Water not clearing

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E

E_Kansas

0
Jun 12, 2018
15
Moundridge, Kansas
I have an above ground Intex Pool - 18ft x 48in with Sand Filter. This is our 2nd season. Last year we tried to manage the pool with pool store chemicals. This year I am trying the methods on this site. We fill the pool with well water. We know it has iron. Here is this year's history: Filled the pool around Memorial Day. As the pool filled I added a quart of OmniPool "super metal out". The water stayed clear the entire time. (Last year I did not add the metal out until after filling and the pool turned orange as it filled.) I started the filter and ran two days before adding any bleach. When I added the bleach the pool clouded. Not green - but more of an aqua/blue. The water didn't look gross like it does with algea - but you could just barely see the bottom. I figured I needed to just keep filtering. I had a high TA and PH reading initially so added some muratic acid to get to the levels recorded below. I also added bleach to bring the chlorine level to 4.

Three days later the pool started to get more of the green tint to it. My test showed what I took to be .5 Combined Chlorine. Since I had not added any stablizing acid and the test was showing next to no acid level, I shocked the pool at a chlorine level of 11. After a day at FC 11 the green left and I could again see the bottom of the pool but it still kept the hazy aqua color. Completion of this brief SLAM was about a week ago. Next I began slowly adding stabilizer. I DO HAVE ONE BIG CHLORINE TABLET IN A FLOATER. We had some left over from last year that I didn't want to throw away!

June 9 test:
FC 4.5
CC 0
PH 7.2
TA 150
CYA <didn't register>
CH 220

I added approximately 20 oz of stabilizer at this time.

June 10 test:
FC 6
CC 0
PH 7.4
TA 150
CYA <with the 20 oz of stabilizer I was able to get a close to 30 reading>
CH 220

June 12 test:

FC 4.5
CC 0
PH 7.4
TA 150
CYA <did not test this morning>
CH 220

The only other comment I have is I'm not sure my CH test is accurate - when I add the drops it has little dots of purple that swirl in the water and after enough drops to get the test I'm recording the color is more purple than blue. I read this is a result of the iron in the water(???) THE FILTER HAS RUN NON-STOP SINCE FILLING THE POOL. BACKWASH IS GETTING SOME RUST COLORED WATER - WHICH I ASSUME IS IRON RELATED.

My questions:
Is this an unresolved iron issue? (One quart is labeled to treat 10,000 gallons, last year a quart seemed to clear the water. This year I've used 1 quart plus just a few ounces for 7600 gallons. I have not gotten an official iron test.)
Is this a water balance issue?
Is this an algea issue? (There is no slime on the sides or bottom of the pool.)
Or something else...

I'm new to this... so I realize I may be overlooking some vital piece of info. I'm at the point I'm afraid I'm making assumptions what the problem is that may be incorrect. Thanks for any pointers.
 
Hello and welcome to TFP! :wave: Let me try to address a few things below to help:
- How are you testing (which test kit)? Please add it to your signature and also include all of your pool info for us (much like mine).
- A pool with no stabilizer (CYA) will not only lose the FC VERY fast (resulting in algae), but the bleach is more strong without that CYA to serve as a buffer. You must have a CYA of at least 30. Once we know the water is algae-free, you might even increase the CYA to 40 or 50 depending on how much sun the pool gets.
- Even with iron, the water has to be algae-free before you treat for metals. You had the right idea at first during initial fill, but then the water went too long without proper chlorination and CYA.

At this point I would:
- Ensure you have a CYA of 30.
- Lower pH to about 7.2
- Increase the FC to "12" and maintain it as noted on the SLAM Process page. During that period, your primary goal is to pass the 3 SLAM criteria and get that water clear. The water might try to change color or even try to stain a spot or two, but those can be addressed after the SLAM. The SLAM has to be first.
- Something to consider during the SLAM, place old towels or paper towels in your skimmer if you have one. If not, maybe rig-up your return to go through a homemade filter to help try and catch some of that iron. There are many threads on the forum where others have done the same to lower the iron content.
- After the SLAM, you'll let the FC fall back down to normal and can re-add a sequestrant to help manage the iron. The metal-out products do no good when the chlorine is elevated.

Look that over and let us know if you have any other questions.
 
When in the process do you tackle the metal? As it fills before adding bleach? After the bleach? At the same time?
Click to expand...
Ideally before it even gets in the pool (pre-filtering), but to some degree iron will probably still get in the pool. Once the pool is full, some filtering may still be required to reduce the iron content. Brand new water will need bleach and stabilizer right away to prevent algae, but as long as the new water doesn't have excessively high amounts of chlorine, then you can add a sequestrant right away.
 
Thanks. I appreciate the help you've given. Setting the iron issue aside for now, I have another question about refills / topping off. I haven't added any water since the initial fill because I'm worried I'll mess things up. Now its down about 6-8 inches from full. I need to add approximately 900 gallons of water (lost to evaporation).
When topping off the pool, are there any particular chlorine levels to achieve? You don't have to re-SLAM the pool when adding water??? Does the new water just need to be brought to the "maintenance level" of chlorine and otherwise balanced? Or does adding a lot of water require other measures? Hope that makes sense...

(I did try searching for "refills" in the search but couldn't get answers I was looking for... maybe you can point me to threads that address this question.)
 
Go ahead and keep thee water level where it needs to be. Each day you'll test your levels to see what changed and adjust as necessary. You might not add water everyday, so on those days you might only test FC, and maybe pH. But when you add a lot of new water, you'll not only check FC like you always do each day, but you'll want to watch the pH and TA closely since new water can change those quickly.
 
I still have cloudy water (I can see the bottom but it isn't clear.) I'm pretty sure the first logical question you will ask is "are you sure the SLAM was done correctly?" It was my first time and I can't guarantee it was right. I followed the instructions above and on the slam page except I was gone during the day so only checked chlorine morning and evening. I tried to "over-chlorinate" by a couple numbers to compensate for the sunlight burn. After 3 days the water began clearing and I passed the overnight loss plus the CC was 0 on several tests. So I assumed the problem was under control and it was a matter of givng the filter time to clear the water. On the heels of that I added about 6 inches of water (900 gallons or so) and enough chlorine to bring the FC to 6.

Here are numbers from 10:00 last night:
FC 4.5
CC 0
PH 7.4
TA 150
CYA 40 (this test was several days ago and I used the last of my reagent - more coming today)

We use well water with some iron (I haven't tested for iron - so don't know the content - our sidewalks have stained from irrigation over the years. I've used the OmniPool Super Metal Control as directed on the bottle - including adding more when I added water to the pool.) I've been backwashing the filter every other day and the water is a mild chocolate brown. (Last year it was dark red/orange - which I assumed was from the iron.)

So the question is: Since I have doubts about whether I slammed absolutely right shall I do it again? Or could the iron still be causing the problem?
 
It sounds like you were SLAMing fine until ......... you stopped. :( Remember, the SLAM Process isn't complete until you pass all 3 criteria. You passed the OCLT and CC portion, but the water was still cloudy. For that reason I would continue the SLAM until you can see clearly to the bottom. If the water doesn't clear after a couple more days, you could consider adding some DE to the sand, but use that only after giving the sand itself a lit more time to filter-out the contaminants. Pool School - Add DE to a Sand Filter
 

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