New Home! First time pool owner in the NE (RI)

[Bassist286]

Hi all,

Back in June of 2013 I started my journey of getting this new home. It was short sale but I ended up closing on Christmas Eve.

I opened the pool last weekend - early for the NE (RI specifically) and have been trying to get it up and running. I own the Taylor large kit with CYA -2006c. Been using it to get everything good over the past week -running the filter non stop. Starting off with the BBB method. Water is clearing up but very slowly. Is it possible the cold weather is trapping the CC in the pool and stopping it for evaporating in the sun? It was in the 30's here last night. Below are my latest test results. Oh and also- there were about 5 refuse bags worth of leaves in the pool. Most of them are out now.

testing on 4/16/14

FC- 6 ppm
CC - 2 ppm
pH - 7.4
TA - 100 ppm
CH - 40 ppm
CYA - 50 ppm

Added 2 lbs of Calcium Carb to get the CH up (pool calculator recommended something like 10 lbs (~20,000 gal pool) and it scared me so I just put in two to see where it went. Also added 2 gals of 8.25% Walmart GV bleach to get my FC to 15ppm for "shock levels".

Is the cold prohibiting the chemistry from doing its thing?

Thanks!

[PoolDoc]

+ It's almost always better to add calcium in divided doses -- so you did the right thing.

+ Both pool covers and low water temps will tend to keep CC's in the pool, BUT . . . don't worry about CC levels, till you've finished physically cleaning the pool. It's quite possible your CC's are a result of the chlorine acting against the leaves and other debris.

[Bassist286]

Hi Ben!

Thanks for the responce. The plan is to clean, retest, and add another bleach and calcium dose today. I'll update with a picture and new results.

[PoolDoc]

Sounds good!

[Bassist286]

So I did another clean up on Friday and another vacuum today. I can now see my deep end pretty clearly. Got what appeared to be all of the leaves out. Water color has slight green tinge still. Also it looks like the bottom of the pool is stained. I can see where the leaves were and everywhere else is a slight greenish brown color. Used a brush in one spot but nothing came off. Perhaps I need it repainted? Checked FC- was at 10.5 so hit it with another gallon of 8.25 bleach. Pics coming soon

[PoolDoc]

Clear up the water, and run high chlorine at night for a week, and THEN see of you still have stains to deal with. Often, organic stains will fade once the water is cleaned up.

[Bassist286]

Hi All -

It been about a week. Water is clear and I've been running between 11.5 and 16 ppm chlorine for about a week. Leaves are out of the pool (6 Bags!). The water still has a slight green tint, but clear. Also the light brownish stains on the floor are still there. They outline where the leaves were. I'm going to keep the chlorine high until the weekend. Looking around - it appears that the previous owner may have use a lot of goop in the pool. Liner has a bleached water line (found 3" TRi-chlor tabs) and there were some half empt bottles of pool clear and copper algaecide. Do we think the copper could be the culprit for the light green tint?

I haven't backwashed all week since I haven't had my pressure go above 14-15 psi. I usually wait until about 20-22.

Guesses? Need clear water for Memorial Day weekend grand opening so I have some time.

[PoolDoc]

Copper can definitely cause a greenish tint, but so can iron under certain conditions.

What sort of pool surface do you have (vinyl, plaster, etc) and what kind of filter?

[Bassist286]

I have a Plaster / concrete pool bottom with somekind of fiberglass-like wall about 3-4 feet tall. My pump and filter are Hayward PPR s244T high rate sand filter with a Hayward 75 gal/min pump.

Going to do the overnight chlorine test tonight to be sure the water is "clear". Hoping it's not Iron or copper contamination.

[PoolDoc]

What is the pH level?

Low pH can keep copper in solution, in spite of high copper levels. But, I've occasionally seen low pH with high alkalinity occur as a possible cause of greenish clear water.

Also, it would be good to test your sand filter. If you really have a 75 gpm pump, you may have blown a lot of your filter's sand out, during backwashes. One way to check is add a quart or so of DE powder to the skimmer with the pump running. If it blows back into the pool, via the returns . . . your filter needs service, and your pump may need downsizing. If it STAYS in the filter, it will help remove algae particles, and may help remove copper or iron, but will cause the filter to stop up more quickly.