I'm Confused

[CarlD]

OK, I estimate you have 25,000 gallons, not 33,000 (16.5**2)*(3.1416)*4*7.5= 25,659 gallons. (PI*r**2*Depth*7.5)=gallons 7.5 is gallons per cubic foot. 4' is the depth of your water, not the height of the sides of your pool.

Only two ways something called "shock" will turn water green that I know of. 1) It's not chlorine 2) there's lots of metal in your water. The brown stuff on the skimmer may confirm that. The water should be checked for copper and iron, I think.

So what was the "shock" you put it? It should list the ingredient.

I'm also a bit startled that you CYA/Stabilizer went from 0 to 45. It can't happen in a few hours, and it certainly cannot happen from adding Dry Acid (That's the generic for pH Down).

Any other mods and our super experienced gang of posters, please feel free to chip in.

Carl

[PoolDoc]

It will be tomorrow PM before I can really reply.

Meanwhile,

+ Remove the tabs and the Nature2. You can throw the Nature2 away now, or later - but it's worthless. Keep the tabs, but leave them OUTSIDE in an uncovered plastic bucket.
+ Run your filter 24/7
+ Buy some polyquat and begin dosing with it ( http://www.poolsolutions.com/gd/polyquat.html )
+ Add SMALL doses of bleach -- 1 quart at a time in the evening via the skimmer. BUT, *ONLY* after you remove the tabs and Nature2
+ Try to find a LIQUID stain and scale remover and dose with that, as well. Do NOT over dose -- follow the label.
+ Get a cheap OTO / phenol red drops kit, and use it to keep your chlorine in the 0.5 - 1.0 range, and your pH 7.0 - 7.2
+ Be SURE to keep filtering.
+ If you need to add more water, do so via the skimmer.

Good luck; explanations tomorrow (or Monday)

Ben

[CarlD]

Dang! I missed the Nature2. IMHO, a total waste of money. Causes more trouble than it's worth.

[PoolDoc]

Lisa;

Here are promised explanations:

+ Dissolved iron in pool water can do many things: it can "precipitate" as brown / orange fluff that settles or discoloration that does not, but will filter out. It can 'disappear'. And, it can turn the water CLEAR green, or occasionally, when you get 'green iron' mixed with a bit of "orange iron", murky green.

+ The fact that you have iron in your filter water means we not only have do deal with the iron IN your pool, but also the iron that WILL BE in your pool, when you have to fill.

+ There are EXACTLY TWO ways to remove iron from pool -- no more. First, you can get it into a form you can filter out (orange fluff), and then do that. Second, you can turn it into orange, brown, or black STAINS that are stuck to something. The inside of your filter is OK, the inside of the skimmer is not too bad, but the pool surface or your white swim suit is not so good.

+ So called sequestrants, chelants, metal magnets and ALL OTHER "metal remover" products DO NOT DO WHAT THEY CLAIM; that is, they do not REMOVE the iron (or copper, or what); they just turn it back into the CLEAR soluble form. That wouldn't be bad if the effect were permanent, but it's only temporary.

+ The process I described above is designed to keep your pool:
-- algae free and reasonably sanitary,
-- without creating iron stains every where, but
-- with slow filtration of the iron out onto your filter.

There's more to it that I told you, but I need to be sure you've done what I said, first, before I try to help you move on to the next steps.

By the way, you CAN swim. I would just avoid having a pool party with lots of people. You also want to wear old swimsuits (or no swimsuit, if you have a high enough fence) to avoid ruining them (won't hurt your skin!). BUT, if you added the acid through the skimmer with the Nature2 cartridge in place, you may need to keep any gray or blond haired family members out of the pool, since you may have put enough copper from the cartridge into the pool water to turn their hair green.

Ben