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

[rox29160]

31 May 2014

The pool is clear but light green. It is almost the color of bleach, but less yellowish and more green. I don't know of anything close to this color. It is like the shade of statue of liberty but not chaulky looking like that. It is a little brighter green than that.

The bucket test pool water looked a little less green ( maybe a little more brown) and a little more hazy or cloudy, both initially and after adding the bleach and borax. I am assuming if I can't clear it up in the bucket then draining and a refill is the only option.

That bothers me more than anything b/c we are thinking of installing an IG and I won't be able to drain an IG if it were to happen then. This will be a huge confidence reducer if I have to drain.

I never knew how hard it is to describe shades of green.

[BigDave]

Clear green, I didn't understand that, I thought it was cloudy and green - sorry. I'd bet it's copper and that the copper is from the Krystal Clear. Most Intex type pools get drained at least annually, your pool has had the opportunity to accumulate copper. I'd also guess that with a CYA of less than 30, the SWCG (and copper ionizer) was working double shifts to keep the pool clear.

Refill is not the only option, I'd defer regarding metals removal but there are ways to manage metal in the water. CuLater packets also seem to help actually remove the metal from the water, you don't have a skimmer that would work but you can hang 'em in the pool like your CYA sock. Please read the stickies in the metals forum to get familiar with the process.

If you have no blonde (or color treated) haired swimmers and you can live with the risk of greenish fingernails (or green hair for that matter) you can swim - as long as there's adequate chlorine and the water's clear.

This shouldn't change your plans regarding a big pool. You won't be able to fill it from your well - you'll need water trucked in. I'm pretty sure that at this point no one will be able to sell you an ionizer or mineral system of any kind and that you'll never ever ever use a copper based algaecide.

I never knew how hard it is to describe shades of green. I felt pretty clever with "Statue of Liberty green"

[PoolDoc]

OK, I think I have an idea what's going on. I deleted a bunch of our chit-chat posts, and reformatted most of yours for readability. What I think is happen is that you've got a combination of problems, some of which are -- as you wondered earlier -- "just now catching up with you".

But I'm not sure! What's very clear is that you have a very confusing situation. Some of our posts have been less then helpful, because none of us were 'twigging' to all the facts you'd provided. I don't feel as bad as I might have, because some of those facts dribbled out over 3 or 4 posts and several days. Again, that's not your fault, but it has made it hard for us to see what's going on. Let me give you a list -- a LONG list -- of things to do:

1. Please verify that I have (finally) got the facts right about your pool:

+ You have a 4 year old Intex 16' round pool that you've used successfully for the previous 3 years.
+ You have used an Intex SWCG that has visible copper bars.
+ You have the Taylor K2006 kit, and have tried the calcium test, but have always gotten strange results.
+ Your pool was green and slimy on opening, but is now greenish (greenish-blue?) and somewhat clear.
+ Your pool's surfaces are not now slimy or slippery, and have not been for several days (a week?)

2. Please collect some of your green goo / powder, and put a visible amount in 4 clear glass containers. (Wine glasses would be great, and this shouldn't hurt them.) Place the glasses on a clear background outdoors, like a plastic picnic table or light picnic cloth. Wear plastic gloves and glasses. Then:

+ Add 2 tablespoons of distilled water from Walmart to each glass.
+ Add a teaspoon of bleach to one, a teaspoon of acid to another, and 2 - 3 Vitamin C tabs to a third glass. Leave the fourth with goo + distilled only. Stir them up using a plastic spoon. Mark or label the glasses so you know -- for a certainty -- which is which. (You can use magic marker, and then remove it with rubbing alcohol)
+ Wait 1 hour, then observe each glass, and note the conditions of each.
+ Take high res photographs of the glasses, just after adding and stirring, and an hour later. Send the photos to poolforum@gmail.com, and include your user ID "rox29160" and the thread # "23663"

3. Watch the Taylor videos:

http://pool9.net/tk-guide/
http://pool9.net/tk-interfere/

. Pay especial attention to the calcium hardness test INTERFERENCES video.

4. DO a complete set of test on your pool water AND the water you fill the pool with. DO the calcium test with, and without, the modification. Report the results here.

5. Take pictures of the pool, the pipes, and the SWCG. Send the photos to poolforum@gmail.com, and include your user ID "rox29160" and the thread # "23663" . Don't worry about taking too many pictures -- I can discard the ones that don't help, but I can't look at the ones you don't send.

6. Let your chlorine drop to normal (5 ppm or so) levels.


Thanks!

[rox29160]

#1 All items in #1 are correct with the possible exception of slimy upon opening, but that is probably correct also. I don't remember checking at this point. It was a dark green which most likely means algae was present so that statement is probably true as well. Just trying to make sure you know I did not check for slimyness at this point.

#2 The green stuff may be hard to get since I have tried to clean everything off already. I will try to get a sample from somewhere though. I am sure I can find some somewhere since it was on everything. The hoses would have been perfect to collect these samples before they were wet. How much green stuff do I need in each glass? What kind of acid, cyanuric? What kind of vitamin C tabs, like vitamin c supplements that humans take?

#3 done! I will try the revised CH test tomorrow. I wish I had known these were around when I first started using the k2006.

#4 I will try both the revised and normal CH tests tomorrow.

#5 Tomorrow

#6 No more bleach until it is down!

Bucket test for metals after 30 hours showed no change in pool water or fill water. Nothing has settled to the bottom either.

Thank you all for your help. This will be a huge confidence booster if I can finally get this fixed, although I think my daughter gave up a long time ago.

I will try to get to Wal-mart tomorrow after church to pick up distilled water and vitamin c.

[PoolDoc]

#2 You only need enough 'stuff' to be clearly visible. Use whatever pool acid you have -- either dry sodium bisulfate (pH Down) or muriatic acid. If you haven't used muriatic before, get some pH Down and use it. And yes, plain vitamin C tablets like people take.

#7 Your bucket test indicates that your fill water has little or no metal in it. That points the finger back at the copper in the Intex SWCG.

[rox29160]

I apologize for the delay. I have been having trouble getting enough green goo for the tests. I had already brushed and tried to clean as much of it off as I could get. I have actually switched out hoses on the pool and allowed another one to dry completely. I was able to get a small amount out if it. I don't know if it will be enough to make the tests in the wine glasses work properly though. I wasn't able to conduct the tests in the daylight today so I will try to do them tomorrow afternoon.
I did a complete test this afternoon before my meeting.
FC =13.5
CC = 0
TA = 80
CYA = 40
PH = 7.0 (Do I need to raise with Borax?)

I have not added anymore bleach since Saturday, but the Trichlor is still floating around in the floater. The pool water looks less green today, but seems to be starting to look cloudy. My filter cartridge was dark brown this afternoon and after my meeting was dirty again 4 hours later. I guess since I am filtering stuff out of the pool so that is good. I can't understand why with high FC (30-40 ppm), I got nothing in my filter, but now once it is coming down, I start catching stuff. I am concerned over this low PH. Please advise.

I was fairly confident that I was experiencing problems related to copper so I have an order placed with Amazon for the vitamin C, sequestrant, and culator recommended in the sticky.

[PoolDoc]

7.0 and going down is a good reason for borax -- start a double dose. And you can continue to let your chlorine drop to 3 - 5 ppm.

If it's copper, high chlorine will not 'get rid' of it.

[BigDave]

... My filter cartridge was dark brown this afternoon and after my meeting was dirty again 4 hours later. ... I can't understand why with high FC (30-40 ppm), I got nothing in my filter, but now once it is coming down, I start catching stuff.

Was it windy? Perhaps some other reason more dirt went in the pool?