool's story but the weather hasn't cooperated with my schedule for when I've been there to get that sun/sparkle look... but here's after 2 days of filtration on the second pool that had no filter for a week:
20140527_141559 by poolmom11, on Flickr

Now my newest. I've never, ever seen this much ammonia:
20140529_122504 by poolmom11, on Flickr
20140529_130003 by poolmom11, on Flickr
After the first dose, a million leaves floated up to the surface:
20140529_131920 by poolmom11, on Flickr

After 39 gallons of 12.5%.... :puker:
20140530_105409 by poolmom11, on Flickr

20140530_105154 by poolmom11, on Flickr

In progress. After 2 days of filtration I could see the bottom and found SHOCKER: live algae under some scum. Had to brush now it's green like the 3rd pic all over again. Pool has Iron too...realized that after I could see down and it was this funky translucent color... looks like I'll be doing the AA treatment for the first time....this pool has become my obsession...
 
I was a new pool owner last year who opened to a hidden ammonia problem. I had the same experience you described above with the FAS-DPD test and it confused the snot out of me...so badly in fact that I was convinced that I wasn't smart enough to execute the test properly! After blindly throwing in gallons of bleach (not being able to trust my test results) I finally tested the water for ammonia and found it was over 6.0 ppm (which was the max on the test strip.) I suspect my ammonia problem at open was similar to the picture you show above. Took me about 70 gallons of bleach to finally clear the pool as I remember.

This year, no ammonia and crystal clear water at opening despite the horrible winter.
 

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