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

[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?

[rox29160]

I added the borax before work this morning and checked the FC. It was still holding at 13.5, but again my trichlor is still floating around in there which is why I am assuming my PH has dropped and keeping my FC steady. I will see if the sunlight ate and FC up today when I get home.

Not windy at all. I have not seen my cartridge this brown and dirty since the first couple of days of shocking. After those first couple of days, my filters have not seemed to catch anything except for one time (which was right after a storm event with high winds)

Still going to try PoolDoc's wine glass trick this evening.

[rox29160]

I just emailed all the pics PoolDoc requested on the wine glass testing and also pics of the green gunk still in my hoses and pool water. Again, it was very difficult to get a large enough sample of the green goo, as pooldoc calls it. I had already brushed and sprayed off at least 90% of it. Originally it was a light green flaky substance about like extremely large flakes of dandruff, but green. The sample I was able to obtain had a more grainy consistency like sawdust.
I tested again this afternoon while waiting on the wine glass testing. Results are as follows:
FC = 9.5 ppm
CC = 0
PH = 7.2 (I added a little more Borax to hopefully boost a little more)
TA = 80 ppm
CH = 30 ppm
CYA = approximately 35 ppm

CH tests started working correctly on 6/1/14. The modified CH tests started out Blue instead of Red. Every time I have ever tried to complete this test before 6/1, the samples started out blue so I have never been able to take a good test on it.

What now? As you will see from the pics, the pool is actually getting "less green" by letting the chlorine drop for some reason. My filter cartridge has been catching large of amounts the last couple of days once the FC and PH dropped. Any guesses why?

[PoolDoc]

I'll respond more fully, later.

But I suspect that you've got calcium scale, and that the low pH + low calcium in your water is loosening it, and allowing you to filter it out.

I don't think lowering the chlorine is related; merely coincidental.

So . . . don't raise the pH..

I'm going to have to re-read all your posts. Meanwhile, can you test your fill water? And can you tell me whether it would be hard or expensive to drain and refill?

[rox29160]

Whether it is calcium scale or something else, this is the best my pool has looked all year. It is clearing up nicely. It is not as clear as in years past yet, but at least we are headed in the right direction and seeing progress again. I wouldn't be afraid to let my daughter swim in it at this point. I think she might finally be able to swim this weekend. The filter cartridge continues to catch stuff, although it is gradually reducing in the amounts.

My FC is still above 10 but is reducing by about 3 ppm per day. My PH is still 7.2 last night. I still have the Trichlor tablets floating in there so this is still adding some chlorine while trying to continue raising my CYA. Last check CYA was at 35 ppm. Like I mentioned before, I was pretty sure that this was going to be copper so I have the chemicals ordered from Amazon to remove them. I do have some level of metals because I have a brown ring around my normal water level that will not brush off, but Vitamin C tablets make it disappear almost instantly. I plan on trying the acid and Culater process since I have already bought it just to see if it helps. Any possible downside to this way of thinking?

In anticipation of my CYA finally reaching my goal of 50 ppm, thence needing to remove the trichlor floater, I reconnected my Intex Krystal Clear SWCG last night after cleaning. I had the copper ionizer disconnected. I turned it on just to make sure it would work, but after the green light came on for about a minute, the service light comes on and the unit shuts itself off. I knew I wouldn't be able to run it anymore with the ionizer hooked up, but wanted to see if this is what was causing my problem. I reconnected the copper ionizer and tried it again. It still would not work with the ionizer connected. It gives no error codes. The light just comes on and then the unit cuts off. Does anyone have any ideas what this could mean? While cleaning, I filled the entire tube with vinegar and let it sit to clean out the green film that was on the inside of the tubes. I have cleaned it like this before and had no problems. It was working before cleaning and now it is not and gives a service light. Any ideas what the problem could be?

I really like the idea of using a SWCG since it has been so convenient and easy to maintain chlorine levels in the past. If I can't get this Intex SWCG back up and running, does anybody have any economical recommendations on a different system to replace it with that does not have a copper ionizer. I know I can use bleach and the BBB instead, but that is hard to do because we take a lot of trips in which we are out of town for 2-3 days at a time. Being able to use a timer and a SWCG is extremely convenient.

[BigDave]

@rox29160: Perhaps a HiC2 pool would be good for you. This is a method PoolDoc's been talking about that intentionally operates with high CYA and correspondingly high chlorine. The idea being that with high enough CYA, you could go a few days between adding chlorine.
@PoolDoc: early in this thread, OP states water source is a poor producing well that apparently has iron.

[PoolDoc]

, I reconnected my Intex Krystal Clear SWCG last night after cleaning. I had the copper ionizer disconnected. I turned it on just to make sure it would work, but after the green light came on for about a minute, the service light comes on and the unit shuts itself off. I knew I wouldn't be able to run it anymore with the ionizer hooked up, but wanted to see if this is what was causing my problem. I reconnected the copper ionizer and tried it again. It still would not work with the ionizer connected. It gives no error codes. The light just comes on and then the unit cuts off. Does anyone have any ideas what this could mean?

Have you checked the manuals and videos, here?
http://www.intexcorp.com/index.php/h....html?manual=1

If none of those help, you can call them http://pool9.net/intex-c/