First year opening pool, green water after ascorbic acid!

[laureninMass]

Hi, First year pool owner... Apologies in advance for naivete or ignorance.

We have a 16x32 IG vinyl pool, ~22,000 gals, cartridge filter. When we opened the pool, the vinyl liner had a brown tinge for a couple of weeks that were not diminishing with shock. Using the vit C test, the brown stains lifted immediately.

I did a ton of web research, and then went to the local pool store where they recommended: Dechlorinator, 1 hour later 1 bottle Ascorbic Acid (which amazingly cleared the pool in minutes), 1 hour later a full bottle of "metal" free. I was told to let the filter go for 48 hours, switch out filter and add a bag of "slow release chlorine" Chlor Brite (sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione dihydrate) followed by another bag within 24 hours. Within minutes of adding the first bag, the pool was green. I went back to the pool store, they said add another bottle of "Metal free", the pool was cleared by the morning but I assume that was because the Ascorbic acid ate back through the chlorine because TC was zero. When I added 1/2 of the second bag of chlorine 5 days after the Asc Acid treatment, the water turned green again and has been consistently green for two days. I have switched out the filter a couple of times as the pool store said it would be filtering out metals.

Here are my water stats:
TC: 1-2 ppm
pH: 7.2
Alk: 80ppm
Cya: ~50


The water is clear (a little murky when viewing the bottom in deep water) but GREEN. What can I do? Will this actually be filtered out or should I consider draining and refilling? Also, it has now been almost 7 full days without significant chlorine, do I need to worry about that (I did not use an algaecide)? I have read through all of the "metal in water" forums but none of them mention how long this process takes, or if it ever works. It would be great to know if the water is green do I need to go back and repeat any steps or just (hopefully) let it clear and raise the chlorine slowly (btw, how slowly?). Also, I added a 4pmm CuLator bag to the skimmer and a single chlorine puck.

Many thanks for any feedback.

[PoolDoc]

The reason we don't tell you "how long?" is really simple: we don't know!

Our metal removal process is rather imperfect. In fact the ONLY thing I like about it, is that it's apparently better than anything else you'll find. Unfortunately, being the "best available method" does NOT mean it's a good method!

Let me tell you what my concerns are, and then I'll tell you what I recommend:

1. You've added a bunch of chemicals that are incompatible with chlorine -- and I have no idea what's still floating around IN your pool.

2. If you simply raise chlorine levels, you may make a big stained mess.

3. But if you do NOT raise chlorine levels, you may start a giant swamp, filled with algae and slime.

4. Without knowing WHERE your metals (iron?) came from, I don't know what you really should be doing.

SO . . . my priority right now is to help you prevent things from getting WORSE. After that's done, THEN I can look at help you make them better.

+ Keep your pH low -- 7.0 - 7.2. That will reduce the chance of additional staining.

+ Do not add any alkalinity increaser, pH reducer, or calcium hypochlorite shock.

+ Try to find some polyquat algaecide locally; order more from Amazon if it's cheaper. Don't worry about getting too much; it keeps indefinitely, and is very helpful when you go on vacation. See http://pool9.net/polyquat/. As soon as possible, add an algae dose. On your pool, that should be about 1/2 of a quart bottle. Add 1/4 bottle follow up doses every 2 - 3 days.

+ Do not use any other clarifier or floc: polyquat is a very effective filter aid, as well as a moderately effective algaecide.

+ Chlorine pucks in the skimmer are a GOOD idea. Not only does it allow to continuously add small amounts of chlorine, the high chlorine at the filter will held 'stain the dirt' on the filter . . . so you can clean it off and wash it away.

+ Read the cartridge cleaning sticky: http://pool9.net/cartridge/ And if your cartridge is in shaky condition, get a new OEM, Filbur, or Unicel cartridge. If you'll send me your EXACT filter make / model, I'll try to help you find one.

+ If you KNOW where the iron came from, tell us. Otherwise, if the pool is filled with the same water as you use in your house, (a) check the INSIDE of a toilet tank and tell us what it looks like AND, (b) do the metals bucket test on the house water => http://pool9.net/bucket-metal/

+ If you haven't already, order a K2006 kit. Managing metals is hard enough, even when you have accurate test results. http://pool9.net/tk/

Good luck!

[laureninMass]

Thanks for the detailed reply, PoolDoc.
I shocked my pool (twice) and added agaecide (non copper based) prior to your reply, at the recommendation of my pool installer and as I had little to no chlorine for 8 days. Luckily the brown stains have not reappeared on the pool liner (that I can see anyway) but the pool is still a green/teal and not fully translucent.
We are using Sta-Rite 20um filters, I think they are DE but I'm not sure. I just bought two brand new ones last week as I wondered if that may be the issue. The water is the same water from last year and we had ZERO problems... I guess we were lucky as it was a our first year. I have no idea where the metals came from... we had a few leaves in the pool at closing/opening and we had a new heater installed in Mid May at the time of pool opening. When the water is tested at our pool installer they do not register significant metal levels.
At this point I am ready to have the water switched out. I spent $4000 on a new heater, $1000 on opeing and stain remediation and the pool has been open a month with not a single swim. I just want the pool useable and if a water switch out is the only way to do so then so be it. Thanks for your help and let me know if this additional information sparks another thought for you.

[Watermom]

You have a cartridge filter, not DE.

Hmmm. Wonder if you might have had really low pH (below 7.0) when the new heater was installed and that could be the source of your metal?

[PoolDoc]

Thanks for your help and let me know if this additional information sparks another thought for you.

Still waiting for your form completions -- I checked and no entries have been made.

[laureninMass]

Sorry, PoolDoc. I just meant the additional information in my post regarding my filter type and the potential water sources. Are there forms I should fill out? Everywhere I click within the website I get a message that I do not have the proper permissions, including updating my profile. Thanks again.

[Watermom]

Please enter your pool data here:

http://pool9.net/pf-chart/


And your daily test results, here:

http://pool9.net/pf-hist-form/


You can see what you've entered, here:

http://pool9.net/pf-hist-chart/