brown to now green

[carrolltc]

Hi im new to pool care and this site. I am having trouble getting my water back to the beautiful blue it was when I first filled it up. I have a lot of iron in my well water so when I super chlorinated the first time it turned dark brown. After constant attention it is now green. I used bleach and borax to get my levels where they should be, except for cya is a little low. But its green still and I dont really know what im doing except for what I have read on here. Can anyone give me any advice. (I use 7 way dip stick test strips by the way)

[Watermom]

Metals contaminated well water is an issue.

We'll need some additional info to be able to help.

1. What kind of pool is it?
2. What size pump and what kind and size of filter?
3. Exactly what all have you added to the pool, meaning ingredients and not just product names like 'shock.'

The test kit that we think is by far the best is the Taylor K2006 or 2006C (better buy). Not available locally but you can get it through this link that takes you to Amazon: http://pool9.net/tk/

But, in the meantime, go to Walmart and see if they have the HTH 6-Way drops-based kit (no test strips!) and get that. If they don't, get an OTO/Phenol Red kit (yellow and red drops) instead. Use it to test and then post your numbers. Also while you are at WallyWorld, get several jugs of their generic 8.25% bleach and a couple of boxes of 20 Mule Team Borax (laundry aisle).

Repost with requested info and then someone here can try and help you.

(Until you registration is completed, you won't be able to see the rest of the forum while you are logged in. So, copy that link and then paste it into a browser window after you log out.)

Welcome to the Pool Forum!

[carrolltc]

I cant repost to my original thread so heres a new one. I have a 12'x30'' summer escapes ag. I have two pumps and two filters going constantly. One I use to vacuum and the outlet is a fountain. Both are walmart brand. As I said before my well water has a lot of iron so when I walmart brand (sorry i disposed of package) shock treated my pool it turned brown. I have cleaned filters twice a day, vacuumed everyday and checked my chemicals repeatedly with a 6 way strip test kit. (Dont worry im getting a real test kit soon.) As of now my levels are as follows according to the test I have: FC after shocking and diluting just to get a reading is some where around 25 (maybe too high but cant swim anyway) after very little borax Fc is at 7.8. Ta is 80. Th is 100. Cya was low but now sets at 30-50. My water isnt oxidizing anymore and I have the brown water gone now its green. Maybe I should drain it and start over sticking to BBBs. Oh I have a floater with trichlor tablets and I used some hth super concentrated clarifier. I could use any advice, or criticism. Anything would be appreciated by me and or my kids which have only used their pool a couple times. Thanks

[Watermom]

Not sure why you couldn't repost to the original thread. But, I merged your new thread into your old one so all the info can stay in the same place.

The ONLY way to remove metals is to either cause them to precipitate out (stain) the filter medium and then change the medium, dissolve them all in the water and do a complete water change, or use an ion exchange filter medium such as CULator.

Your pool is only around 2000 gallons. Do you have the option to refill with water other than from a well?

[carrolltc]

Ive been cleanin some nasty brown powder junk out of the filters and still cleanin but the waters not brown anymore. I havent checked on it yet this morning, but im sure its still green. I could have some clean water trucked in if I drain it but I was hoping to avoid that.

[carrolltc]

Well just an update ive decided to just balance this thing out and keep filtering. Seems the less I put in and the more I clean the better my water looks. I think I read on here about some contest pool owners had about spending as little as possible to maintain thier pools, thats my new philosophy. Thanks for the informittable reading anyway.

[PoolDoc]

. . . membership upgraded.

[carrolltc]

Crystal clear water yay. Took awile to get all the junk out and to figure out exactly how much of what to put in to keep the chlorine and ph right. But its ready for the kiddos now and I couldnt be happier to see the brown and green go away.

[Watermom]

Great to hear!

[carrolltc]

Its been a month and i still have a beautiful pool. Now im not afraid to get a bigger pool nxt yr. I dont even measure anymore, once a wk, about 30 mins and done. My advice to anyone new to pool care is simple. Household bleach=chlorine, mule team borax=ph, get a cheap vacuum set, and clean daily until your pool turns blue, then once a wk.I still use dip strips to check my levels but my routine is simple vacuum, half cup to cup of bleach depending on how hot its been, and sprinkle borax in by an inlet usually not much. Good luck

[Watermom]

We appreciate your post and efforts to help others but unfortunately, your advice is not quite what we recommend.

Testing only once a week and with dip strips is likely to lead to problems down the road. The only way to have long-term success with a pool is through regular testing with a good drops-based test kit like the Taylor K2006 and making chemical additions based on those numbers. Knowing your CYA level is an important thing and then matching your chlorine doses to that CYA level is one of the key ingredients to keeping a pool safely sanitized and algae-free. http://pool9.net/cl-cya/

I'm glad you have thus far had success but I'm afraid that is unlikely to always be the case for you unless you follow what we teach here on the forum with a little more consistency. ;)

[CarlD]

I second Watermom's disagreement. It IS possible to maintain a pool with fairly lackadaisical testing and chlorination, but only for a VERY short term--and very great risk. It is NOT a good idea!

[PoolDoc]

@ CarlD, WM: To the contrary, I've seen people 'get lucky' with their pools, and stay that way for years. This is something I've seen more locally, then on PF . . . because people come to PF *after* they are having problems. I don't have any idea what the % is, but it's more than 10%.

Of course, nobody knows in advance who's going to get lucky. And, I've seen even more pool owners (and former pool owners) swear "Never again!" about pools, because they were NOT among the lucky 10+%.

I just wanted to point that out, to explain why some people -- for entirely practical reasons -- don't see the need for "all this complicated stuff", precisely because they've been able to operate their pool successfully for years without it.

Something that also happens, though less so now that trichlor and dichlor have totally pushed cal hypo out of the market, is that pool owners stumble onto some of the very, very simple methods that can work for sand filtered pools, using cal hypo, and filling with relatively soft water. Keep in mind that I was able to operate a HEAVILY used indoor fitness pool with NOTHING but cal hypo plus 1/2 - 1 gallons of muriatic acid PER YEAR. I did this for nearly 10 years. Folks with outdoor pools have to add stabilizer to that, but some pool owners do work out, largely by accident, some very simple and very successful versions of that method.

If cal hypo was more readily available, I'd promote that method more.