My First Pool - 0.2 ppm copper reported

Well, I'm glad i found this place. You have already saved me money by pointing me to pick up "chemicals" at WalMart rather than the pool store.

Two stores say the pool is in the area of 25 - 30 thousand gallons. Irregular shape with a deeper than average deep end. In ground with what i thinnk I have identified as a DiamondBrite finish. It has a huge sand filter. The previous owner said at closing that he built the pool to "commercial standards" and used a commercial sand filter. I did have a pool inspection prior to purchasing and the inspector said he has never seen this large a sand filter at a residence.

I purchased the house in November and all winter long the chlorine was fine. I checked yesterday and it had dropped to "0". I shocked it and added pucks to two floaters in the pool yesterday and today it's at 6.2. It was clear when I started, but with shocking it and sweeping it has become a little cloudy.

I took the water in for testing (before I found this site) and everything they say agrees with my testing, but they did say I had .2 copper. The asked about any brown staining, but I didn't remember any. Well - there are a few small brown areas on the steps.

Alkalinity is at around 90 and I'm going by WalMart for Baking Soda today.

So, do I worry about the copper or ignore it? The pool store said they had some "stuff" to fix it, but said I should wait and watch it first.

Don't worry about the copper. Few tests -- and no teststrips -- can reliably measure 0.2 ppm Cu (200 ppb).

Anyhow, brown is not copper. It might be iron, but it's not copper. Put a vitamin C tab on one of the step stains -- if it clears a small area, it's iron.

Hi, Tim, and welcome to the Pool Forum!

Thanks to both of you. I'm just waiting for my test kit so I can get a handle on everything....