Woefully, my sparkly pool went Green

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R

rjg202

LifeTime Supporter
Jun 1, 2011
205
Northern Maryland (near Delaware)
Pool Size
10000
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
Ok in a matter of days my clear pool went cloudy green, I am on BBB and these are my #'s when it first started turning

FC 8
CC 0
PH 7.8 Pool Store said 7.9 ( I wanted to double check my #'s and they just told me to shock with liquid chlorine as I did)
TA 100
CH 200
CYA about 75

I have been shocking to 25 for 2 days now and brushing and vaccuming. Not sure what is going on, it is a light green and I can barely see the bottom, should I flock it or whatever? When I shocked on Saturday, I came back Saturday night and about 2 feet from the wall all the way around was my blue liner and all the Crud was in the middle, thought that was odd.

Now here is an observation.
Neighbor put up I would say 18 ft intex pool, as they were filling on Saturday it had a green tint, Sunday. Still Filling, Monday as green as mine on a fresh fill. We have city water. I am wondering if maybe I have metals in my water, since once I shocked it got cloudier, I shocked with 12.5%. I have been draining water out and adding to lower CYA.

Pump is running 24 hours, I backwashed twice and was expecting to backwash green, but it was brown for a few seconds. I am not seeing sand or piles of dirt on the bottom which would suggest to me it was pumping it back in. I also ran my pool rover and he is getting brown in his bag but not much, whatever it is the regular vacccum will pick it up but Rover just glides over, I have been running him if anything for circulation when I am home.

thoughts/suggestions
 
With CYA at 75-80ppm, you will want to raise your FC to around 30. The key to shocking is not only raising it to shock level, but keeping it at that level as consistently as possible, sometimes even adding chlorine hourly. Sounds like you are almost there, but also would not hurt having your water tested for copper. Have you added any copper based algaecides?
 
FC of 31ppm is the shock level for CYA of 80ppm according to the chart in Pool School ... no worries on bleaching the liner. Note that the poolcalculator gives lower shock values that are more conservative, but it also gives the Mustard shock value of 44ppm which is kind of an upper limit to avoid possible damage.

The recommended chemicals for dealing with metal are listed in Pool School here: pool-school/metal%20stains

Metal in water generally looks like clear tinted water, cloudiness would indicate something else.
 
I was going to do that tonight, If I shock again wait 45 minutes and take a reading, is that adequate time for the bleach to circulate? Then I can do it at sunrise tomorrow, I think it may rain but not sure.

I am more concerned with the time.

I blame the 'pucks' that I used the week I was on Vacation.
thanks
 
rjg202 said:
I blame the 'pucks' that I used the week I was on Vacation.
thanks
Click to expand...

When I begin planning a vacation I begin trying to keep CYA extra low. I will calculate how many trichlor tablets I can afford to use and I tell the pool sitter to expect to add bleach to supplement that on a particular day of the week. Timing the tablet feeder is still tricky since I don't use it very much I cannot predict the consumption rate. At best I can tell the son-in-law to refill the automatic chlorinator with so many tablets on a certain day and if FC is low on a certain day, add a jug of bleach.
 
I did the OCLT Test last night and lost 5 ppm, we did have heavy rains.
Last Nights#'s
TC 28
c/c 0
PH 7.8
TA 130
CH 170
CYA 110 (Is it possible this is now skewed since it went up mysteriously)

This AM TC 22 1/2

So I added a Gallon of 12.5% at 6 am and brushed in my PJ's (Hello Neighbors) In the rain yet.
I am confused on the shock level, pool calculator when I have a CYA of 80 it says shock is 21, but CYA Chart says 31.

I think my pool is lightening up, should I go to the pool store and do a metal test? I think my other results may be bleached out or skewed due to high chlorine level. They were talking about something called metal magnet. Not sure I am afraid to drain and refill if my city water has copper based on my neigbors fresh swamp. Mine is getting lighter and I am getting less 'dust' on the bottom and when I brush/vacuum I can see blue.

My plan is to keep shocking for what it is worth

Thanks
 
Your plan is worth a lot. Don't bother testing PH while at shock level. FC over 10ppm will cause PH to read false high. I prefer to follow the pool school shock levels, but following pool calculator is OK, just takes longer. FC of 28-31, is still safe if your CYA is truly between 70-80.

As long as you continue to see the water improving day to day...continue to shock.

Remember the shock process:

Shocking:
Measure the FC level

Add enough chlorine to bring FC up to shock level (or a little higher)

Repeat steps 1 and 2 as frequently as practical, but not more than once per hour, and not less than twice a day, until:
CC is 0.5 or lower;

An overnight FC loss test shows a loss of 1.0 ppm or less;

And the water is clear.

Brush the entire pool once a day

Backwash or clean the filter as needed
 

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I have been vacumming as well, I expected to see green in the backwash window, but it is brown for a bit, I am hoping it is not going back in to the water. Will the Copper/green tint if it is that, subside on its own? I have not seen my Step Daughter for a few days but I know she was swimming one day when I was at work right before it turned on me, she would not tell me if I asked but I hope her boyfriend did not put something into the pool like algaecide or worse HTH, he has a pool. I saw some walmart bags around but no evidence of pool supplies. I doubt she would do that on her own but my CYA just jumped and it greened on me overnight from a tint to a few shades darker. But I would never know but it is not worth asking.
 
Ok, so I have been shocking to 33 with Austins 12%, last night after dark it was 33, this am at 6:15 it was 29, I added another 1/2 gallon of liquid 12.5% and filter is still running, it has been running non stop since Saturday. I notice there is less and less accumulation on the bottom when I brush an vaccum, Day 1, it was covered, now it is light dusting if that but I can barely see bottom. Realizing yesterday my OCLT was 5 ppm, today was 4. I assume I am fighting an algae bloom? But can it also be copper in the water? Should I consider partial drain? Wife would kill me. I did notice my water has a smell now, I think it is the 12%? I may go back to Walmart Brand. To Date I have used 11 Gallons of 12% since Saturday, Vaccumed Daily and brushed at the crack of dawn and late afternoon after vaccuming.
suggestions, how long does this take, we have a heat wave and an unusable pool that has a strong chlorine smell, but CC's are a slight tint of red, 1 drop to clear it.
 
I have a Sample of Water with me I took this morning in my car in a parking garage out of direct sun. Is it worth taking to the pool store and asking them to test for metals? I am sure they will flip when they see my chlorine at 28 or 29 unless it dissipates.

I assume the metals would still be present, the store I deal with sell Keetrol? I called and asked them. She said for it to work FC needs to be 2 or less, at this rate I may as well drain/refill which is not an option with city water.
Should I consider this or just keep shocking, the wife thinks the daughters boyfriend tried to clear a little green dirt (since he has a pool, knows everything, and they wanted to swim) they know nothing when I ask, my guess is they threw either an algaecide or shock with algaecide if that exists in. I have used algaecide before but it was Poly60 which had no issues, which I don't have on hand.
When I did fill 2 years back, I did test OK for metals, that was delivered and cost over $500.
 
Ok, I had slight metals detected in my water yesterday
Copper .18 ppm
Iron .08ppm

After a day in hot sun FC was 25 I added Keetrol 16 oz and vaccumed/brushed into the green water. I saw no algae but brushed anyway. Today my water is aquamarine and I can see all the steps on the ladder. the Keetrol says not to shock, Last night before I added Keetrol I was at a FC of 25, this am 21.5, so I just added a medicinal dose to take it to 25/26 since it says not to 'shock' for 3 days. Am I running to high of a FC that would be considered shock level? I have very minimal dirt on the bottom which I think is a good thing.. I plan on keeping the FC around shock level. but am concerned about that note on the bottle not to shock. Should I add the other 16 oz of keetrol? I am hoping when I go home it is clearer, I did notice my pressure climbed from 12 to 16 overnight, it never runs that high so it must be filtering something out. Also I changed my return flow (aqualuminator), I had it at 45 degrees down, I moved it to say 20 degrees so now I am shooting down but also have like a whilrpool going which I think will keep the water moving, I liked the down idea since it mixed the water and had a slow whirlpool cycle.

One Observation and it may be unrelated, but after having keetrol in for 2 hours I was seeing white precipitate or specs on the water, could that be scaling? I don't have a heater. I cant see it as binding unless the pool store test was wrong about the amount of metals since the sample was in my garaged car during the day.

This was their numbers:
FC 7.8
CC 0
PH 7.5
CH 190
TA 80
CYA 25 was 75 a few days back
Copper .18
Iron .08

thanks

When is the pool safe to swim?
 
Thanks, the water is blue, and can see the bottom, just not crystal clear yet. Even though my pressure did not climb I backwashed and about 3 minutes of dark solid green waste, So hopefully the filter will be more efficient since it does not need to run through the green Crud.
 
So here are a few pics of what I went through. I did add Ketrol once I realized my neighbor had a city water fill that turned green, I have been topping off. Still Don't explain the issue. Lots of shocking to 30+ with 12.5%.

August 1, Here is my Pool Rover.

[attachment=2:3b47hqq7]0801121945.jpg[/attachment:3b47hqq7]

August 6 I can see the dirty bottom after using Ketrol

[attachment=1:3b47hqq7]0806120720.jpg[/attachment:3b47hqq7]

August 13, back to blue
[attachment=0:3b47hqq7]0813120724.jpg[/attachment:3b47hqq7]
 

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