Help with my pool numbers...

[CarlD]

If your pool is green it's probably algae-infested already--metal remover isn't going to do anything.

With a CYA of 100, and water getting green, you need to shock your pool up to 25ppm of chlorine, IMMEDIATELY--as soon as you see this post....don't read any farther till then...

Now that you've raised your FC to 25ppm, you'll have to keep it there--check 3x/day and adjust as necessary until your pool is clear and blue.

[duraleigh]

Alapool,

Hmmmm. I'm not so sure that immediate shocking is the path to take. The problem is you may precipitate out the copper that's in your water.

Perhaps Marie or Ben will see this post and can get on board and let you know if that .6 copper is an issue. I have never had metal issues so I have no idea if that amount needs attention or not.

I notice you've been using a sequestering agent so you must think it's a problem or someone else has indicated it is.

From other metal problems I've read about on the forum, shocking may actually aggravate your situation. No doubt you've got to get the algae taken care of...I'm just not sure how to go about it.

Dave S.

[waterbear]

Alapool,

Hmmmm. I'm not so sure that immediate shocking is the path to take. The problem is you may precipitate out the copper that's in your water.

Perhaps Marie or Ben will see this post and can get on board and let you know if that .6 copper is an issue. I have never had metal issues so I have no idea if that amount needs attention or not.

I notice you've been using a sequestering agent so you must think it's a problem or someone else has indicated it is.

From other metal problems I've read about on the forum, shocking may actually aggravate your situation. No doubt you've got to get the algae taken care of...I'm just not sure how to go about it.

Dave S.

I don't really know at what level copper is a problem but I do know that LaMotte's water testing procedures ( and their chemistry is sound and accurate, on par with Taylor's) recommends dealing with copper whenever it is above .3 ppm or (so they say) possible staining can result. Ben can probably answer this one better than me.

[alapool]

When I said my pool is green I meant to say it is clear green. It doesn't appear to be any algae (well maybe some) growing. I was thinking that it was clear green because of the copper but I may be wrong. I am going to test again tomorrow.

How do I get Ben to reply to this?

Thanks everyone!

[waterbear]

Clear green water can certainly be an indication of copper. Shocking would only possibly make the situation worse. I would try the seqestering agent according to directions--some require you to let your FC levels drop and lower your pH, some don't....also some work better than others...don't know if that is cause and effect.

If the green clears and the copper readings go down then you know you are on the right path

My question is where did the copper come from. If you put it there in the form of an algaecide then .6 ppm is not necessisarily that high. If it is coming from your fill water or pipes or heater then there is a problem. If it's coming from an ionizer...IMHO, get rid of the thing!

[alapool]

Before I became aware of this forum (and boy I'm glad I did) I was actually thinking about going with an ionizer. So I added an algeacide with copper in it and even last summer I added the same thing. The little bit of copper in the algaecide last year really cleared up my pool so I thought I was doing the right thing by using the same algaecide this year. So the copper came from the algaecides that I used. I also used a Pool Frog system the last 2 years.

Then I came across this great site. No more copper for my pool.

Thanks for your help.

[alapool]

Just an update...

I went back to my Pool store to have my water tested again and realized that they were using TEST STRIPS! I couldn't believe it. They use this device to read the strips which records the results. Here are their results:

pH - 6.8
Total Alk - 180
Cyanuric Acid - 100
Total Chlorine - 3
Free Chlorine - 0

I told them I didn't believe the numbers and I was surprised that they were using STRIPS. They said they agreed and then pulled out another DPD-FAS test kit to do the FC test. This time is showed my FC was 1.0.

I then purchased a DPD-FAS test kit by AquaTrend. When I got home I tested with these results:

pH - 7.8
Total Alk - 110
Cyanuric Acid - 30
Total Chlorine - 2
Free Chlorine 1

So as you can there was a HUGE difference in the results. Never depend on a test other than a DPD-FAS test!!!!

[Lenny]

alapool,

It's funny (ok, not really ) that they told you your CYA is exactly 100. My pool store uses the same test method and, since my pool was new last year, they ran a lot of tests. They always said it was 100 last year and this year the first test said 50.

Apparently they round up to the nearest 50 because I used Ben's kit for the first time a few weeks ago and my CYA reading was zero. Unfortunately, I wasted a lot of bleach before I figured this out.