Please Help, Brown Pool Water

[hollyn1222]

Help, we are relatively new to the swimming pool thing and we have brown water. Let me give you the background. We have an 18' 52" above ground pool. We just put a new liner in it and had about an inch or so of our well water. Then we had 7500 gallons of city chlorinated drinking water delivered. Before the second truck came it started turning green, so my husband put the green to blue shock in the water. After the second truck left the water turned a brown color. My husband shocked it again. We let it sit for about a day then took a sample to our pool supply store. And they tested for metals, and everything they could think of, and the results were nothing. So a lady heard us talking and she recommended flocking our pool, so we bought this and the metal free from the store. We put the recommended amount of flock in for under 24 hours and then my husband vacuumed, added some metal free and shocked it again. It is still brown and we need help.

Any ideas?

[waterbear]

Please post a full set of test results so we can get a better idea of what is going on in your water. The test should NOT be done with strips since they are useless for balancing water. How long did the water sit before it started turning green and what was the chlorine level at the time. Also, was any stabilzier added to protect the chlorine before it turned green?

Water turning brown after shocking is usually indicative or iron.that has been oxidized (by the shock you husband added. Iron (in a lower oxidation state) often tints the water yellow , which will look green against a blue liner. Adding shock changes the oxidation state and the iron turns into a brown participate (basically iron oxide or rust). Also, metals will only show up on a test if they are in a certain 'oxidation state' and will not show up otherwise. What metals did the pool store test for?

IF you suspect iron (and I do) STOP SHOCKING THE POOL! It will only make things worse!