Green tinted water - Intex 15' X 48" Salt water system

[Xevious2001]

Yes, I use a SWCG system, sorry about the confusion. I am also not able to access the 'Dealing with stains & metals' section, so I can not read up on the bucket test yet.

[Watermom]

Until new members have their memberships upgraded, it is always necessary to log out first in order to see the rest of the forum. (Sorry I forgot to tell you that part when I wrote the post above.)

[Xevious2001]

K-2006 kit ordered (used the amazon link from the forum). I have also started the bucket test.

Initial results -
Well Water is clear with slight blue tint
Pool Water is slightly murky with yellow tint

After adding bleach and waiting 15 minutes I saw no noticeable change in color or clarity.

I then added the Borax and will check them again in 24 hours.

The other thing that is happening is that I have now changed the filter twice in a few days and both times the water in the filter chamber was quite brown and the filters themselves had picked up quite a bit of brown material, so there is clearly some minerals or something in the water. My SWCG system is 6 or 7 years old now...is it possible that there is corrosion inside the system and is the source of the minerals? The pool water was fine until I first turned the system on (both pump and chlorinator).

[PoolDoc]

I have now changed the filter twice in a few days and both times the water in the filter chamber was quite brown and the filters themselves had picked up quite a bit of brown material, so there is clearly some minerals or something in the water.

It's iron.

There are apparently some low-grades of salt that contain quite a bit of iron, being sold to pool owners for pool use. If there's not iron in your well water, then I'd check the salt out as a source.

Membership updated.

[Xevious2001]

After 24 hours -

Well Water - Clear, slight blue tint as before (which I believe is just normal water color in a white bucket). I did notice 2 very small deposits of some material on bottom of bucket.
Pool Water - Clear, yellow tint but perhaps lighter than yesterday. Also noticed 2 small deposits of some material on bottom of bucket.

The salt I used is Morton Pool Salt which (they claim) is free of additives and impurities. It is also the salt I used in previous years with no issues.

The pool itself remains tinted..now seems more yellow than green. Water is still clear.

Should I just drain the pool and get ready to start over? Or is there some way to recover from this. My wife and kids dont want anything to do with the pool (and who can blame them).

[PoolDoc]

I wouldn't drain the pool, but I would let the chlorine drop. OTO 'orange' can be 20 - 40 ppm of chlorine. If your stabilizer is truly < 30 ppm, that is very high. You should read the "Best Guess" page, linked in my signature, so you can understand more.

Do this:

1. Test your CYA with the K2006 as soon as possible.
2. Operate your filter as much as possible --iron has to be removed as particles, either by vacuuming or filtering. Filtering is easier.
3. The green water is dissolved iron -- you can't remove it in that state.
4. Do not use any more "Clear View" (baking soda -- really!), Kee Trol or other pool chemicals, except chlorine and pH adjustment chemicals.
5. The fact that the bucket test is only showing small amounts of iron (reddish material?) is good - that means you should be able to manage your pool fairly easily, once you get the hang of it.
6. From now own ONLY fill via the skimmer or suction intake, and fill as slowly as possible. This will maximize the iron removed on the first pass.
7. Turn the salt system down, or off. Your chlorine is too high. Unless your CYA is > 100 ppm, OR you are having severe algae problems, you should stay out of the "orange" range.
8. Your family can swim, but wear old swimsuits. Skin is VERY chlorine resistant, far more than most swimsuits.

One scary thought: a cheaply made SWCG (like the Intex) could add iron to the water, at least in theory. It's only a guess, but it's one I'll have to check into.

[Xevious2001]

I have not put anything into the pool in 3 days (since I took the very high chlorine level) and the filter / pump has been running 24/7. I have not turned on the chlorination system at all. I did another chlorine test on the pool itself today (using the hth 6-way kit...the good kit is supposed to be delivered tomorrow) and the level appears to be down to 2 - 3 ppm now.

As for the bucket test -
Well Water - Still clear with a slight blue tint but I am now seeing quite a bit of very small black specs on the bottom of the bucket. There are two larger (but still small) specks that do appear orange (like an orange smear around them). The chlorine test resulted in an orange color. Oddly, the orange water has small specs of material floating in it like the drops I added did not completely mix or something.
Pool Water - Still clear with a yellow tint. I saw more specs of material (all with smears of orange around them) but considerably less than the well water bucket. Chlorine test had the same result as Well Water.

Seems pretty clear there is metal in my water. Once I have the better kit I will do the CYA test and get a more accurate chlorine test on the pool. Should I do a full set of tests with the new kit? Or is CYA and Chlorine enough to start?