Green/Brown water..about to give up!!

[shelbi]

Well I thought I had read everything on here and had a handle on all the numbers and where they needed to be but for the last 5 days, I've had a major problem. Water was clear last Saturday and Sunday...numbers were all spot on. It was a little dirty on Sunday so I vacuumed and all good. Did not have a chance to do anything on Monday but chlorine still good. Tuesday it looked pretty dirty. I vacuumed and looked good but the next day it was completely dirty again and looked green. Again, I vacuumed but I noticed everything I was sucking up seemed to be coming right back into the pool...green water. I tried to vacuum and it looked a little better but I got frustrated thinking I was wasting my time since it was being pumped right back in. So I was thinking i needed clarifier. Added the recommended dose on Thurs. Thurs night decided maybe it was algae so started shocking and kept it at 12-14ppm for 2 days. No sign of improvement. In fact yesterday and today, now it is very hazy and the crud on the bottom is brown. I've changed my mine so many times as to what the problem is, that now i don't know what to do....help! Here are my numbers and info as of today. I did add a little more cya as that has been under 30. There are some pecan trees above the pool...could this be a buildup of sap or something? Haven't had a problem from the trees all summer. This situation just came up so fast.

Above ground Intex 24 foot round pool that holds 14000-15000 gallons.

FC - 4
TC - 5
Alk - 120
ph - 7.6
CYA - 40

These numbers are to the best of my guessing - I'm still having a little trouble reading the colors. I'm using a test kit from Leslie's. As for Cya, the dot gets faded but i can still see it if i try. Not sure when to stop counting. Should it completely dissapear?

Thank you in advance for any help.....I'm so confused, I'm about to give up!

[dawndenise]

Sure sounds like algae to me...:eek: But don't give up!

For the good news...you have a good pH to begin your fight. :)

More good news...be sure to read the advice in CarlD's sticky at the top of this forum. :)

Even more good news...you can stop adding clarifier.

You're on the right track to shock your pool. However, if you truly have a CYA of 40, you'll need to take your FC to 15. When did you "add a little more CYA" and how much did you add?

I sympathize with your difficulties doing the CYA test, as I also have problems at times. Yes, the dot should disappear. Consistency is the key.

When you vacuum up the junky stuff, vacuum to waste so it's not going right back into your pool.

Keep posting your test results and I'm sure you'll have a whole group of forum cheerleaders urging you on your fight. :)

Good luck.

[shelbi]

thanks for your quick response..I wanna swim! I just added the cya yesterday 9oz, (didn't want to get too high!) - put it in a sock tied next to the skimmer. I thought it would take a few days to dissolve but my number is up a bit today...I will add more chlorine up to 15 (can i go higher?). Also, no idea how to vacuum to waste...my BF usually deals with the filter/pump. Do I just remove the hose going back into the pool? Won't i lose a lot of water? I'll take a pic tomorrow.

[mbar]

Maybe your filter isn't working properly - nothing should be coming back into the pool if it is going through the filter.

[aylad]

If your CYA is 40, then 12-14 isn't high enough to reach shock level. You need to get it up to 15 and keep it there until the pool clears. You said that on day 2 or 3 you started to notice the water quality changing, and said that the chlorine was "good"--was it at least 5? With that CYA, once you get the pool clear and your cl drifts back down, don't let it go past 5 or you'll have another algae bloom. Also, when you notice the water quality changing, it won't ever hurt to shock it--but you need to test it to analyze what the problem is. That's how you keep from just dumping a bunch of stuff in it hoping to fix the problem--you usually create more problems for yourself that way than you fix.

Shock the pool, hold it at shock level, brush it daily, keep your filter running 24/7, and it will clear up.

Janet

[shelbi]

thanks both of you...the cya just went up yesterday as i added it. i was keeping chlorine up before that but probably not at 5 (have to check my notes) - dang there is so much to learn! I know the filter is working because it gets dirty pretty fast. i guess there's just so much to clean up. I'll keep at it and let ya know. I appreciate everyone's comments!!

[shelbi]

Update..water still green but much lighter. I've been adding 2-4 jugs of bleach a day. The sock on the return seems to help - it's turning green. Also been changing filter everyday. Really picking up a lot of green ick! Thanks for keeping me on the right track.

[RavenNS]

Shelbi,
you're doing awesome! Just hang in there a bit longer. Yes it is "safe" to bring the chlorine levels up much higher than 15ppm ( although most people wouldn't want to swim in it..lol)
Keep it at 15+ a couple of days & continue with the filter changing & brush/vacuum (to waste). The filter socks are also excellent; stay on top of cleaning those as well.
after the algae is all gone you can let the chlorine levels dissapate back down to normal

Best of luck to you :)

[aylad]

Yes it is "safe" to bring the chlorine levels up much higher than 15ppm ( although most people wouldn't want to swim in it..lol)



With a vinyl liner and a CYA of 40, it is NOT "safe" to bring the chlorine levels up much higher than 15--you run a really good risk of bleaching out your liner that way. Keep it at 15, and adjust upward according to the best guess chart only if your CYA level changes.

Janet

[RavenNS]

my bad, but I thought I saw in the best-guess chart, about bringing it up past 25ppm...? ( perhaps the cya was higher?)

I had my pool at 30ppm with cya at 30 recently (possibly fighting algae... it was cloudy water), anyway, it did not bleach my dark blue liner. Guess I got lucky

[chem geek]

I had my pool at 30ppm with cya at 30 recently (possibly fighting algae... it was cloudy water), anyway, it did not bleach my dark blue liner. Guess I got lucky
At 30 ppm FC and 30 ppm CYA, the actual disinfecting and oxidizing amount of chlorine (HOCl) is 2.5 ppm which would be equivalent to having 5 ppm of chlorine in a pool without CYA (at a pH of 7.5). So while that it is on the high side, it apparently isn't in the range that causes bleaching to occur. Perhaps one needs 10 ppm or higher FC "no CYA" equivalent before that happens.

Or maybe you were just lucky!:)

Richard

[shelbi]

I know a few weeks ago, one of our floater bottles with chlorine tabs in it SUNK and stayed there for several hours before i found it....it bleached a huge spot on the bottom.

Still green today but much lighter - very pale greenish. Still cloudy. How long does this take? I know I had a pretty bad problem and it's only been 3 days. thank goodness it is working! I've been keeping my chlorine between 15-20ppm. My CYA was about 40 the other day. Have not checked it since Sat...does not seem to fluctuate much.

[shelbi]

Wed update: Water still very cloudy - very pale green. Most of this is from settlement on the bottom. When I vacuum, it lightens. I still have some brown color coming out of the return. Have not figured out how to vacuum to waste. I tried it the other day and my hoses collapsed - cheap intex tubes. Overall, it looks much better!! Here are my numbers:

FC - 10
TC - 12.5 (these were obtained by diluting then multiply by 5 - probably not completely accurate but pretty close)

pH - 7.6
Alk - 160-170
CYA 35

How am I doing? I have added about 4 jugs of bleach everyday since Sat. My numbers are always a tad lower than 15 when I check them but I always add a jug. Doing this three times a day. Anything else I should be doing? Try some patience, maybe? ha ha I'm trying!

Thanks again for everyone who has helped. I know sometimes it seems we ask the same questions that are already on here somewhere but it can be a bit overwhelming so personal help is certainly appreciated.

[aylad]

You're doing fine, keep brushing the pool daily and let your filter run 24/7 until it clears. Keep it at that shock level until your CC goes to 0, or until your water changes to blue/cloudy. The green has to be all the way gone.

Janet

[Spensar]

Good luck with the pool and keep plugging away at it! I had a big mess after coming back from holidays, and even though I've run the pool for 3 years, I was surprised at the amount of chlorine and time it took to finally whip it back into shape.

It WILL work. Like they are saying on the forum, just keep the chlorine level up until it clears! No vacumm to waste will give you a bigger challenge getting the dead algae out of the pool. Lots of filter cleaning I guess!

[shelbi]

woo hoo! finally clear! well not clear, very cloudy but not a sight of color - no green, no brown. Water is cloudy white. Hope this is right. Much prettier than brown! I've tried to vacuum but my hoses are collapsing. Since I couldn't see the bottom, I was getting pecans stuck in the hole which put too much pressure on it. Now i think it's ruined - time for a new hose i guess. So until I get around to finding one, i'll just let the filter do it's job. Did not check my numbers this morning but i did add one more jug of chlorine. So since there is no green, i can let my chlorine number just fall down to around 5, right? (I'll double check the best guess chart...my cya is 35)

Janet...thanks for all your help and support..

Spensar...yes, i was very surprised how quickly the problem came up. Haven't seen anything like that this year. But now I can say I am experienced at algae control...ha ha.

[Spensar]

Great news! Don't let your chlorine guard down yet! I'd keep it up at 10 or so until the water clears up really nicely. You aren't out of the woods yet. Can you post up your total and combined chlorine numbers? That will show if you are left with just cleaning up the dead gunk or if the beasties are still trying to multiply. Until you have constent CC of zero for a few readings I would keep the chlorine up there.

[shelbi]

Will post all my numbers later. No time to check before work today. will def keep my chlorine up for now. I think I'm FINALLY getting the hang of this.

Spensar, I see you joined this board in 1969...wow, didn't know there was internet back then....ha ha.