Yellow/Green Water

[kjanelli]

Multiple things happening with my start up...6300 gal Intex Ultra Frame...CYA: 55, TA: 90, Ph: below 7.0 (yellow using K-2006), FC: .5? (not stabilizing).
TA was at 140 when I opened, so I treated with MA to bring it down and that crashed the Ph. My water is yellow/green (topped off with untreated well water), but it was clear until I added my first dose of 12.5% chlorine. Where do I start to fix these issues and which are tied to the others?

 

[AimeeH]

If you filled with well water, it could be high iron in your water. Have you had your water tested for iron?

 

[kjanelli]

If you filled with well water, it could be high iron in your water. Have you had your water tested for iron?

No, I haven't...but I will. Why does it only show up once chlorine is added?

 

[adeleincali]

If you put your question in the "search" bar, which is located in the upper right hand corner, you will find other posts about the same issue. I read a few and it looks like it turns green due to the metals in the water (a chemical reaction I suppose). Im sorry your dealing with this! I am sure someone will chime in on how to rectify it!

 

[jjwalker]

Why does it only show up once chlorine is added?

https://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/141086-Rusty-well-water-and-TFP-first-timer

lots of resources on this subject...if you need help or advice afterward, pls post, i'll do the best I can

 

[pooldv]

Adding chlorine spikes the pH briefly and causes the iron to precipitate. More here, Pool School - Pool Stains

Put some paper towels or polyfill pillow stuffing in the skimmer to see if you can filter it out. It will turn brown if it works. Keeping pH 7.2 to 7.4 will help keep the iron in suspension in the water. A sequestrant will help keep the iron from staining the pool. More about that in the article I linked above.

 

[kjanelli]

OK...so attempting to avoid this next year if I continue to top off with well water (original fill three years ago came from a delivery, but who knows where they got their water). Correct me where I am wrong...
I need to balance my Ph and TA first. I lowered my TA and my Ph crashed...then I started with chlorine before raising the Ph. Had I resolved the Ph first, ran the filter continuously with poly in the skimmer could I have avoided the color? I'd rather not sequester every year...just seems like another chemical in there and it's only locking it up and not removing...or should I care? Another issue I'm now having is my CYA went way down...it was at 55...now can still see the dot (K-2006) with the tube full! Thanks for the guidance!

Adding chlorine spikes the pH briefly and causes the iron to precipitate. More here, Pool School - Pool Stains

Put some paper towels or polyfill pillow stuffing in the skimmer to see if you can filter it out. It will turn brown if it works. Keeping pH 7.2 to 7.4 will help keep the iron in suspension in the water. A sequestrant will help keep the iron from staining the pool. More about that in the article I linked above.

 

[pooldv]

Elevated pH, usually above 7.5 or 7.6, can lead to the water turning green, not low pH. The sequestrant prevents the iron from staining the pool. By the way, there is nothing harmful about having green clear water or iron stained pool walls other than appearance.

Your CYA disappearing is a whole different issue. Sometimes when FC is below minimum and the right bacteria grow in the pool the bacteria can consume your cya and convert it to ammonia. This will create a large chlorine demand and generally leads to algae growing in the pool due to lack of chlorine. To get through that raise FC to 10 ppm and retest in 10 or 15 minutes to see if FC holds, if FC is 0 then repeat until FC holds at 5 or 6 or higher. Then add 30 ppm CYA and follow the SLAM Process process.

 

[kjanelli]

OK...so I'm crystal clear now...but still have questions I uses the "poly in the skimmer" method to help remove the metals and it never turned color. Balanced my chems and slammed over the course of 3 days and I'm crystal. Does this mean my issue was not metal related and it was simply organic?