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Thread: I'm in big trouble - I turned water green

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    joecus is offline Lifetime Member Thread Analyst joecus 0
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    Unhappy I'm in big trouble - I turned water green

    Hello all - I'm in big trouble. I have a inground liner pool. Last week, I noticed some small black algae attached to my wall at different spots. I super shocked it and scrubbed a few days in a row and thought things were going good, but not resolved. So, I spoke to my pool dealer and he suggested adding "black treat" (sodium bromide). I followed the instruction which said to add 2 gallons of hydrogen peroxide. I did. BTW, my water was crystal clear at this point, just small black algae on wall. I waited 8 hours and checked chlorine level, it was low so I added a bag of shock and boy was I shocked. The entire pool water turned bright green. I am so upset and don't know what to do. Any help, please please please. This just happened two hours ago. I've been looking online and have not found a similar case. Obviously there was some sort of chemical reaction, but what? Do I need to empty pool?

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    Default Re: I'm in big trouble - I turned water green

    Don't panic. Take a look at the following thread. This is pretty much the same situation that you are in. Then, come back if you have any questions. We will need current water testing readings taken with a drops-based kit (no test strips.) Do NOT empty your pool.

    http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthr...3310#post63310

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    joecus is offline Lifetime Member Thread Analyst joecus 0
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    Default Re: I'm in big trouble - I turned water green

    Ok, I read the post but I'm not sure what part of that is the same as me. Since the water is bright green, how am I going to take a reading? Do you know what caused the reaction? Why would the idiot at the store tell me to buy sodium bromide if this was going to happen? Please tell me step by step what I should do, I'm at a loss. This is not my first experience with a pool. Nothing like this has ever happened to me. So, what caused it? What will fix it?

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    Default Re: I'm in big trouble - I turned water green

    Hi Joe;

    I've never seen a bright green reaction, either.

    Yellow, yes. Orange, yes. Cloudy, yes. Brown and clear, yes. Brown and cloudy, yes. Even purple, yes. (Boy, that's a wild story I should tell sometime. BIG boo-boo!)

    Bright green? nope.

    Odds are it doesn't matter. You've got a mess, but it will probably eventually clear up with chlorine bleach and sunshine.

    I would cautiously add bleach -- the peroxide will keep destroying it for awhile -- till you can hold a residual overnight. Once you get there, you'll have to start shocking the heck out of it at night, to get rid of the bromide / bromine.

    By the way, if you can reach any of the spots, scratch one with your fingernail. Then, spread the goo from under your fingernail onto a white card. If it's black algae, the smear will be dark green. No smear, or nothing under your fingernail, it's not black algae.

    Oh, and if you can dig that shock container out of the trash, and find out exactly what was in it, that would be good to know and post.

    Good luck,

    Ben
    "PoolDoc"

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    Default Re: I'm in big trouble - I turned water green

    Joe -- what I meant was that the poster in the other thread had also added sodium bromide. Lots of bleach may be needed. PoolDoc has jumped in on this one, so you're in good hands. Good luck.

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    joecus is offline Lifetime Member Thread Analyst joecus 0
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    Default Re: I'm in big trouble - I turned water green

    Thanks Ben - I don't have the exact mixture of shock in front of me but it's the shock I've always used. The one pound bag, purchased at Costco. I'll get the name in the morning. I thought about it and wanted to add this. Did you ever use the test kit where you add 5 drops of oto to water sample to get a chlorine level? If you had a lot of chlorine in the sample, the water would turn bright yellow, if you had a real lot it would turn bright yellow with one drop. This is what happened to the entire pool. The color is bright yellow/greenish so maybe saying its bright green is not totally accurate. Bright yellow/greenish would be more accurate. Instant chemical reaction.

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    Default Re: I'm in big trouble - I turned water green

    Was there an odor?

    What was the pH at that time?
    Last edited by PoolDoc; 06-16-2010 at 06:49 PM. Reason: remove distracting comment.

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    Default Re: I'm in big trouble - I turned water green

    I woke up this morning and pool back to being clear, wow. I turned the filter on and the residual water that was in the tank came out bright green/yellow. So, something happened, overnight, that caused another reaction. I checked the chlorine, zero reading (I'm using the kit with the drops). The PH was low. Any suggestions? Thanks.

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    joecus is offline Lifetime Member Thread Analyst joecus 0
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    Default Re: I'm in big trouble - I turned water green

    The shock I've been using is Pace Clear Shock - 99% sodium dichlorio-s-triazinetrione hydrated.

    OK, hopefully my troubles are almost over. Like I said, when I woke up the pool was clear. I took a water sample to a local store and here's what they found.

    CYA - 40
    Tot Chlorine 0
    free chlorine 0
    ph - 6.2

    Tot Alkalinity 0

    They wanted to sell me 50 lbs of Balance pak 100 to increase the Alkalinity.

    I didn't buy anything, I just added two lbs of "pace" shock. It's 99% sodium dichlorio-s-triazinetrione hydrated.
    Please help. What should I do about the Alkalinity, PH and pool using so much shock? I can't keep the levels up. Thanks again.

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