Help a newbie?

[JohnT]

Reading this thread brings me to a question: I too am on a well, but I cannot take water to a pool store to test for metals because the results always involve selling something and they dont actually give you the results of the test, its just "put this in and it will fix you up". Is there a test kit available for metals to end users?

http://www.poolstore.com/store1/welc...per/index.html

[Chaotic]

Thank you. I assume the copper and iron reagents have a 1 to 2 year life?

[waterbear]

http://www.poolstore.com/store1/welc...per/index.html

These are Taylor kits and are excellent. Reagenys should last at least a year if you store them in the house and you can get the refills directly from Taylor Technologies.

[GlenKlein]

ok... I'm a little frustrated. Maybe for no reason?

It's now been 24 hours since adding the Metal Magic and my water is still greenish (or yellow with the blue'ish liner).

A couple of things I've noticed that may clue someone in:

We have dogwood trees - with the cotton things flying everywhere lately. In the bottom of my skimmer basket are the cotton things - but they are orange.

It reminds me of the rust stains in our sink/toilet if I let the salt pellets run low in our water softener. We use the "rust removal" type pellets in our water softener and the stains go away - the "rust" stains are the identical color of the dogwood cottons in the bottom of my skimmer.

Is there a correlation here?

Am I being impatient and expecting results from the Metal Magic too soon?

Thanks...

[GlenKlein]

New numbers -


5/30/06 - Chlorine/Bromine test = ORANGE (off the chart - the chart ended at yellow - my color was almost like a peach orange)
6/3/06 - Chlorine = 1 (a few days ago it was off the chart - see above)

5/30/06 - Alkalinity = 330ppm total alklinity as calcium carbonate
pH = 7.5
6/3/06 - Alkalinity = 300ppm

5/30/06 - Hardness = my water didn't turn red as the test said it should.
6/3/06 - this time the water did turn red - so Evan, you were probably right. The high chlorine was messing with the hardness test.

5/30/06 - CYA = 30ppm - the solution never got cloudy enough to hide the black dot.
6/3/06 - still the same as above.

I think the metal magic may be working btw. It is a little clearer this morning - not quite so green (see post right above this one for orange stuff comments).

I followed the directions on the bottle of the metal magic. 16oz for 5000 gallons... I'm wondering if I can go ahead and dump the remaining 16oz. and hopefully clear it up even more?

Also my Chlorine level really went down in a matter of a few days - so maybe it is an algae thing afterall?

[CarlD]

New numbers -
...
Also my Chlorine level really went down in a matter of a few days - so maybe it is an algae thing afterall?

Sounds like it--or some other organic. Evan's advice is pretty good--but the trees are news. You need to run your chlorine up to 15ppm--with the distilled water method mixed 2parts distilled to 1 part pool the WalMart test will reach 15ppm. Use 4 1/2 to 5 quarts of Ultra bleach (6%) to raise it there. Or use 5 1/2 to 6 quarts of regular (5.25) bleach. Either is fine. Test the water 2x-3x/day and raise chlorine back to 15 when it drops (anything from 12 to 15 should be OK, but below that, add).

It may take a few days to get results.

[GlenKlein]

Thanks Carl,

I added more dichlor - Evan said I should wait until my CYA is 50ppm, and then switch to bleach? I will check the Chlorine a little later again.

Also note: I just pulled my filter, and as you might've guessed - it too was pumpkin orange. I just rinsed it out under hot water and it cleaned right up - no problem.

[CarlD]

You need to raise CYA a little, but anywhere between 30 and 50 is fine. I actually like 40ppm. At that point you stop using di-chlor and switch to bleach. You can, however, follow Evan's advice with confidence--I'd stop sooner than 50ppm but that's me.