Pool problems on startup

[PoolDoc]

Vitamin C works on copper.

Unfortunately, some organic stains can be removed only very slowly with chlorine . . . and I have seen some that were never removed. I don't know of any other way to remove them.

[michael3]

With the age of my liner, if we can get the water clear, can probably see about 2' down now. I am ok with green colored wall and bottom lol. With my chlorine holding overnight, and getting no cc on that test, do you think I can go ahead and bring my chlorine level down to the cya guess chart? And with the pool being cloudy, do you think it would be safe to swim in, we're nearing the end of June and have not been in it once I have a 5 yr old that just doesn't understand why she can't swim

[PoolDoc]

Bringing your chlorine level down would probably be fine . . . but you can almost certainly swim now!

Skin is VERY chlorine resistant. Swimsuits, not so much. So, if the chlorine is high wear old swimsuits, or depending on who's home and how your fences are, just skip them altogether - unless you are worried about the NSA seeing something.

Odd fact: when new users register and include their address, I check it on Google Maps. It's a quick and easy way to see exclude hackers, spammers and so on. So . . . having seen literally 100's, maybe 1,000's of pools on Google satellite view, I have *never* seen a pool with someone in it. (And yes, you can tell. I can usually tell the shape of a pool, whether it's in-ground or above-ground, and whether it has a d-board or a slide..) Makes me wonder if Google has some software routine that auto-magically removes people from home pools and pool decks -- I know from having done pool service, that if you show up at home pools unexpectedly, and don't announce yourself loudly, you can sometimes see more than is good for customer relations. Google may have decided it was smart, on their part, to never display people that might be in pools, and might, or might not have suits on.

[michael3]

stma, any progress today? we had several more downpours today, allowed me to vacuum to waste. I am seeing more and more of my liner looking straight down from the side, it doesnt look stained. I have a theory, and maybe Ben or someone will see this and chime in, I have alot of tall trees not far from my pool, when I look straight down into my water it looks more cloudy than green. With my pool being cloudy and not being able to see the blue liner, could I be dealing with the green trees reflecting on the cloudy water, thus making the water look green? I get a bucket full of water and its cloudy but no green, may be a stretch but....? lol

[stma]

@ Ben:: let me toss this one by you quick>>> You obviously know what Im going through with the cloudiness, DE additions etc... All is going well and I'm now attempting the removal of ther metal stains on the walls and floor.... things are going slow there as well, but I order Vit C powder to rub the walls with when it arrives later this week... ANYWAY, I just poured a dose (( 10oz) of PolyQuat in the pool....from the time it took me to re-cap the bottle and put it back in the garage, the entire pool has clouded over again (You cant see 6 inches down).... Is this normal operation for a Poly dosage ????
FC is 1.0
CC: 0
Alk: 90
PH: 7.2

[PoolDoc]

I don't recall having ever heard of that before.

Please check your bottle label and tell me EXACTLY what it say: brand, label name, chemical ingredient name.

By the way -- it's possible that the polyquat is acting as a flocculant or coagulent for something in the water, so . . . keep running the filter.

[stma]

OK:
E-Z Clor Algaecide Plus
Poly(oxyethelene (dimethylimino) ethylene (dimethylimino) ethylene (dichloride) 60%
Inert 40%
manufactured by Alliance Trading.
Its the same Poly I use every year///

[PoolDoc]

OK. That's polyquat all right.

Checked with Chem_Geek and he noted that some mystery chemicals, including some flocculants and coagulants may contain polyacrylic acid, which is incompatible with polyquat. The good news is, he thinks the gook that forms should have big enough particles to filter out relatively quickly.

[stma]

....And i did Floc the water a few weeks ago.... Actually i have been seeing the precip of the floc dose sitting at the bottom of the pool......atleast thats what I hope I'm seeing
Ben, Thanks as always

[michael3]

Hows the ascorbic acid treatment going? Just my luck, after I got my water crystal clear seems like more and more stains are appearing on the bottom. Some may be organic but I crushed some vitamin c in a sock and rubbed and they started coming right off so I guess that means they are metal stains. So how hard is this treatment and how expensive is it? Our water looks great and my liner is 10 yrs old, the stains look like crap but just not sure I want to put alot more money into making it look good. I wonder if I bought enough bottles of vitamin c and crushed them and rubbed the stain off, how long before it comes back lol