Very Green Cloudy Pool

[Robin N]

Dan - my husband was taking care of things at that point and I don't know what those results were - I kept the bottle he used in case I needed to get more. I'm keeping a very detailed log now that we've gone green. All the green problems started overnight when he added Muratic Acid. Now I'm the only one doctoring the pool.

[Robin N]

I'm back from the Pool Store - I thought the testing included metals and when I saw it didn't and asked for it, the guy had already dumped my water. He did tell me that the previous owner would have probably mentioned it to me if it had been a problem (but if the previous owner didn't run tests and only used pucks, would he have known? We didn't have a problem until we raised the pH level) and he said it's "not typical" to have problems with metal around here even with well water unless I have copper pipes. (But I live 30 minutes outside the city too)

Here are my other #'s:

Free Chlorine 5.2 ppm
Total Chlorine 5.4 ppm
Combined Chlorine 0.2 ppm
pH OVER 8.2
Hardness 80 ppm
Alkalinity (w/ stabilzer correction) 181 ppm
Cyanuric Acid 130 ppm
Total Dissolved Solids 500 ppm

Recommended adding 1 quart of Super AlgaeBomb 60, said I should see a change in 4 - 6 hours or maybe by tomorrow. He wants me to bring in another water sample Monday and ask it to be tested for metals.

Other notes on the bill:
Add 2 gal and 1 pt of 14 oz Muriatic Acid
Add 45 lb and 5 oz of Water Hardness Increaser
Add 10.0 oz Chlor Shock

He said my Chlorine levels were way too high, needed to be around 1.0 and I was a 5.2. He said we would work on the pH and the Alkalinity Monday, after we see what the Algaecide is going to do.

My question is should I run another sample out there to be tested for metals? Should I add the Algaecide? Add Muriatic Acid ASAP? Where do I go from here? I noticed some white foam in the skimmer today and that's new - is it dying algae?

Robin
25000 gallon in ground pool
Vinyl Liner
Sand Filter

[CarlD]

Robin,
You can take his advice or ours. They are contradictory. You cannot follow both.

You may or may not believe me, but his advice is good for one thing--ringing up the register. It is NOT good advice for your pool.

He's telling you to increase hardness in a vinyl pool. This is pure utter nonsense. The reason is that the "hardness" is calcium and calcium is needed to prevent the water from leaching calcium from the concrete or plaster walls. There's no calcium to leach from vinyl so it's pure garbage.

As I said, you can follow his advice or ours, but if you follow his and it doesn't work, it's that much harder for us to help you.

[Robin N]

Carl,

Thanks for your response. I did go back to the pool store again to have the water tested for metals. It came back negative. This time I spoke to a different man. He told me I needed to get the acid levels up and shock the pool. (Which I knew from here).

So my question is where do I go from here? Add the Muriatic Acid to kick my bleach into action? How much acid do I add at one time and how often?

Robin

[CarlD]

I'd start with a quart of Muriatic Acid, wait several hours, then test the pH again. You want to get it at or under 7.2, but above 6.9. If you measure your TA at that time, it should be lower. Then you follow the lowering alkalinity rules in that topic area.

[Robin N]

I checked my Cl level again and it's low again - around 6. We had a lot of heavy rain today, maybe that affected it? Should I add more bleach and then later add acid or add the acid now and bleach later?

[CarlD]

Add them both, but wait an hour or two to let the first circulate.

[Robin N]

Just wanted to post an update to see if I'm doing everything I can be.

Tested 2 hours ago and here are my #'s:

Cl 24
pH 8
Acid called for 2 1/2 pints
T/A 170

I've been brushing the pool, vacuuming to waste, running the robot, adding Muriatic Acid (I've added 1 gallon + 2 quarts all in 1 quart increments over the past 3 days) I also stopped aerating - I had been aerating continuously up until yesterday afternoon. I read on this site to wait on that until the pH is lowered.

The pool is still the same green. I did think it was clearing up a bit, but after running the robot it was very cloudy again and I couldn't see the 3rd step at all, and it had been visible. After you stare at that green for so long it starts to make your judgement hazy on whether you see change or not.

I also read the trick about the hose on the skimmers - I'm trying that too, but it's not making the slimey mess I was warned about on here. It looks normal.

I am seeing stuff on the steps now - like dirt or something.

When I backwash I don't see much dirt - and I'm not vacumming a trail or anything on the pool. The robot recovered a couple of leaves - all the green is just in the water. I had a bottled sample of the water left from my trip to the pool store (I took 2 that 2nd trip for good measure) and I did see algae settled on the bottom of the bottle.

I just added 1 quart of the Muriatic Acid to the pool again tonight. Hopefully that will bump that pH down. It seems to be getting closer to matching the 8 now. (My test only goes to an 8) I think my kit from Ben is close to being shipped...crossing my fingers...=)

[Robin N]

Water still looks the same today, BUT I might be getting somewhere. This morning my #'s were as follows:

Cl 12 (will add more bleach)
pH 7.6
Acid (did the test to tract my progress on the Muriatic Acid - now calls for 1 1/4 pints, which I added)
T/A 160

I'll add more bleach in a couple of hours, and wait to recheck the pH. Very excited it's coming down now. I can't imagine the thrill of seeing blue!

[Simmons99]

Robin - be careful on all the acid you are adding. Many testing kits for PH will give you a falsly high reading when there are high chlorine levels. If you see that your PH tests lower when the chlorine level is lower, it may just be the high chlorine levels interfering with the test.

Also - have you put copper products in the pool? Have you had the water tested for iron or copper? These metals will come out of the water at high chlorine levels and give the water a green color. Copper is usually in algecides. You can have your pool store test for the metals.