light green water due to metal in my well water

[marios]

I can't seem to get my water blue. the ph is perfect alk is perfect and test show no more signs of metal but the water is still light geen. the water is also clear. any thaughts?

[PoolDoc]

For a variety of complicated reasons, water can stay green after everything seems 'perfect'.

1. Make sure you are testing validly -- strips are NOT reliable. Get a local OTO/phenol (yellow/red drops) and ORDER a K2006, via the link in my signature.

2. Filter 24/7. It's very likely that not all the metal (iron?) is gone. Dissolved iron is green, but when it changes state it becomes an iron oxide powder or fluff (if you are lucky) or iron stains (if you are not). Running your filter 24/7 will make it more likely the iron ends up on the filter instead of the pool.

3. Use polyquat (www.poolsolutions.com/gd/polyquat.html) for 2 reasons: (a) it will help avoid algae while your chlorine is low, & (b) it will help filter the iron.

4. Keep your chlorine lower than we normally recommend, and do not shock. Shocking pools with high chlorine doses can cause metals that are a minimal problem (green color) to become a major problem (orange or green or black stains!).

5. When you fill or add water, put a chlorine tab in the skimmer and fill SLOWLY via the skimmer. The chlorine tab will tend to make the metals precipitate and -- hopefully -- be filtered out.

6. If your filter is not working well, fix that. If you need more sand, add some. If you need a new cartridge, tell me the EXACT filter make/model, and let me help you find a Filbur or Unicel replacement cartridge. Do NOT buy a Pleatco or any of the other commonly sold Asian made cartridges. There are probably some good Chinese cartridges made by somebody . . . but we haven't found any yet.

Usually, if you do the sorts of things I list above, the pool will gradually turn to blue over a period of a couple of weeks, sometimes faster.

[marios]

thank you very much!!! I will run my filter 24/7 and apply the poly. i am glad you responded when you did because i was going to shock the pool when i got home. should i try to use metal free? by the way i am using a sand filter and the sand was replaced last season so that should be ok.

[marios]

Well i took all your advise and i now have a crystal clear pool!!! thank you for everything. you might want to change your handle from pooldoc to poolGOD. LOL.

[PoolDoc]

you might want to change your handle from pooldoc to poolGOD.

Uhm. No.

I'm pretty sure God understands EVERYTHING that is going on in your pool water; I don't even understand 1/3 of what somebody, somewhere knows about it . . . and NOBODY knows more than 1/3 of what's really going on in pool water, except God.

My older son (recent biochem graduate) got all excited a year or so ago, about the "signaling" going on in the "heterotrophic communities" that form symbiotically with the algae (when you get slime on your pool's walls) coating your pool. This is a very, very hot area of biology research.

What it comes down to, is all the different species (sometimes 100+ !) in the slime in your pool *talk* to each other, so they can avoid getting killed by chlorine (among other things). Guys with shiny new PhD's are doing extremely high tech work trying to figure out what 'they are saying to each other' -- and I can barely understand 1/4 of what these guys are writing about what the algae and germs are saying! And, they are just at the very beginning of understand what happens when algae forms in your pool!.

No. Not a pool god. Not at all. Not even close!

[Watermom]

No. Not a pool god. Not at all. Not even close!

But, still a good guy who has helped an awful lot of people learn to care for their pools over the years!

[marios]

I am truly grateful !!!!!!

[PoolDoc]

Thanks, all.