GREEN pool water!!! HELP!

[mermaid_82]

We have a 27ft round ABG pool. We have a salt water cell. My water used to be blue but cloudy, now it is green and hazy. I took a water sample to the pool store and they said to add acid, shock with 2bls, super blue, phosphate remover and metal out. They said I had high levels of copper. I got the ph to 7.6. I shocked with the 2lbs of di-chlor and chlorine is 3.0. Normally after I shock the pool it will turn the water blue, but it is still green as ever. I added the phophate remover like they said. I just have a feeling that this isn't going to work. I think I should have used more shock. My salt was 4100. Any help would be greatly appreciated! It tested free of algae. I am so confused. I am backwashing every 12 hours.

[Watermom]

Hi Mermaid. If your pool is green and hazy and you are having to backwash every 12 hours, you are fighting algae. Pool stores are great at having you buy a bunch of stuff to throw in the pool that typically make things worse. Don't add anything else right now except chlorine. Can you post a complete set of current water testing results so we can better advise you? Specifically, we need to know the CYA reading and 2 of the following: FC, CC, TC. Until you can provide us with your CYA reading, I would suggest just using bleach for your chlorine instead of the dichlor. Run the pump 24/7 and backwash as needed.

I would recommend getting a good test kit. We recommend the Taylor K-2006 or 2006C (same kit with larger bottles of some of the most used reagents). You can get it through the Amazon link in my signature below and by doing so, the Pool Forum makes a little money on the sale which helps us keep the forum up and running. Only buy if the seller is Amato Industries. Some other sellers are substituting the K-2005 which you do NOT want.

BTW -- Did you know that having copper in a pool is what turns blond hair green? Most people think it is the chlorine, but it is copper which is why we recommend never using any copper in your pool.

Repost with readings and we'll go from there. Also tell us what size your pump is and what type of filter you have.

[mermaid_82]

CYA was 10. Copper was 1.03, Iron was 0.68, FC was .13, TC was .26

I checked the chlorine this morning and it was reading 3.0 on my test kit. I have a sand filter that we just replaced the sand in last year and a haward pump that we bought last year. When you say shock with bleach, do you mean regular bleach??

[CarlD]

Yup. Regular, ordinary, unscented, non-foaming Bleach, either 5.25% concentration or Ultra (6%) concentration. In case you are concerned, pool stores sell "Liquid Chlorine, 6%" and it is IDENTICAL to Ultra Bleach.
One gallon of 6% bleach should raise your FC level (Free Chlorine) by 3 to 3.5ppm.

That's what our B-B-B Method of pool care is all about: Using Bleach, Borax and Baking Soda as your primary chemicals (plus a few others, but saying "BBB" is catchier! :) )

Carl

[Watermom]

Actually, since your CYA is low, this is one time I think it would be better to go ahead and shock with the dichlor instead of bleach. Dichlor will also add some CYA which you need. Once you get a good test kit like I recommended above, you'll be able to test your own water including CYA. You don't want your CYA to go much over 40 so you'll need to monitor it and then switch to just using bleach for your source of chlorine at that point. For every 10ppm of chlorine that dichlor adds, it also adds 9ppm of CYA. So, you can see that it won't take too long to build up the CYA. Try and keep your chlorine at shock level to make it clear faster. We suggest testing at least twice a day and each time, adding enough chlorine to get back to shock level. (Another reason you need a good kt.)

In the meantime, go to Walmart and buy an OTO/Phenol red kit. It will only read chlorine levels to 5 but you can force it to higher than that by using a dilution method that you can read about here:

http://www.poolsolutions.com/gd/how-to-test-your-pool-without-a-good-testkit.html

It is not super accurate but will do to tide you over until you can get a kit ordered. Keep us posted with how things are going.

[mermaid_82]

I just checked the chlorine again and it is showing plenty of chlorine, but now the Ph is back up. If my chlorine levels are high then why is the pool still green?

[aylad]

A chlorine level of 3 is not high. Chlorine at 3 ppm is the very minimum level that you can keep a pool and not get algae, IF there is no stabilizer in the pool.

In order to clear the green, if it's algae, with a CYA of 10 (not sure how they got that, I've never seen a tester that could distinguish levels less than 30) then you need to get the chlorine up to 12-15 ppm and keep it there by testing and adding more chlorine as many times daily as you can. It is getting the high chlorine level and sustaining it until the pool is cleared up that will get rid of the algae. Keeping it at 3 ppm is wasting time and chlorine if you're trying to clear up the pool with algae.

Don't add anymore clarifier or phosphate remover. The metal out is to keep the copper in suspension in the water and keep it from staining your pool (which can also cause green water). The best way I know to tell if the green is algae or copper is to test your chlorine at night, and then again in the morning before the sun is on the pool. If you're losing chlorine overnight, then you're fighting algae. Also, if the green water is "thick" looking, it's algae. If it appears clear, and you're not losing chlorine overnight, then it's most likely copper staining. Testing the water will help you differentiate.

Janet

[enchantedmountain]

The key for my pool staying clear was to add a stabilizer to the water on start up in the beginning of the summer and I have to buy a 25lb bucket of ph down at the beginning of the summer. I have to add ph down weekly (at least) to the pool. As long as the ph is in a good range and the stabilizer is in there keeping the chlorine stable.....I have a perfect clear pool all year long. The big trick for me was those two key things. I really didnt' pay attention to anything else except to make sure my salt water chlorine generator was working.

[CarlD]

Since you have a salt-water generator, I would say you need to get your CYA to about 60 (or what the manufacturer calls for). You can shock with the dichlor or even tri-chlor powder at this point.

But you'll have to get your FC to 15. It will never clear at 3

As for pH: if the FC is below 10, then if it's high, you need to bring it down (Dichlor will do it , but trichlor will do it faster.) If FC is around 15, you only can reliably say your pH is high if it's reading 8 or higher. In high chlorine situations, pH reads high.

Carl

[mermaid_82]

OK. Last night I added bleach and some more acid. I tested the CYA and got 60. I read my chlorine this morning. I had to use the dilution method and got 30. My ph is between 7.8 and 7.5. So I added just a little more acid. My water is no longer GREEN!!! YAY!!! It is now a milky blue color. I am still backwashing every 12 hrs and brushing twice a day. What should I do next? Just pray that my skimmer gets all that dead algae out?? :) All you seasoned pool people have helped me thus far, so I am going on what you all say. THANKS SO MUCH!!!!!

[Watermom]

Keep doing exactly what you're doing. Maintaining high cl levels, run the pump 24/7 and backwash as needed. It will take the filter a little time to clear out the dead algae. When you get to the point where you don't lose more than 1ppm of chlorine from sundown one day til sunup the next day, then hold the shock level for one additional day for insurance and then after that you can let the cl drift down. With a CYA of 60, you're maintenance level for chlorine will be between 5-10 all the time or you'll risk another algae bloom.

Stick with using only bleach for the chlorine source now since your CYA is already at 60. Unless your SWC manual tells you to run the CYA at a higher level, I'd leave iit where it is at 60. Dichlor and trichlor will both raise it.

[CarlD]

Yes, and your pH is probably lower than you think if you tested it when FC was 30. So that's another reason not to use trichlor or dichlor.

Blue is DEFINITELY an improvement from green!

Carl

[madwil]

did I read you have a sand filter? if so, you can add some DE to it to make it filter better/faster; otherwise, it sounds like you're winning the battle, just a little patience while the filter gets rid of the dead algae!