Funky green water!

[mbar]

Welcome to the forum! I highly recommend the test kit from this site - it is great to test your own water. Second, I would keep my ph low - at 7.2, add more sequestering agent - metal magnet is what you are using. Make sure you put in a lot of it. You can add some polyquat, and take your chlorine level up really slowly. Use regular household bleach. I think powdered shocks add to the staining. Add enough bleach to take your chlorine up 1ppm at a time, just keep your ph low - high chlorine with high ph cause metals to precipitate. You can use muriatic acid to bring down the ph. You will notice that some of the green will go away with the acid and the sequestering agent. While raisning the chlorine, if you see the water start to turn more green, add more sequestering agent - once all the metal is bonded to the sequesterer, you will be fine to take the chlorine up to shock. If you have a sand or DE filter, you can add a trichlor puck to the skimmer. This will help to let any metal that is ready to fall out, to fall out onto the filter. DO NOT add puck if you have a cartridge filter. DO NOT add bleach to the skimmer if there is a puck in there - add it to the stream from the return.

[soupsan_dt]

Thank you so much for the help. I've ordered the test kit from here! I added a triclor puck to the skimmer last night based on your previous posts. Can I bring the ph up now with the puck still in the skimmer? And excuse my ingornace, but what is polyquat?
Thanks again, I can't tell you how much this is appreciated!

[mbar]

You will be so happy to have the test kit, and to take control over your own pool. I wouldn't raise the ph up past 7.2 till you get your chlorine up where you want it. PH at 7 is neutral - so 7.2 is fine and won't hurt your liner. You want to keep your ph low when dealing with any metals and adding chlorine. Polyquat is an algaecide. You want an aglaecide that says 60 on the bottle. It helps to prevent algae, nothing but chlorine will kill algae once it takes hold of the pool - so polyquat is used as a preventative. You can buy it anywhrere that sells pool chemicals. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.