Well Water

[poolnovice]

We filled our above ground pool with well water, shocked it and now the water is brown. Visited our local pool shop and they recommended a product added it to the water...no change. Planning on dumping the water and refilling the pool. When refilling the pool is there a way to treat the water as the pool is being filled? If so, what should I use?

[aylad]

When there is iron in the water and it is introduced to high chlorine levels, it will precipitate out, which is what turned your water brown. Some people cope with it by adding Metal Out or other metal sequestrants (they don't really remove the metals, they just keep them in suspension) and keep their CYA low so their chlorine can stay low, or lately we've had some people that intentionally superchlorinate their water before running it into a filter of some kind, to cause the metals to drop out onto the filter before going into the pool.

Go through and read as many of the posts in the "metals" section of the forum as you can, especially any post written by Pooldoc or Mbar, and that should give you an idea of what's necessary in a pool with iron in the water. If you can't see it while logged in, you may have to log out to read them, then come back and post other questions if you have them. There are many people in your shoes, particularly this summer, for some reason--but the best you can do right now is either filter out the metal before introducing it to the pool, or use sequestrant and keep the chlorine and pH on the low side.

Janet

[PoolDoc]

There is no great solution to dealing with well water in an Intex type pool.

The filter and circulation system are too primitive to allow the techniques I've recommended on larger pools. You've got some basic options.

#1 - You can pretend the iron's not there, wear old (or no) swimsuits, and swim away. If you maintain adequate chlorine levels and reasonable pH levels, the water is fine for people -- all that brown water won't hurt anyone, and is just as wet as blue clear water.

#2 - You can try to get the iron OUT of the pool, but that's very hard to do with an Intex pool. The easiest way requires two pools, one for pretreatment. You'll end up running your own water treatment plant!

#3 - You try to keep the iron IN the pool WATER, by keeping it in its soluble form (greenish & clear, not brown and cloudy) for awhile. With care, you do this for a whole summer.

To do #1, just treat the pool as you would any other pool. The water will be safe; just be sure you keep a good count on your swimmers, because you may not see someone on the bottom!

I'm assuming you are NOT interested in #2

Here's a recipe for #3 for pools under 6,000 gallons:

1 - Purchase all of the following (before you begin filling)
+ a quart of polyquat algaecide, as explained here: http://www.poolsolutions.com/gd/polyquat.html
http://www.intheswim.com/Pool-Chemic...ecide-60-Plus/
+ a quart of HEDP based metal sequestrant, like "Jacks Pink Stuff"
http://www.horizonpoolsupply.com/sto...ategoryID=4339 (Looks like a good price)
(I'm recommending this product because it's clearly ID'd as 100% HEDP -- rather than the other companies' mystery goo.)
+ an OTO / phenol red test kit, like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Hydro-Tools-84.../dp/B0032JSPP8
+ a box of 20 Mule Team borax
+ 10# or so of dichlor, like on this page: http://www.intheswim.com/Pool-Chemic...ular-Chlorine/
(Avoid dichlor 'shock plus' blends!!!! => look for sodium dichloroisocyanurate as the sole ingredient.)
+ 5# or so of 'dry acid', like this:
http://www.intheswim.com/Pool-Chemic...ls/pH-Reducer/

Once you have all the items, find out how many gallons you have in your pool. Make notes on the normal 'dose' with each item for your pool. If you like, post your gallons here, and we'll do it.

Then take the following steps:

1. Start filling your pool with a hose placed inside a plastic bucket. Put a rock in the bucket to keep it from tipping if you need.
2. Add a 1/3 dose of HEDP immediately to the bucket, while you fill.
3. Test the fill water water pH. If it's above 7.6, add a 1/3 dose of pH minus to your bucket, when you have 4" of water on the floor. If the pH is low, do nothing.
4. After you have 8" of water on the bottom, add a 1/2 dose of polyquat to the bucket.
5. Once you have 1 foot of water, and a second 1/3 dose of HEDP to the pool.
6. At 15", if you added a pH minus dose before, add a 2nd 1/3 dose to your bucket.
7. Before the water level reaches the bucket's top, add your 3rd 1/3 dose of HEDP
8. If the pH of your pool is below 7.0, add 1/4 box of borax per 5,000 gallons. Don't worry if it sits on the pool's bottom.
9. As soon as the pool is full, start the pump and filter.
10. Once the pool is circulating, and the remainder of your polyquat dose.
11. Wait one hour, and test the pH again. If the pH is below 7.0, and another 1/4 box of borax per 5,000 gallons. If the pH is 7.6 or above, add an acid (pH minus) dose.
12. Wait one hour, and add dichlor at the rate of 1/2 cup per 5,000 gallons.
13. Wait one hour and test both pH AND chlorine. Adjust pH again, as needed. If chlorine is below 0.5, repeat dose.
14. Begin regular routine.

Routine:
1. Test each evening. Adjust as above. Never add more than 1/2 cup of dichlor per 5,000 gallons at one time. Dose chlorine whenever PM levels are below 0.5
2. Run pump 24/7
3. Add polyquat maintenance doses 2x per week, in the AM
4. Add HEDP maintenance doses 1x per week, also in the AM
5. Do NOT use any other chemicals.

How it works:
This plan depends on keeping pH and chlorine fairly low, to help keep iron dissolved. The HEPD holds the iron in a soluble form. The polyquat is needed, to supplement the chlorine, since you are keeping it so low. Without the polyquat you'll be likely to have algae problems. The dichlor adds stabilizer and is a quick dissolving form of chlorine that is less likely to precipitate the iron than bleach is. Borax allows you to raise your pH, if needed, without contributing to your metal problem. Running the filter 24/7 makes it likely that what iron DOES come out, will end up on your filter, rather than in the pool.

Ben

[St-John-swim-mom]

I had an Intex pool for 2 years and filled it with very hard water, lots of iron. Here's a small trick I used to do and you could give it a try if you'd like. I lined the skimmer basket with fine window screen and then I stuffed it with fiber fill (pillow stuffing). I stuck my fill hose in there and then left the fiber fill in when I would run the filter pump. Again, this is not a cure, but I think it helped.

[cans25]

I JUST went through this. Here is my post of how I fixed it. Good luck... http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthr...of-brown-water