Tyus4 Posted July 31, 2011 Report Share Posted July 31, 2011 Having problems getting my pool blue. A month ago it was blue but really foggy. I went on vacation and it rained alot. When I got back it was green. Been shocking the hell out of it and it won't change from nasty green. I bought a new filter and pump. Catridge filter and 1.5hp pump. My water test is Cya 131 total chlorine 7.5 free chllorine 7.5 Total alkalinity 99 total hardness 290 I was told to add 15lbs of alkalinity ^ and 1.5 qts of scale inhibitor and to not shock for 5 days. I've been running my pump for 24 hrs a day for 3 days now since adding new chemicals and is still dark green Any help or suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waterbear Posted July 31, 2011 Report Share Posted July 31, 2011 Having problems getting my pool blue. A month ago it was blue but really foggy. I went on vacation and it rained alot. When I got back it was green. Been shocking the hell out of it and it won't change from nasty green. I bought a new filter and pump. Catridge filter and 1.5hp pump. My water test is Cya 131 total chlorine 7.5 free chllorine 7.5 Total alkalinity 99 total hardness 290 I was told to add 15lbs of alkalinity ^ and 1.5 qts of scale inhibitor and to not shock for 5 days. I've been running my pump for 24 hrs a day for 3 days now since adding new chemicals and is still dark green Any help or suggestions? Your alkalinity is fine right now and I am confused why they said to add the scale inhibitor and not shock. (Tehn again pool stores are in the business of selling you chemicals, not keeping your pool water balanced. If you keep your water balanced you would not be buying a lot of chemicals from the pool store!) It's pretty clear from what you have said you have an algae bloom and you need to shock to 25 ppm FC or higher and KEEP THE FC THERE until the algae is gone! You also need a testing method that can test high FC levels and that means FAS-DPD testing, not strips (such as the chlorine test in a Taylor K-2006 or a LaMotte 7022). Throwing in a bag of "shock" (which is what I suspect you have been doing) is just not going to cut it. Stop using trichlor tabs, switch to an unstabilized chlorine source, do a partial drain and refill to get your CYA down below 70 ppm and read this about the chlorine/cya relationship! With your CYA over 100 ppm your FC is WAY TOO LOW to prevent algae! The high CYA comes from the continued use of trichlor. Cart filters, since they do not backwash, are the WORST filters to use with trichlor and are a sure recipe for an ovestabilzied pool in a very short time! (Don't get me wrong, I love cart filters and have one myself, However, I would not chlorinate with a stabilized chlorine source when using one so you might want to look into switching to liquid chlorine or bleach (same chemical,btw, sodium hypochlorite), or installing a SWCG. If you use the sodium hypochlorite you will need to add some every day or two or you can invest in a peristaltic dosing pump to automate the addition. To answer the next question that will probably come up...no, there is not a slow dissolving chlorine tab suitable for use in an automatic feeder or floater without CYA. Trichlor is the only slow dissolving chlorine suitable for use in feeders and floaters and it is a chemical MADE from CYA and chlorine. It is the nature of the beast. When the chlorine is used up the CYA stays in the water. For every 10 ppm FC added by triclor you are adding 6 ppm CYA that stays behind. IF your pool loses 2 ppm FC daily (pretty much average) then you are adding 10 ppm FC every 5 days and 6 ppm every 5 days. In one month you have added about 36 ppm CYA and in two months your pool is above the recmmened maiximum of 50 ppm (although up to about 70 ppm can be workable). In three months you are overstabilzied and having problems like you are now. (this is assuming you are starting out with a CYA of 0 ppm which is not recommended since you will not be able to keep chlorine in the pool if the pool gets any sunlight). There are 'tabs" made from cal hypo that do not add CYA BUT (and it is an important BUT) they are not designed for used in feeders or floaters (except for special cal hypo feeders that are ventilated and not pressurized) and can explode if used in a pressurized feeder. They can also violenly explode if they are used in a feeder or floater that previously held trichlor. They are really made for use in the skimmer basket, dissolve in about a day or two (so they need to be added every day or two just like bleach!) and leave a lot of gummy residue behind. Oh yeah, for every 10 ppm FC added they raise your calcium hardness by 7 ppm! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyus4 Posted July 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2011 Thank you for the response. I have a test kit that I use, Not the test strips. I have the trouble free pool test kit. I've been trying to keep it over 10 ppm for shocking so I should up it to 25ppm? As for shock, I just recently switched to the bags of shock because they were out of liquid chlorine. So I'll have to switch back. So I'm better off using the liquid chlorine and not use the tabs at all? Thanks again. They recommended the scale inhibitor because I filled up some of the pool with my well water. They said to next time to use a sock over the hose and it will filter out some of the metals found in it. You said you think its algea. But with the water test, it came up with no black/green/mustard algea. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyus4 Posted August 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2011 3 days at over 25 ppm for chlorine and still dirty green water...been running pump 24/hrs in those 3 days..any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waterbear Posted August 3, 2011 Report Share Posted August 3, 2011 HOw are you getting a CYA reading of 131 with the TF100? It cannot read over 100 ppm. There is a good chance you might have to bring the FC up higher. How much FC loss overnight and what is the CC? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pool Master Posted August 3, 2011 Report Share Posted August 3, 2011 HOw are you getting a CYA reading of 131 with the TF100? It cannot read over 100 ppm. There is a good chance you might have to bring the FC up higher. How much FC loss overnight and what is the CC? I have had some major problem with my pool turning, and was using a lot of green to clean and phos free. I recently started using Pool Magic. Seems to work well, I have not had any problems since. Might try it out. My FC has stayed at 1.3 and my pH has been about 7.4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waterbear Posted August 4, 2011 Report Share Posted August 4, 2011 HOw are you getting a CYA reading of 131 with the TF100? It cannot read over 100 ppm. There is a good chance you might have to bring the FC up higher. How much FC loss overnight and what is the CC? I have had some major problem with my pool turning, and was using a lot of green to clean and phos free. I recently started using Pool Magic. Seems to work well, I have not had any problems since. Might try it out. My FC has stayed at 1.3 and my pH has been about 7.4 If you are getting algae outbreaks then the CYA reading is more imporant than the ph. I ask you how you are getting a FC reading of 1.3? Sounds like a results from a strip reader. In any case it is way too low for a stabilizied pool (I am assuming you have an outdoor stabilized pool or you would not be getting algae). Phosfree is not going to eliminate algae no matter what they tell you. Phosphates are only half the equation, nitrates have to be looked at also and the ONLY way to reduce nitrates is by water replacement. Green to chean is ammonia based and converts chlorine into monochloramine and takes CYA out of the loop. This will work if the CYA is too high. Pool Magic is one to two products. One is by Natural Chemistry and is an enzyme/phosphate remover combo. The other is a chelated copper sulfate algaecide/floc combo made by PoolMagic and is not sold in the US. Copper sulfate is effective at killing algae BUT it stains pools and turns hair green at concentrations high enough to kill algae so it is not recommended. Not sure which one you are using. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waterbear Posted December 26, 2011 Report Share Posted December 26, 2011 If minerals are present in the pool water, they can cause the pool water to turn green, brown, yellow, and even purple. Green or cloudy water will quickly clog a filter; therefore you may have to backwash your filter many times a day until the pool clears. First, this is an old thread from July. Second, if you read the OP's problem it is not a metal problem but an algae problem. Third, this is almost an identical post to another that you have made in a thread about brown water that really had little to do with the OP's problem. Metal problem are normally identified by colored CLEAR water, not cloudy water. Cloudy water that is green would normally be an algae problem, particularly when the CYA levels are as high as the OP reported and the FC levels too low to be effective at the high CYA levels. Perhaps knowledge of pool water chemistry is not quite as advanced in India, where you IP address is located, as it is in the US? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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