What to do next? High Alkalinity & Combined Chlorine, Well Water & Iron issues

[PoolDoc]

Hi Lady;

Well, it could be worse. You could have algae, too. To be fair to the pool store, your's is a hard pool to deal with.

Having been fair, I'm going to tell you: DO NOT TRUST THEIR ADVICE ANYMORE! Don't burn your bridges; just get your water tested, smile sweetly, and say "Maybe next time", when they try to dump all that stuff on you.

#1 - Get a cheap OTO / phenol red test kit (Walmart, or whereever)
#2 - Turn your pump on, and leave it on 24/7 till you are ALL cleaned up.
#3 - Starting tomorrow EVENING, add 2 gallons of bleach each evening, unless levels are above 4 ppm.
#4 - Starting tomorrow MORNING, add directly to the pool 2 quarts of muriatic acid (gloves, glasses, watch the fumes) at a time, wait an hour, and retest.
#5 - Keep your chlorine above 1 in the AM, but don't add more stabilizer yet.
#6 - Keep adding acid till your pH goes just below 7.0, and then stop.
#7 - Test chlorine 1 hour after bleach additions and again in the AM, no later than 2 hours after sunrise.
#8 - Order a K2006 or K2006C -- Amazon link below -- and report results once you have it. Don't over test CYA -- 2006 only contains 3 - 4 CYA tests.
#9 - See if your pool store will test your fill water for iron -- 0.08ppm does NOT sound high enough for your problems.
#10 - If you start to see any algae, add polyquat-60 algaecide. (Also will help slightly with filtration.)

Regarding stains in acrylic -- I wouldn't hold my breath till they are removed. More likely, you'll need to remove the acrylic and recoat with epoxy . . . but not this season. (There may be some epoxies now that can go on top of acrylic.)

Regarding your well, and iron: water discolored by iron is usually orange or orange-brown or maybe brown. Black is manganese, which can be present in well water. Are you sure it's iron?

Finally, most of the time, I tell people some version of "It won't be that hard, once you get the hang of it.". But I'm not going to tell you that -- metal contaminated well water is hard to deal with, and if you've got manganese, it's really, really hard. You need to understand that none of the 'metal removers' do -- all they do is redissolve the metals, but ONLY for awhile.

The ONLY way to remove iron is with a zeolite (softener, NOT zeolite filter media) OR by persuading the metals to precipitate on your filter, but not on your pool (stains!).

Regardless, start with the list above, and go from there. If you are careful, you can probably work out a way to operate your pool fairly trouble free -- you just won't have much room for error.

Ben

[Watermom]

One thing to add ----- We only advise people to order the kit from Amato Industries through the Amazon link below. When I checked earlier this evening, Amato was not the listed seller for the K-2006, so apparently they are currently sold out of that one. However, Amato Industries is listed as the seller for the K-2006C which is the same kit but with larger bottles of some of the most used reagents, so I would advise that you order that kit instead of the 2006.

[lady.k]

Thank you!
I do have a drop test for chlorine and ph, which was consistent with the pool store tests. Also have strips which were not all consistent with store tests. I will order the Taylor as recommended. Right now, we're testing right about 7 for PH. Muratic went in 6 hours ago and filter has been on most of that time.

Hubby is worried about pump overheating while we are at work and burning out pump house to the ground. We've been running the pump when we're home but both work during the day. It gets really hot while running for long periods of time. Is this realistic or just a crazy paranoia?

Also - I may have been a little dramatic when I said the pool was black. It was more like a dark-roast coffee. I'm fairly certain it was iron and most was at the bottom of the pool at that point, hence the test that wasn't registering much. In the house our porcelain has an orange tinge to it where water sits.

Based on the current PH should I just start with the chlorine tomorrow night? What's the stopping point for the chlorine?? Thanks again!

[CarlD]

Normally, you should be able to run your pump 24/7 for weeks or even months on end and while it might get hot, it shouldn't get too hot to touch. If it does, something else is going on.
Have you back washed recently. If not, do so. A pump works better with a clean filter. Watch the pressure gauge. After you backwash, note your "clean" pressure. When the pressure goes up 5 psi, or the pump starts getting hot again, backwash again.

Carl

[lady.k]

Ok - ran my sump pump overnight for aeration and the pool sat all day without the filter running because our pump really overheats and we don't want to risk leaving it on all day. I'm really not trying to ask for advice then not take it, really. After reading Carl's post I think we have an issue - If you splash water on it, it sizzles - and I don't even know where to start with the pump. We have been back washing a lot, with the iron cleanup we did it at least 6 times over the weekend and pressure is in normal range.

Got more water tested today (pulled it following Ben's test sample instructions on website this time), and here's the results:
FC 0.8
TC Not run
ph - 6.9
Hardness 160
Alk 190
CYA 10
Copper 0.03
Iron 0.12
Nitrate 0
TDS not run

pH is where Ben said to stop the acid, and that is only after 1 gal. I didn't add any since yesterday. Should we add more to get the alk down or leave it and move on to the chlorine?

Also - I do have 3" tabs, should I throw one in the skimmer or just start with bleach? Is household bleach stabilized - will I need to add CYA?

Thanks again!

[aylad]

Don't add any more acid until the pH comes up. Household bleach is not stabilized so you will need to add CYA.

Janet

[madwil]

if your 3in pucks are trichlor, you can add them in a floater along with adding bleach- they will slowly add CYA along with Chlorine. Just stop using them once your CYA is built up where you want it!
They do tend to lower pH, so you need to watch it while using the trichlor...
Or just add the CYA direct, and don't use the pucks!