Green Hair Problem After Using Bioguard Smart Shock

[SnoopysGirl]

Great, will do (regarding the Culator). I do understand what you are saying about the "metal removal" description. It is curious why those claims are made on the package.

[PoolDoc]

It is curious why those claims are made on the package.

Not curious; just sad. Maybe the only market segment in the US that lies as much as attorneys do, are advertisers and marketers. Worse, some legal changes in the fiduciary obligations of officers of public held companies apparently REQUIRE them to rip-off customers as much as is profitable, so long as it won't put them in jail.

Ironically, these laws seem to have arisen as a result of John Q Public's envy and resentment of the rich kids created by family owned companies. Such companies have their own problems, but tend to take a longer view of their relationship with their customers. However punitive inheritance laws have mostly put an end to multi-generational mid-sized companies!

[SnoopysGirl]

Thank you so much for the advice. I can see that there are color changes in the Culator, and I will post those when I change out the bag. I have subscribed to the forum, so I hope you can see that. Let me know if you have any questions about that. I have two additional questions, and one is a pool structural one that I would like to get opinions about, and post pictures. Please let me know if you'd like me to post that here or start a new thread. Thanks again so much for all of the help!!!!

[PoolDoc]

Start a new thread, please. We try to keep topics separate.

By the way, you posts will no longer be moderated, as soon as the server completes its daily cycle. (I can do it manually, but then it tangles the database records a bit.)

Please DO get pictures of the CuLator, when you can!

[SnoopysGirl]

I changed the Culator today - figured it will be easier for me to remember to change at the first of the month, and it was close enough to the date that I first put the bag into the skimmer basket. As my title indicated, we were having a problem with green hair, and I suspected that copper was the problem. I was adding copper with the BioGuard Shock product. Also, we have some staining on our pool this summer, which I suspect is iron from our water supply. While we have city water, we have had drought conditions this year, and I think the water has a higher iron content because of it. Here are the pictures from the Culator:


While the color looks greenish, I think it is due to the copper plus iron in the water. There are areas in the packet that are more blue, and then some more yellow.


This shows a really blue area of the powder.


Another closer view with some yellow.

I think the Culator is really working in our pool. My daughter had really green hair at the end of June, and it has since turned back to her normal color. She swims nearly every day. My hair was also turning green, and though I don't swim daily, since using this plus the Kem-Tek, our hair is looking great. I really appreciate all of the help!

[waterbear]

The SeaKlear product is a chitosan based clarifier. While it will remove a tiny amount of metal ions from the water by absorption and then, in theory, but allowing the absorbed metal to be filter out, it is by no means anywhere near as effective as a sequestrant like HEDP which chelates the metal ions and deactivate them so they cannot react chemically.

Also, for future reference, to remove the green from the hair you can put two teaspoons of citric acid (sold in some grocery store spice sections as "sour salt" used in Kosher cooking, in 8 oz of warm water and pour it through the hair and let it sit until the green is gone, rinse for a full five minutes with warm water, shampoo and condition. If all the green is not lifted you can repeat the process.

[Watermom]

Ben,
Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think it is necessary to change out the Culator pack monthly??

[PoolDoc]

Monthly change out is what Periodic Products (the mfg) recommends, but I suspect that recommendation has more to do with their sales goals, than with necessity.

From their own data, it appears that color intensity indicates when the product is 'consumed'. In the pictures above, the CuLator looks to me like it still has a LOT of use left.

A cautious approach might be to put a new CuLator in beside a month old one. That way, if the older one really is failing, the pool is protected. But if it is NOT failing you'd be able to determine that, as the older unit continues to darken in color.

[SnoopysGirl]

The SeaKlear product is a chitosan based clarifier. While it will remove a tiny amount of metal ions from the water by absorption and then, in theory, but allowing the absorbed metal to be filter out, it is by no means anywhere near as effective as a sequestrant like HEDP which chelates the metal ions and deactivate them so they cannot react chemically.

Also, for future reference, to remove the green from the hair you can put two teaspoons of citric acid (sold in some grocery store spice sections as "sour salt" used in Kosher cooking, in 8 oz of warm water and pour it through the hair and let it sit until the green is gone, rinse for a full five minutes with warm water, shampoo and condition. If all the green is not lifted you can repeat the process.

Thank you so much for the comments about the clarifier and the info on the green hair remedy. We used ketchup, and it did work somewhat. I will try the salt suggestion if we have more problems.

Ben,
Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think it is necessary to change out the Culator pack monthly??

Monthly change out is what Periodic Products (the mfg) recommends, but I suspect that recommendation has more to do with their sales goals, than with necessity.

From their own data, it appears that color intensity indicates when the product is 'consumed'. In the pictures above, the CuLator looks to me like it still has a LOT of use left.

A cautious approach might be to put a new CuLator in beside a month old one. That way, if the older one really is failing, the pool is protected. But if it is NOT failing you'd be able to determine that, as the older unit continues to darken in color.

It does say to change it out monthly. I thought the powder looked pretty "used," but I don't have much experience with it.

I have a question about copper in the pool. Since my original post (I believe it was June) I have not added any more of the bioguard product (the one that contained copper). The new Culator packet that I just added on August 1st is already turning blue (I can see it through the outside of the cloth bag). Also, I am still accumulating stains on the pool, even though I have the Culator and the HEDP Kem-Tek product that I am adding with each water fill. I thought that the brownish stains on the pool were iron (possibly from fill water), but could they be copper? This is the first year that we have really heated the pool, and I am wondering if possibly we are also getting copper in the pool from the heating element, which might cause the brownish stains on the pool? Unfortunately, the pipes go from the pump, through the filter, through the heating element, and then back through the pool. There is no way for me to run the water past the heater, even if the heater wasn't running.

Thanks for any feedback.

[PoolDoc]

It's possible -- even likely --that you have BOTH iron and copper in your pool. Brown stains ARE iron (or if dark coffee brown, manganese, but that's unlikely unless you have well water).

If you keep the pH above 7, it's unlikely you are dissolving copper into the pool. But, iron's another matter. Is your pool water exposed to iron or steel anywhere?