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

[PoolDoc]

At this point, here's what I'd recommend:

1. Use bleach to maintain chlorine in the 1.5 - 3 ppm range. 1 - 2 cup doses of PLAIN 8.25% bleach should be about right for now.

2. Lower your pH closer to 7.6. Use whatever you have. If you need muriatic acid, read the muriatic acid guide, linked in my blue signature block first.

3. Do not add anything to adjust your alkalinity or calcium.

4. Run your pump as much as you can.

5. Do NOT run the salt system -- disconnect the power to the cell.

6. Order new Filbur or Unicel cartridges for your filter. Links below. Read the filter cleaning guide.

7. Meanwhile, USE the pool and enjoy it.

8. If you have access to a Sams Club, buy their 24# pack of bags of dichlor shock; you'll use this once the water is all cleared up. Do NOT purchase from Kmart, Walmart, Lowes, Costco, or most other locations: they are selling blended and diluted dichlor. Use links below for dichlor if needed.

Good luck!

+ The OEM cartridges in Intex / Summer Escapes / etc. filters are not high quality. The Intex manuals recommend replacing them completely every 2 weeks. A BETTER option is to replace them permanently with 2 - 3 Unicel or Filbur cartridges, and rotating them through a cleaning solution. Properly maintained, these cartridges should last all season AND filter better. So even if they cost more per cartridge, they cost less per season! Learn to maintain them, by reading this post, Cleaning-your-Cartridge-Filter-wiithout-Damaging-It!

But, purchasing them is tricky. Amazon does not consistently stock them, and some of the 3rd party sellers are charging high prices and/or high shipping. So, check the Amazon link, but watch out for the prices and shipping costs.

It would be nice if you could just buy them elsewhere, but many of the online pool stores are listing Pleatco or other Asian made low quality filters, as "Unicel C-4607 type" or "fits Unicel C-4607". So shop carefully!

Here are the Amazon links:

Unicel cartridges: @ Amazon

Unicel C-4607 Replacement Filter Cartridge (Intex A or C)
Unicel C-5315 Replacement Filter Cartridge (Intex B Filter
Unicel C-3302 Replacement Filter Cartridge (Intex E)

Filbur cartridges: @ Amazon

Filbur FC-3710 Antimicrobial Replacement Filter Cartridge (Intex A or C)
Filbur FC-3752 Antimicrobial Replacement Filter Cartridge (Intex B)
Filbur FC-3751 Antimicrobial Replacement Filter Cartridge (Intex E)

[Xevious2001]

So it really just comes down to filtering out the metal, which just takes time. I will read up on the filters (and other areas of the forum). Thanks for the help.

[PoolDoc]

It's a little more complicated than that, unfortunately.

When the iron is 'green', it's usually in a soluble (dissolved) state, and cannot be filtered. It can be "adsorbed" onto various zeolites, like the CuLator product . . . but this is a very slow process.

So, the usually way by which metal leaves a pool is when it becomes insoluble. This is what happens when it 'stains' various surfaces. It can also form iron oxide (or other iron salt) particles, which can settle to the pool bottom, or can be filtered out.

What makes it even more complex is that not all 'green' iron is alike. I have worked with well water that would come in green but very clear, and would INSTANTLY turn orange when you added chlorine. But I've also worked with 'green' water that would only very slowly oxidize to the insoluble state.

So, just saying that there's "iron in the water" doesn't really tell us what you'll be dealing with . . . and thus makes it really hard to give a recipe or prescription. The steps I gave you above, will usually work, in a fairly reasonable time. Especially if you use the polyquat, you CAN swim, while you are cleaning up iron.