I'm in big trouble - I turned water green

[CarlD]

Sorry - I forgot to mention, I'm was using the Arm and Hammer baking soda instructions on how to raise the PH and Alkalinity. I bought this 12 lb bag at Costco and it has specific instructions for raising both. I'm not sure why some people are saying washing soda instead of backing soda.

Because they aren't the same thing! Baking soda comes in the famous orange box and is, among many things, edible.

Washing Soda comes in a yellow box, contains soda ash, and should NEVER be consumed.

Despite Arm&Hammer's hype and package info, Baking Soda is a LOUSY way to raise pH, but a GREAT way to raise Total Alkalinity. It's also what pool stores sell as "Alkalinity Raiser" for inflated prices.

Washing soda, or soda ash, is a great way to raise pH BUT it raises Total Alkalinity as well. Pool stores sell THIS too, packaged as things like "ph Up!" and other catchy names, also at inflated prices.

But we like Borax (20 Mule Team Borax) best because it doesn't raise Total Alkalinity but raises pH as well as Soda Ash. Pool stores do NOT sell any version of this, but some sell the test kit for Borates (which Borax adds and can inhibit algae).

I have seen the giant 12lb bags of Baking Soda at Costco. But please don't use it to raise your pH--it's not very good for that.

[joecus]

I just woke up and retested the water, ph is still low (measuring yellow on strips and drop tester.) I added the other 1/2 box of borax. I will retest in 6 hours. I have another question, a few people have said my low ph is very dangerous. What exactly can happen? Is is bad for swimmers or the pool and equipment?. I have not let anyone swim since I found this problem. Thanks for your help.

[PoolDoc]

If you are going to be home today, I'd start adding borax, 1/2 box every 2 hours, until you begin to see your pH rise -- go from yellow to orange-ish yellow. Then slow to every 4 hours, till you reach 7.0.

Don't go higher. The copper is most likely from your heater (not so good) but if it's not leaking, you may be OK.

Maintain reasonable chlorine levels -- 1 - 3 ppm, but don't worry about alkalinity or anything else, except pH.

Once you see a pH change, you can begin swimming, BUT . . . anyone with light colored or dyed hair is likely to end up with seriously green hair from the copper. This includes blonde OR gray hair. So, basically, only brunettes with no gray hair can swim. (That rules me out! )

PoolDoc

BTW, the color you have been seeing is bromine gas in the pool. Not so good. Try not to do that anymore. It's not likely to get out of the water, but if it does, it will rest on the pool surface and be VERY TOXIC to any swimmers.

Chlorinating by adding small doses of bleach to the skimmer should help avoid that. Once you get the pH up, it will quit.

[joecus]

I'm sure the copper was added as part of the algicide since the water turned green right after I added it and then shock. Prior to the algicide, I was adding shock without any color change to water. Can you give me some ideas how to remove the copper? I will add borax every two hours until I see a move. Just took another reading, ph is not moving.

[joecus]

If you are going to be home today, I'd start adding borax, 1/2 box every 2 hours, until you begin to see your pH rise -- go from yellow to orange-ish yellow. Then slow to every 4 hours, till you reach 7.0.

Don't go higher. The copper is most likely from your heater (not so good) but if it's not leaking, you may be OK.

Maintain reasonable chlorine levels -- 1 - 3 ppm, but don't worry about alkalinity or anything else, except pH.

Once you see a pH change, you can begin swimming, BUT . . . anyone with light colored or dyed hair is likely to end up with seriously green hair from the copper. This includes blonde OR gray hair. So, basically, only brunettes with no gray hair can swim. (That rules me out! )

PoolDoc

BTW, the color you have been seeing is bromine gas in the pool. Not so good. Try not to do that anymore. It's not likely to get out of the water, but if it does, it will rest on the pool surface and be VERY TOXIC to any swimmers.

Chlorinating by adding small doses of bleach to the skimmer should help avoid that. Once you get the pH up, it will quit.

PoolDoc - I don't understand your comment regarding bromine gas and not to do that anymore? Can you explain? Are you referring to my water turning green when I added the shock? One more question, do you use bleach to shock the pool as well as maintenance?

[PoolDoc]

At low pH levels, both chlorine and bromine can appear in a pool as undissolved gasses. With bromine -- which you have because of the bromide -- the pH doesn't have to be nearly as low as it does with chlorine. In blue pool water, orange-ish bromine gas could easily look yellowish green.

To avoid this, keep working to raise the pH AND chlorinate using small repeated doses of bleach in the skimmer, rather than large doses of anything in the pool.

Shocking -- adding a bunch of chlorine of any kind -- is to be avoided till you get the pH at 7.0 or higher. But, don't go higher, because with all that copper, you'll start staining things like crazy.

You can use bleach for any chlorinating purpose in a pool.

By the way, I don't generally like to use metal control agents, but in your case, it might avoid some trouble if you can put a dose of metal control liquid in the pool. It's only a temporary solution, but it might give us time to get control of the pool before we start having to work on removing the copper. If you can get HEDP (probably no way for you to know, though) it will also help protect your heater from further damage.

PoolDoc.

PS. It's just curiosity, but do you know how your pH got so low?

[joecus]

I have no idea how the ph got so low. It happened over the winter. PH still not moving. Should I be considering draining the pool?

[PoolDoc]

No. Just add borax every 2 hours. If your pool is 20,000 gallons or more, you could go to a whole box.

You could get an acid demand test, but it's hard to use them accurately. The problem is, your pH will look like it's not changing at all, and then began to change suddenly.

Ben

PS. When you scraped the black algae, did you SMEAR it on a white card? If it doesn't smear green-ish, it's not algae.