New Pool Owner 15X42 Intex Metal Frame - very rusty brown well water

[Heidi B]

I only have the Aqua Swim test strips so I will need to purchase the test kit from Walmart today before I can send the readings. In the meantime, I've been extremely lean on adding chlorine because I don't know what I'm doing and I don't want to make it harder to get the iron/rust out, but I also don't want to deal with an algae problem. What should my chlorine level be at while I'm dealing with the iron problem? Should I stay away from shock? The pool was filled over a 3 day period - filled completely 6/18.

[aylad]

You need to keep your chlorine somewhere between 2-4 ppm while you're dealing with the iron problem. Your question, "should I stay away from shock"? is a little misleading--shock is actually a verb, that means to raise your chlorine to a high level (which you should do, while you're dealing with the iron). It is not a particular product. There are packets labeled "shock", but they're just different forms of chlorine, usually with some other mystery goop in them that I don't recommend you add to the pool. I'm estimating your pool volume at about 5000 gallons (someone correct me if I'm wrong), and in that volume of water, each 1.5 cups of 6% bleach you add will raise your FC by 1 ppm, so you can use that as a guide to figure out how much you need to add at any one time. Until you have stabilizer in the water, you're probably going to have to add chlorine 2 or 3 times during the day to keep any in the pool, but if you don't, then you're gonna have algae to deal with on top of the metals.

Janet

[Heidi B]

Test Results
pH 7.8
Cl 5
Br 10
Total Alkalinity 150
Total Hardness - had some trouble with this - I added the first drops which were suppose to turn red and did for like 2 seconds, then it said to add the second part of solution count the drops until it turned blue - I was at 30 drops and no blue - each drop was to be multiplied by 50

Stabilizer -Cyanuric Acid - again had some issues, the black dot on the bottom of the inner test tube was suppose to disappear and I was suppose to record the reading from where the dot dissappeared, but it never did.

My Walmart was out of the 6 way test kit so I picked up one at Meijer - brand is Kokido

Yesterday I added a second small pump to help with the iron, and swept the bottom of the pool. I've been changing filters like crazy as well as the socks on the water return. I also added some Vitamin C tablets. My water is no longer muddy brown, but still far from clear - it appears to have a green tint to it, but not bright green, still is a little brown so I guess I would say its a greenish brown color, but I can see all the way to the bottom of the pool which is a huge improvement.

[PoolDoc]

I've got part of the guide I'm working on for people with Intex-pools and well water done:
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?17166

[Faefyre]

Heidi,
Dealt with well-water filled pools before and dealing with it now. Believe me they can help you get crystal water here if you do what they say. I did notice that you said that you are changing the filter. You can re-use the cartridge filters MANY times (one filter will usually clean the iron from a pool your size) by rinsing it out at the very least, 4 times a day. This will also help to filter out the metals that are causing the problem. If you can rinse the filter every 4 hours, even better. The metal will rinse out of it. I am on the third day now of rinsing my 10,000 gal 22'x52" Intex pool filter cartridge and every day the pool is looking better. But I am only dealing with iron which the cartridge filters tend to catch easier. This is the only method I use and I have successfully filled my last 15'x42" pool with well-water every year and had it clear up in a week, but all in all ... our northern Indiana well-water is not bad except for the iron.

Let us know how you are doing out there.

Tami

[Heidi B]

My pool cleaned up beautifully.

I never thought I would have crystal clear pool water considering I started with muddy rusty water.

My well water is horrible - spent over $5000 on filtration just to get the water useable for the house - just to give you an idea of how bad it is.

When I had about 10 inches of water in the pool you couldn't even see the bottom. I had two pumps running, and used the cotton socks on the water returns. I kept the chlorine at about 3ppm while dealing with the iron.

When I was home and able to, the filters and socks were rinsed or changed out about every 30 mins. I also borrowed a sweeper that attached to the pump and swept the sediment that had fallen to the bottom twice in the first 5 days. The pool was clear enough to swim in on day 5 and crystal clear on about day 9. I've had to add water twice and I follow the same procedure with the socks on the water return and cleaning the filter every 30 minutes. Each time I added about 4 inches of water and on about the 3rd time of changing the socks and rinsing the filter, most of the iron was gone.

Thank you thank you for all of the advice.

[PoolDoc]

Great. That's an encouraging success story!

By the way, while it's not essential for safety or anything else, some people have a lower tolerance for any stains or water discoloration than others. If you are one of those, buying some HEDP and a CuLator baggie can help you keep it crystal clear continuously. What you'd want to do is put the Culator in your skimmer, UNDER a skimmer sock. Then add a 1/4 - 1/8 dose of HEDP every time you add water. The HEDP will keep the iron dissolved; the Culator will remove it.

If you don't want to spend them money, that's fine too. But you'll have a small recurrence of problems each time you have to add more water.

Deluxe Intex Surface Skimmer

HEDP is a liquid phosphonate that is pretty chlorine stable, and very good at keeping dissolved metals IN the water, instead of ON your pool surfaces. It can lift recent stains, OR it can be used along side of ascorbic acid, to keep the metals in the water, after the ascorbic acid is consumed by chlorine.

Jacks Magic The Pink Stuff 1qt (60% HEDP) @ Amazon
20% KemTek HEDP @ Amazon

The CuLator product is a special patented plastic material, contained in a bag that goes into the skimmer, that can slowly take metals OUT of your pool water. We think it works, and have some evidence that it does, but not proof yet. (Not likely to be available locally.)

1 ppm Culator @ Amazon
1.5 ppm Culator sold by Amazon, shipped from Periodic
4 ppm Culator sold by Amazon, shipped from Periodic
Poolmaster 16242 Poolmaster Skimmer Basket Liner @ Amazon (to protect CuLator from being damaged by scum)