New Pool Owner with Bad Water

Hi to all. We just installed a new 33' round above ground pool (28,000 gallons) ourselves. quite a project! Unfortunately we are in a very rural area and have a very shallow well, so we were forced to pump water from a stream in our yard.

Needless to say, the water is brown as can be. I thought that I would prevent this by installing two "big blue" water filters. The first being a sediment, second being an iron reducing filter. I purchased four sediment cartridges (rated at 8000 gallons) and one iron reducer rated at 30000 gallons hoping these would be enough. Needless to say after about a foot of water in the pool they were all maxed out. Due to the expense of the cartridges, I just ran the water in unfiltered..

I have read through the metals forum here and on other sites and get some conflicting results in terms of removing the iron. It seems some say to not chlorinate before trying to remove and some say to do so. For example I know my well water system "chlorinates the water prior to filtering, I believe to make the iron "catchable" in our filtration system. This does make sense. The flip side I believe is that it creates staining??

I have added nothing to the pool yet. What should my first steps be to remove the iron?

I did read the post about the person with the sump pump and the bucket, but it just seems like that is adding another filter to speed up the process??

We have a Hayward cartidge filter with a 1.5 hp pump.

So to recap my questions are this:

Do I chlorinate before trying to filter the iron?

Does the sump pump and bucket idea just speed up the filtering process?

Or, am I better off trying to capture what I can before I chlorinate??

Being that this is stream water with a lot of bacteria how many gallons of bleach should I use to do the initial shock, when the time is right, for the 28000 gallons of water?

Thanks to all in advance.

Shane

The fact that the water is brown doesn't mean it contains iron.

If you truly pumped the water from a flowing stream, it's very, very unusual for there to be high levels of iron in surface water. It's much more likely that it's dirt.

Bacteria in well water is not going to consume significant amounts of chlorine, either.

What I'd recommend is the following:

1. Turn your pump and filter on, and leave them on.
2. Watch your pressure gage, and clean the filter when you see a 3 - 5# increase.
3. Brush your pool, to help prevent stains (which might, or might not be likely to occur)
4. Add a double dose of polyquat 60% algicide. Repeat every 24 hours.
5. Add a single dose of liquid stain/scale agent. Do not repeat, until you've reported back here.
6. Don't add anything else.
7. Operate for 24 hours and see what happens.
8. Get a testkit -- the 6-way HTH kid at Walmart is good starter.
9. Test your pool, and report back.

The polyquat and stain-scale should help prevent problems.

Do NOT try to fix your pH, your alkalinity, your calcium or your stabilizer, yet.

Let's just avoid problems, and find out what your water has in it.

PoolDoc

Thanks for the reply. I did get the Taylor K-1765 as recomended by someone on this site, and I am picking up the iron/copper kit today. I should have mentioned, because of the dry hot weather up here the stream is not flowing. I am pumping from an old (70 plus years) irrigation pond that was built in the middle of the stream. (currently not flowing). I will add what you suggested and test later this afternoon and post the results. Thanks again.

As a note, I purchased an iron test kit and it registered either 2ppm or 5ppm (the colors were so close I would say it is in the middle. I added the double dose of polyquat and the stain/scale. Will run filter from tonight to tomorrow night and post back.

It may not be, but that sounds like an odd iron reading. What iron testkit did you get? (Mfg, model #)

I'd like to look up the manual on that one.

PoolDoc

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sjrups

Thanks for the reply. I did get the Taylor K-1765 as recomended by someone on this site.

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Hmmm, not sure who recommended that kit. It is a DPD chlorine/pH test and very expensive. The standard one only measure up to 3 ppm chlorine but they do have the high range one that measures up to 10 ppm . Not a very useful kit for the average pool owner. You still needs tests for TA, CH, and CYAl The kit usually recommended here is the Taylor K-2006 with the FAS-DPD chlorine test AND all the other tests mentioned .

You CAN get just the FAS-DPD test kit from Taylortechnologies dot com.

It's the K-1515-A and is about $25 as a stand-alone.

But it's the key test in the K-2006 we recommend. The others can be easily obtained in other kits (like yours). You don't have to replace your kit if you get this addition.

The K-1515-C is the same thing with a lot more reagents, and costs a good bit more.

I think Amatoind dot com sells the K-1515-C at a discount. lesliespools dot com sells the DPD powder and FAS-DPD reagent, but not the CC reagent.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CarlD

The others can be easily obtained in other kits (like yours). You don't have to replace your kit if you get this addition.

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Carl, the kit the OP has ONLY tests chlorine and pH. There are no other tests.
They still need to test TA, CH, and CYA. Getting a K-2006 is probably the most cost effective way to get the tests they need.

Pool Doc:The iron test kit I purchased was an Aquachek iron test strips. Tests for total iron. There is no part number on the box. It states inside box:" Test strips measure total iron at 0, .15, .3, .6, 1, 2, and 5 ppm. The reading I got was very hard to decipher whether it was the 2ppm or the 5ppm.

WaterBear: I don't know where I saw that on this site in regards to the K-1765, but it was somewhere unless I misread it. It does look like a lot more than I need. I will order the one you suggested as well.

I deliver to a water testing company (I work for Fedex). They are going to sample the iron, TA, and copper for me tomorrow. I will post the results when I get home.

Thanks again to all.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sjrups

It states inside box:" Test strips measure total iron at 0, .15, .3, .6, 1, 2, and 5 ppm. The reading I got was very hard to decipher whether it was the 2ppm or the 5ppm.
And this is one of the problems with strips, they are often difficult to read. Iron test kits are not cheap but Taylor and LaMotte both have good ones.
WaterBear: I don't know where I saw that on this site in regards to the K-1765, but it was somewhere unless I misread it. It does look like a lot more than I need. I will order the one you suggested as well.
Actually the kit you got is a lot LESS than you need since it only tests chlorine and pH. You still need tests for TA, CH, and CYA. The K-2006 has all these tests in addition to the FAS-DPD chlorine test and pH test with acid and base demand. You won't regret getting it it.

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Hope this is helpful.

Thanks waterbear. I meant that for the two that it does test, it seems more than I need (has some great slides for easy identification of samples). I have ordered the other kit you recommended.

Test strips are notoriously hard to decipher . . . and often are inaccurate.

I'd wait on the test from the water testing company before assuming that you actually do have iron.

Ben

Definitely iron in the water. I had Nelson labs test for iron only. Confirmed my suspicions. 12.4 ppm. They said that .3 ppm in drinking water causes stains. What to do next? Shock or try to clean before shocking? Thanks again to everyone for being so helpful. See copied lab report below:

Sample Description: POOL/STREAM WATER - Temp. rec'd: 19 oC
Sample Date: 8/05/10
Sample Time: 6:00
__________________________________________________ ______________________________________________
DATE TIME TEST TEST
PARAMETERS RESULTS UNITS ANALYZED ANALYZED METHOD ANALYST
__________________________________________________ ______________________________________________
Iron 12.4 mg/l 8/05/10 12:11 200.7 CD


mg/l = ppm