New Here...Have Green Clear Water

[mrscoach]

Well, I went to the pool store and of course, they were sold out of the "good kits". They are getting more this afternoon, then I will be able to get proper numbers, but I can answer some of them already.

1. I have been using Poolife 3" Cleaning Tablets Stabilized Chlorinator- Ingredients: Trichlore- s-Triazinetrione 99%, other ingredients 1% (Big white tub with orange lid)

2. I use a hose that is hooked up to the water softener to keep the pool full

3. I have never had green water before, sometimes brown, after the slide water is turned all all day, which is well water.

4. I have never had the Copper tested, but last year my test results were: Hardness 100, Iron 0, Manganese No.

It is a fiberglass in ground pool, made of fiberglass.

[mrscoach]

Ok...Here are my numbers:

FC= .5
TC= 2
CC=1.5
Br=1.5
Sant. Level 7.5
pH 7.4
TA 100
CH 170
CYA 50

[Watermom]

FC + CC = TC, so there is a problem with your chlorine numbers. Maybe try those tests again. Also, if this is a chlorine pool, then you don't have any bromine. (The testers can also be used for bromine pools, and that is why those markings are also on there.)

I'm not sure what you mean by Sant. Level 7.5 ???

PH, TA, CH and CYA are all fine. With a cya level of 50ppm, you need to keep your cl between 3-6 all the time and shock level will be 15ppm.

With cya of 50 and basically no chlorine, you have the perfect conditions for algae to start but typically if there is algae, your water won't be clear and green but more likely murky or cloudy and green (or just cloudy if the algae bloom is just starting.) Clear and green usually does mean metals. But, at any rate, if you do have metals you can deal with that after you get the water balanced. If there are metals present, you may get some staining, but you can clear those up after the water is sanitized.

You need to shock the pool up to about 15 and try and hold it at that level as consistently as you can. Test at least twice (and 3x is better) and each time, add enough bleach to take your cl level back up to 15. Run your pump 24/7 while working to clear the pool. The best times to test and add bleach are early morning and in the evening when the sun is off the pool. If you can do it one or two more times during the day, all the better! When you get to the point where you are losing no more than 1ppm of cl overnight from sundown to sunup, then you can let the cl level drift back down and then keep it between 3-6 all the time.

In a 14,000 gallon pool, each quart of 6% bleach will raise the cl by 1ppm.

Do NOT use any more of the chlorine pucks. They are stabilized which means they have cya in them and you do not want any more cya in your pool. Stick with bleach or liquid chlorine.

[mrscoach]

Ok, I took the chlorine pucks out! Thank you for that advice.

I'm not sure why my numbers are possibly incorrect, am I understanding this wrong? My FC was .5 and my CC was 1.5. Those together equal 2.0, which was my TC reading. I hate to sound so stupid, I just want to make sure that I'm doing this correctly. UGH!

I see now that I didn't need to do Bromine. Please ignore that reading.

I added 3 gallons of bleach tonight

I tested my cl...it appears my test only goes to 5. However, the color was at 5. I will test again in the morning and then add bleach accordingly.

Thank you for your help.

[CarlD]

I'm bothered by the FC of .5 and the CC of 1.5--which means there's definitely something growing in your water if you are running the test correctly.

If you keep getting an FC of .5 and a CC of 1.5 then you should shock your pool's FC up to 15 ppm and keep it there for a couple of days. If you are not running the test wrong then you DO have an algae bloom and you need to kill it, now. Shocking it this way will show if you are running the test wrong or DID have a problem.

If, in fact, you have a metal problem, you can deal with that after you are certain you don't have an algae problem--which means at a minimum CC must be 0.

If, after that, your pool is still green and clear, we can investigate metals in the water.


To summarize:
1) Let's start by ASSUMING you ran the FC and CC test correctly.

2) Then you need to shock your pool to 15 and keep it there.

3) When (if) CC now drops to zero you had something growing.

4) If your pool is STILL green we then check for metal.

[Watermom]

OOPS. I misread your chlorine testing numbers. Sorry about that. (Guess my eyes weren't working too well at 12:36 last night!) But, at any rate, the CC of 1.5 is a concern and all the other advice I wrote still stands.

[CarlD]

I guess I was up TOO early and missed part of Lisa's post. But we are now in synch and agree you need to start by shocking your pool.