Light green water

[PoolDoc]

Let me just re-affirm: the instructions earlier in this thread, here, are the ones you need to follow.

Don't worry about alkalinity or calcium. Don't add Iron Out. Don't use floc (yet - maybe later.)

I understand that this is frustrating. I'm not sure whether this will make you feel better or worse, but you probably need to know.

1. Dealing with metal contaminated well water is always a challenge.
2. There is enough variation from pool to pool, and water source to water source, so that an effective 1-size-fits-all method for pools with metal contaminated water isn't practical.
3. However, it's usually possible to work out an effective approach . . .
4. BUT, you'll really have to pay attention to details, more than most pool owners OR pool service guys, and
5. Once you have a working 'recipe', you'll need to stick to it carefully.

It would help (and I'll be asking eventually anyhow) to know all of the following:
1. Does the house use the same water as the pool?
2. Is there a water softener or treatment system on the house water supply?
3. Does the pool use water before, or after, this treatment system (if it exists)?
4. Is it 'expensive' for you to drain and refill? (Usually, "No", if the well is 100' or less; can be high if the well is deep OR if your well has very limited capacity).
5. What sort of filter do you have (cartridge or sand, original or larger replacement)?

Ben

[Huskerdee]

Yes the pool uses the same water supply as the pool; however, it is from hydrant that goes directly from hydrant to pool. It does not go through our water softener first. Refilling for us is costly and takes about a week for 15, 000 gallons. Our well is extremely old and is 250' deep. We cannot run it continuously for more than 8 hours at a time or it's too hard on it. I have a 2500 hp sand filter but also have the salt generator cartridge filter hooked up to it.

[PoolDoc]

By any chance, do you have an older smaller Intex around, that still is usable?

This is getting pretty involved, but if you can pretreat the fill water in a small pool, and then transfer it to the larger pool, you can keep the iron out of the big pool.

Also, can you disconnect or remove the guts of the SWCG (salt) system? You wouldn't want to use it know, at best. And, at worst, it's adding MORE metals (copper) to the pool! I'm not sure that EVERY Intex SWCG is this way, but the one's I've looked at ALSO add copper.

[Huskerdee]

I do not have any smaller ones still. I can remove the copper ionizer from it and will do that. When I test my water though my copper is 0, but cannot hurt to take it out. I got the chem Tek metal and Calcium remover and added the suggested amount to the water. This morning my PH was back up to 8.2 but I did not treat it yet because this metal chemical says it's an acid that lowers PH. After I added the metal and calcium remover, brushed the pool really well, and the water now turned a milky, cloudy green. Is that a sign it's working? How long should I wait to bachwash now? How long till I should notice a color difference? How long till I should check and adjust the PH? Should I brush more than a couple of times a day? Should I vacuum or wait? Lot of questions, I knows Lol. I appreciate your guidance through this.

[PoolDoc]

I got the chem Tek metal and Calcium remover and added the suggested amount to the water. This morning my PH was back up to 8.2 but I did not treat it yet because this metal chemical says it's an acid that lowers PH.

Go ahead and lower the pH - it's not that much of an acid. You want the pH around 7.0 -- the HEDP can't pick up the iron if the pH is high.

About the cloudiness -- I don't know what's happening. How much did you put in? An overdose of HEDP can cause cloudiness, but I've never seen a company label an HEDP product at doses high enough to cause that.

I'll call Kem-Tek, to see if I can find out if anything ELSE is in that product. You go ahead and lower the pH, and keep filtering.

[Huskerdee]

It said to put one quart per 10,000 gallons. Since our pool is almost 15,000 I added a quart and a half. I will go our and put PH reducer in now.

[PoolDoc]

I've tried 3x, but haven't been able to reach them.

I'll have to call this evening (for me -- they are in Calif).

I've re-read their literature, and am not sure what's happening. One & 1/2 quart of 20% HEDP is not high enough so I would expect calcium problems, though it is higher than I would have thought they'd put on their label. But, they are calling the product "calcium eliminator" -- that's par for the course for HEPD products, even though they don't "eliminate" anything -- they just dissolve it. But, it's possible that they did add something that will "eliminate" calcium, such as STPP. It's non-toxic, so they don't have to list it.

Even so, that doesn't explain what's happened, since commonly, wells with iron have ZERO calcium.

For now, DO lower the pH and DO keep filtering. Ironically, if they have done something that has precipitated calcium, once the iron's re-dissolved, the calcium products on the filter (as they filter out) WILL help REMOVE the iron from the pool. So, it may work out for the best. But, until I find out what ELSE is in that product, I'm guessing.

This is one of those times when I wish I had a "PoolForum" line of plain un-mixed chemicals for sale, so I could be SURE of what was going into people's pools!

Ben