Can't figure out why my water is green

[Kcas0772]

Hi,

I have an intex pool, 18' round. I filled up the pool almost 2 weeks ago, and the water was and still is green. I even got my water tested and the clerk couldn't tell me why. Here's all e info. The water is free, however it doesn't seem like algae to me. I have one of those test kits where you add 5 drops to test chlorine and ph. The chlorine is an orange color which I've never seen. The ph was high so I added acid which brought it slightly to low so I added soda ash to bring it back. The chlorine eventually got he color back into the yellow color, but with all this change to ph/chlorine levels, it had no effect on the color, better or worse. So then the last two days I started shocking it a lot to see if it could be algae. Again, no change at all in the pool color, even bough the ph and chlorine levels are high. So I went to Leslie's his morning to get it tested. Here are the results:

FC. 5^
TAC. 5^
Ph. 8
Tot ALK. 50
CYA. 20
Calcium. 40
Copper/iron. C 4 = .3

The clerk said other than chlorine and PH being high he doesn't know what could be causing the green. One other thing I should add, when I filled up the pool there was a lot of leaves/dirt in it. I though that was the cause at first but I've vacuumed so much and ran the filter for two weeks I can't imagine that's it. Thanks in advance for any help!


Kevin

[Watermom]

Did you fill from a well?

[Kcas0772]

No, right from the hose.

[Kcas0772]

Hi,

Over the last week and a half, I've only applied chlorine/shock, and a few days ago dry acid to bring the PH down. But all of this was after my pool was already green. Last week I added a couple bottles of shock hoping this would help clear up the pool, did nothing except shoot the PH levels and chloring levels up. Anyway, so I haven't added any chlorine or shock since late friday. The levels based on my 5-drop tester showed the PH about 7.2. The chlorine is still a littel high, but at least it's not orange. The water definitely looks better today, but still green. The water is otherwise fairly clear.

[PoolDoc]

OK, I've got an idea of what you're dealing with, but if I'm right the problem will be with you for awhile.

Do ALL of these things:

1. Complete both the pool equipment and pool test results as fully as you can. (I could ask all the ?'s, but this is easier for both of us.)
http://pool9.net/pf-equip-form/ -- http://pool9.net/pf-hist-form/ (Thread # 24809)

2. Open your filter OR backwash, and tell me what COLOR the goo on the cartridge, or the discharge from the filter is.

3. Take a look INSIDE the back of a china toilet (not: old cast iron!) in your house, and tell me what colors you see.

. . . meanwhile, keep your chlorine in the dark yellow range.

. . . membership upgraded.

[Kcas0772]

Hi Ben,

I completed the two tests above. I will complete steps 2 and 3 shortly and post the results.

Thanks!

Kevin

==============================

Ok, just did steps 2 & 3. The water appeared to be clear in the backwash and the toilet bowl tank. I did just backwash yesterday though. Usually when I backwash the water will be dirty for a few seconds and then run clear.

.

[Watermom]

He wanted you to look at the inside of the toilet tank and report on the color of the tank, not the water inside the tank. He is trying to verify if there are any type of metals in your water supply. A stained toilet tank will tell if it does and the type of metal can often be identified by the colors of the stains.

[Kcas0772]

He wanted you to look at the inside of the toilet tank and report on the color of the tank, not the water inside the tank. He is trying to verify if there are any type of metals in your water supply. A stained toilet tank will tell if it does and the type of metal can often be identified by the colors of the stains.

LOL. Thanks Watermom. Ok, I've checked the inside of my two toilet tanks. One seems pretty old (so is the whole bathroom). The inside of the tank is a beige color. At the level where the water sits and below, the color is a darker beige type color. Very dirty inside the bowl, not too surprised. The other toilet is much newer, say about 8-10 years old, based on when I know previous owner redid bathroom. That tank is also a light beige inside. At the level where the water sits and below, the color is a very very slight darker beige color. The toilet tank is overall very clean. I should add that every year, this being the 5th, I fill pool with new hose water. This is the first time I've had this problem. Also, the inside of the tanks haven't seemed to change either. I've been inside the tanks the last couple years changing flanges, etc...

Update - This morning with my 5 drop test kit, the PH came down alot from saturday morning. Today the PH level is around 6.8-7.2, based on color. The chlorine still appears to be a little high, but it's yellow, no longer the dark orange from saturday. (friday night was the last time I shocked pool). The ph on saturday according to the clerk was 8.0, and based on my readings was very dark red. So both the PH and the chlorine have come down. I haven't added anything during this time. No dry acid, chlorine, shock, etc... Overall the pool appears less green, a little more clear. Still, obvious greenish color.

Thanks, again for ALL the help.

Kevin

[PoolDoc]

OK. The colors in your tank verify that you've got iron pipes feeding water your way. I looked up your registration address.

Here's what I'm guessing:

1. You've got some old iron or steel pipes between you and the water plant that serves you.

2. These pipes have nodular or tubercular corrosion like this:

http://www.gazette.net/storyimage/PN/20110907/NEWS/709079614/AR/0/AR-709079614.jpg

3. Something happened to disturb or break some (or a lot) of the nodules. Common causes include a fire (fire hydrant use), seasonal 'flushing' operations, water main repair or replacement, etc.

4. Nodule collapse released a lot of biologically chelated iron into the downstream water, and in this case, that included your pool.

Now assuming that I'm right so far, there are 2 possibilities:

1. This was a 1x problem (a big fire, for example) OR
2. It's an ongoing problem (utility service)

Either way, you should be able to confirm whether I'm right in my guess or not, by doing the metal bucket test: http://pool9.net/bucket-metal/ . BUT collect your test sample from the POOL, not your fill water. The reason is, your fill water may, or may not, still have the problem. If you get a positive test on the pool, you'll need to followup with a test on the tap water, to see if the problem is continuing.

Use a full 5 or 6 gallon bucket that is COMPLETELY clean and white. There's probably not much iron in your water, even if I'm right, so a 'positive' result will show up as only a few traces of iron oxide (red rust) particles on the bucket bottom.

.

[Kcas0772]

Wow, thanks for such a detailed explanation. It may takes me until tomorrow to do the test, I will have to make a trip to the store this evening for some of the things I'll need.

Two questions in the meantime.
First, if it turns out that I do in fact have some metal in the water, but then we do the tap water test and that now comes back fine, is there a chemical that will fairly quickly clear this up, or is it better to drain and refill pool? Also, curious if any of the readings I listed in my first post from the pool store shed any light, like the copper/iron reading or the calcium?

Thanks,
Kevin
.

[PoolDoc]

Using HEPD will not remove the metal from your water, but it *might* temporarily hide it. If you want to try it, this product is 20% HEDP: Do NOT overdose; if the right dose doesn't help, more won't make it better. Also, this product does ultimately add phosphates to your pool water, so you don't want to add more than is needed.

Arch Metal Control (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B002SARZHQ/scouscho-20/) @ Amazon

[Kcas0772]

Using HEPD will not remove the metal from your water, but it *might* temporarily hide it. If you want to try it, this product is 20% HEDP: Do NOT overdose; if the right dose doesn't help, more won't make it better. Also, this product does ultimately add phosphates to your pool water, so you don't want to add more than is needed.

Arch Metal Control (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B002SARZHQ/scouscho-20/) @ Amazon

So i guess if it turns out the pool has metal in, but tested the tap water shows that the water is now clean, it'd probably be better to just drain and refill

[PoolDoc]

If your water isn't too expensive, yes, a drain and refill would be by far the easiest solution.

If you like, you can run side-by-side metal bucket tests. Just be very careful -- white buckets, full fill, no contamination -- you'll be looking for very slight orange-brown bits of powder on the bottom.

[Kcas0772]

I haven't done the test yet, bc I'm still waiting for the Borax to come from amazon which should be this evening. One more question, does it matter if I leave the buckets outside or in the house after it's prepared?

[Kcas0772]

I just finished the first 24 hours of the test. What should I be looking for exactly? The pool water bucket is same color as yesterday (clear) and clean. The are a handful of very very tiny "something's" in the water. Appear to be orange color but so small hard to tell. I assume this is probably just some junk that got drop in when I miss everything.

The water source bucket is also the same clear color and clean. Don't see anything in there really.

[PoolDoc]

The are a handful of very very tiny "something's" in the water. Appear to be orange color but so small hard to tell.

Sounds like precipitated iron, to me. If you think you might have dropped something in, redo the test to be sure.

[Kcas0772]

Sounds like precipitated iron, to me. If you think you might have dropped something in, redo the test to be sure.

If there is metal in the water as you suspect, what should I see after the first 25 hours? And tomorrow night after the next 24 hours?

[PoolDoc]

It depends. If it's purely mineral iron, you'll drop whatever is there to the bottom within 24 hours. If it's bacterially chelated iron, say from nodular corrosion of iron pipes, it can take several days.

But if you have a potentially contaminated test, you need to start over.

[Kcas0772]

It depends. If it's purely mineral iron, you'll drop whatever is there to the bottom within 24 hours. If it's bacterially chelated iron, say from nodular corrosion of iron pipes, it can take several days.

But if you have a potentially contaminated test, you need to start over.


Completed the 5 day bucket tests for the hose water and water in pool. There was no change to either bucket, so I'm not entirely sure what was going on. But I drained the pool and refilled it yesterday. Its clear this time, and the ph and chlorine are at good levels so far. Hopefully, it will just be fine going forward.

[PoolDoc]

Iron contamination in city pools can be caused by INTERMITTENT problems, so it's entirely possible that you happened to fill at a bad moment, and resolved the problem by draining and refilling later.

The color of your tanks is positive indication that your tap water contains iron, at least occasionally.

[Watermom]

Since you now have a fresh fill, our Super Simple Start-up Recipe would be appropriate for your pool. Info here:> http://pool9.net/ssr/