My 6-year old is dying to swim and I've got green water even with high FC levels

[BigDave]

You will get it cleaned up, it will take a while, but you will. The filter may look and be clean, the stuff may be passing right through. Good job on the Unicels - let us know how it works.

Don't worry about accuracy with the OTO(undiluted) at high chlorine levels, just use the color chart Watermom linked and make a mental note of the color. You don't need accurate to know you've got alot (OTO orange) of chlorine. When you need accuracy (to check yourself and to determine when you're done) use the K-2006.

Thanks, Watermom, for fixing my typo - I though I'd proofread the post - sigh.

[rox29160]

2-1/2 weeks in on 28 May 2014 and my pool is lighter yet still green. My Unicel filters are supposed to be in tomorrow.

Still not much in the way of filters being dirty or stuff settling out on the pool bottom. I am still vacuuming and brushing daily.

I decided to take my SWCG out of the loop since I wasn't using it anyway. I thought it might do it good to soak it in vinegar for a while and clean it up. I noticed that the tubes of the SWCG were nasty green and also that the intake and outlet hoses between the pool, pump, SWCG and back to the pool had a lot of dark green buildup in them. The tubes of the SWCG cleaned up pretty nicely with a heavy dosing of bleach and spraying them off.

However, the hoses that connect everything are not as easy to clean. All of the crevices seem to be caked with this stuff. They have gradually been getting darker and darker over the past couple of years, but have never seemed to pose a problem. They just look nasty!

At the end of the season last year, I soaked all of the hoses in bleach and water mixed in a large trash can before storing them for the winter. When opening the pool up and I was hooking everything back up, green flaky stuff kept coming out of the hoses. I cleaned it up the best I could by spraying with a hose pipe, but could only get about half of it out. I figured it would clean itself up after they started being used. After all, the pool has always been ready to swim in after about a week every year up until now. I am scared that I am re-introducing algae by using these nasty hoses.

Sorry I didn't not mention this earlier, but I completely forgot about it. Is there an easy way to clean these Intex hoses. I have no idea if they are different from regular hoses, but they are like a slinky and have a bunch of places for gunk to get trapped. I can't figure out a way to brush or clean them effectively. I plan on soaking them one at a time so I can continue pumping 24/7. I've got one hose that has been soaking in about 1/2 water and 1/2 bleach for about 6 hours and it doesn't seem to be doing anything so far. I've sloshed it around and sprayed with the hose pipe to no avail. Could this green film be algae since the hoses were stored over the winter and were completely dry? Can algae live with no moisture? Or is this green gunk, just green gunk?

Like before I have been keeping my chlorine levels really high. CYA is estimated at 0. My dad kept watch on the pool over the weekend as we were out of town. He cleaned the filter and brushed twice a day. He did not vacuum. He added 2 gallons of bleach every night (about 20 ppm in my pool). He didn't do any testing. When I got home, my FC was at 12 ppm. It had been about 36 hours since he added bleach when we got home so I am assuming this is the lowest it got. Here are my latest results 2 days after boosting the chlorine levels back up.

FC = 34 ppm
CC= 0.5 ppm
TA = 80 ppm
PH = 7.2

[Watermom]

I just looked back and saw that you filled from a well. Wondering if part of this could be a metals issue, too. I'm gonna ask Ben to jump in on this thread to see if he has any ideas. Sit tight.

[rox29160]

I think I do have some iron in my well water, but it has never caused much of a problem. I left the pool full over the winter so this is the same water that was in there for the past four years, with the exception of water that was added with the Intex venturi vacuum.

The green gunk in my hoses is a very thin layer and is dark green when wet. It isn't slimy. You almost have to scrape it off. When it is dry, it is a light green with a chaulky consistency. Before installing the hoses, I bent them around and shook them to break some of it loose. It looks like large green dandruff flakes.

BTW, Thanks Watermom for the high chlorine OTO color chart. Once I figured out what colors to expect by testing both ways a few times, it has saved me lots of reagent.

[BigDave]

Not slimy, light green when dry, chalky.
Is it the color of the Statue of Liberty?
Have you used any pool chemicals containing copper - algecide, chlorine booster, etc?
Does the Intex Krystal Clear have a copper ionizer unit?

I think Watermom may be onto something regarding metals. I'm thinking that maybe dead algae or some other precipitate is stained with copper giving you a light green cloud. I recall PoolDoc has also metioned Iron staining green in some circumstances.

[rox29160]

29 May 2014

The dry form of the green stuff is very close to the color of the statue of liberty. I don't remember ever adding anything other than Bleach, Salt, Borax, Baking soda, and PH Minus.

My SWCG does have the 2 little copper bars sticking down into the flow, which I am assuming is the ionizer unit you are talking about. It also has about 4 or 5 thin silver plates that I think is what produces the chlorine. I have been reading about disconnecting the cord that goes to the copper bars to prevent it from releasing copper into the pool, but have not done that yet.

With exception of a couple of days when I first started this process, I have not been using the SWCG this year.

Like I said, the hoses have been gradually getting darker and darker the last couple of years though so this may be an old issue just now rearing its ugly green head. I have tried cleaning them on several occasions over this time, but have never found a way to clean them effectively. I have never had problems getting clear water until now so the "dirty" hoses have just been eye sores up to this point. As I stated previously, I took the SWCG out of the loop completely last night. I pulled the ladder out of storage last night as well. It also had a thin film of this same chaulky green stuff all over it. When you brush it, the green stuff comes off like powdery green sawdust.

If this is copper in the water, would my FC levels be dropping so much overnight or does this still indicate algae?

[BigDave]

Is the hose downstream from the ionizer darker than the one upstream? Do they get swapped around?

I'm guessing that the overnight chlorine demand may be from the dead algae stained green from copper.

Did the ladder have the green chalky on it from last year?

[Pappy]

I've looked at Intex SWCG owners manuals. I "Think" all Intex SWCGs do have the copper ionizer. I KNOW most do.