Blue film on pool water

[CHESTER1090]

can not get straight answer from our pool chemical supply store. At first they told us our major chemical unbalance was due to metals, copper, being in the water, causing the ph to be too low. Poured in major amounts of increaser, doesn't move the mark at all, now a blue oily film is on the surface of the pool. Latest "guess" by the pool store is excessive manganese,, and we are to bypass my heater, and drop the content of the pool by a third and refill.

No we are not on well water, no, there has been no field spraying in my area.

now I have a "blue" oil slick on the waters surface that clogs the de filter within a couple of hours.

Has anyone encountered this in the past and knows the cure, my pool people are just guessing and aching to be fired.

Steve

[PoolDoc]

#1 - If at all possible, you need to get a cheap OTO / phenol red testkit TODAY, and test your pH
#2 - Purchase 6 boxes of borax for each 10,000 gallons in your pool.
#3 - From your pool store, purchase a LIQUID stain / scale control agent. If at all possible get Jacks Magic Pink Stuff or Proteam Metal Magic. Read the label and add a FULL dose to your pool. Make sure your pump is on, and stays on.
#4 - Stop using any other pool store goop or devices you may have.
#5 - If your pH is below 7.0, wait 1 hour after adding the stain / scale liquid, add 2 boxes of borax. Add them slowly to your skimmer, 1 box at a time. Wait 15 minutes after the first box to add the 2nd.
#6 - Retest your pH after 2 hours. If still below 7.0, repeat. Continue till your pH reaches 6.8 or 7, but do NOT go higher.

Blue sediment on the filter is almost always related to copper. Manganese only comes from well water and is normally brownish black.

Metals do NOT cause low pH; low pH water dissolves them and puts them into your pool. Low pH comes from acid use, possibly continued use of tabs without adding borax or soda ash to maintain a reasonable pH level.

There's a fair chance you've done major damage to your heater, so watch out for leaks from the heat exchanger.

And, when you get a chance, report test values here as well as some history of what you've been using in your pool.

(Welcome to the Forum -- sorry that rather severe problems brought you here!)

[CHESTER1090]

would borax be another name for ph increaser? And yes, I pretty well figured the only place that copper could come from is the guts of the heater.
Thanks, I'll give it a try tonight.
Steve

[PoolDoc]

pH increaser = soda ash = sodium carbonate
borax = sodium tetraborate (various)-hydrate => 20 Mule Team borax in the detergent section, white box.

[CarlD]

And pH Increaser is just an expensive package for A&H Washing Soda (in the yellow box, frequently right next to the 20 Mule Team Borax in your supermarket's laundry section).

Carl