Green Pool

Algae problems in swimming pool water.
Green (cloudy) water or slimy pool walls.
Black algae. Mustard algae. Pink or white pool mold.
MSFROGGY
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Posts: 4
Joined: Thu 16 Jul, 2009 11:07
My Pool: 24 ft above ground
about 14000 gallons
vinyl
hayward 1 hp pump
sand filter.
Location: florida

Green Pool

Postby MSFROGGY » Thu 16 Jul, 2009 15:04

I have done everything that I have been told to do.
24 ft vinyl above ground
hayward 1 hp pump brand new
sand filter.

Here is readings
FREE CHL OVER 4.0 PPM
TOTAL CHL OVER 4.0 PPM
COMBINED CHL OVER 4.0 PPM
PH 8.4
HARDNESS 50 PPM
TOTAL ALK 40 PPM
STABLIZER 50 PPM

The pool is green. I have put algeacide in it and let it run for about 8 hours on circulate. Then shut it off for 24 to 36 hours to let the stuff go to the bottom. It wasn't really clear but you could see the stuff on the bottom so I vacuumed it. Well, it is still green after all that. So I did it again with sink and sweep and let that run for about 4 hours and then turned off for about 24 hrs and vacuumed again. I have super shocked it I have done everything that all the pool places have told me to do. With no luck but a lot of money spent.
I am at lost ends. I have even read a lot of the post here with no luck in solving my problem. Can too much chlorine cause it to stay green? The only thing I haven't tried is changing the sand out. Which was put in there last year. Well, we have been having rain everyday. I know can't be helping us with fixing the problem. I am hoping someone can help me try something besides draining the whole pool and start over. Well, without spending tons of more money. Thanks for all the help in advance.


Guest

Green Pool

Postby Guest » Sat 18 Jul, 2009 19:20

I have the saem issue. 18' round above ground. pool was clear, bout autochlorinator and took a bit to get it adjusted. By the time I did I started to see algie at the bottom and near ladder. Went to namco to get algie remover and was told I had to shock. So I did, and pool turned totally green. So I vaccuumed, changed cartridge in filter and ran 4 6 hours. seemed to get a bit lighter green. Read some posts on hear and decided to Try 2 gallons of bleach to re shock. Still Green, here are my numbers as of minutes ago/PH7.8
FC 7 (high but figured its from the chlorine) TA 80 now the problrm is the stabilizer 0 cannot get it to 30 no matter what I do. Should I try a clarifier or a metal remover? I do top off from my well, ( iron) but ran the chlorine for a week before I shocked it. I'm afraid to use the Sani shock , that is what turned it immediately green. any ideas? I do not Trust Namdco, I wish I went with the algie remover and vacuumed like I wanted to. I was told shocking was better.

Any Ideas? Should I add more bleach? BTW, No slime on sides, bottom or walls. Just gree hue to water.
chem geek
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Joined: Thu 21 Jun, 2007 21:27
Location: San Rafael, California

Green Pool

Postby chem geek » Sat 18 Jul, 2009 19:28

I hope the MSFROGGY name doesn't mean you are using the Pool Frog product in your pool. If you are, then that adds copper to it and at the very high pH you are measuring (IF that is accurate since high chlorine levels can make the pH test read artificially high), then that can precipitate copper making the water turn green and staining pool surfaces (especially plaster or fiberglass).

If you really read what is written here on this site, then you would have a better test kit, either the Taylor K-2006 or the TF100 from tftestkits.net so that you could read higher shock levels of chlorine with accuracy. Please read the Pool School including the article on Defeating Algae. Do you have algae or is your water a "clear" green? If the latter, try lowering the pH and read the article on Metals in the Water and Metal Stains.

In both of your cases, if water turns more green when adding a hypochlorite source of chlorine (chlorinating liquid, bleach, Cal-Hypo, lithium hypochlorite), odds are you've got copper in your pool and the green is from the copper. Lowering the pH and using a metal sequestrant will help. However, you should figure out where you got the copper in your pool in the first place. Is it from a metal ionizer system? Is it from an algaecide you were using (check the ingredients)?
Sue

Green Pool

Postby Sue » Sat 18 Jul, 2009 19:42

Thanks Chem Geek, I think its not copper but Iron from my well. Could that cause green? I will also checdk the allgecide, becuase it does seem to be a clear green, so a metal sequestrant may be what I'll try tomorrow. I will read the pool school. One more question, do you trust the store pool people?
I feel I got bad advice, spent in chemicals and the pool only got worse.
chem geek
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Posts: 2381
Joined: Thu 21 Jun, 2007 21:27
Location: San Rafael, California

Green Pool

Postby chem geek » Sun 19 Jul, 2009 02:27

Some pools stores are good and some are not. It could be iron if you've got a blue vinyl liner because yellow/brown + blue can look green. Lowering the pH somewhat and adding a metal sequestrant can help. The HEDP sequestrants are better (EDTA isn't as strong and it breaks down from chlorine faster).
MSFROGGY
I'm new here
I'm new here
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu 16 Jul, 2009 11:07
My Pool: 24 ft above ground
about 14000 gallons
vinyl
hayward 1 hp pump
sand filter.
Location: florida

Green Pool

Postby MSFROGGY » Sun 19 Jul, 2009 11:00

No name isn't from FROG products. I am just a frog freak. LOL. Well, I am on day 3 of just running the filter and lots of chlorine in pool. Letting it run 24/7 hoping that it will clear, so far no luck. I have come to realize that I think all these pool places you go to for help and test water, they are clueless. I think they just tell you to do something no matter if it right or wrong. I have done all that they have said and with pool looking worse then it was in the beginning. I guess I am just impatient, I know I have to give it time to do its thing. I am just hoping that by adding tons of more chlorine from what every1 has said on this site and by the pool school that chlorinating pool will kill the algae. I don't know what else to do. I have thought about just bull dozing the pool over, best part of it it isn't even my pool. I will get a reading later today and see what it is now maybe that will help figure out what is going on.
chem geek
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Posts: 2381
Joined: Thu 21 Jun, 2007 21:27
Location: San Rafael, California

Green Pool

Postby chem geek » Sun 19 Jul, 2009 13:06

Well as was noted earlier, the pH was too high so that needs to get lowered and I hope that happened sometime during this process (and it's hard to know the true pH when the chlorine level is high). Also, without a good test kit, you can't know how high your chlorine really is with any accuracy -- you can do a dilution test with tap water to get an approximate result.

Is the water still show green algae or is it now cloudy? If it's still green, then I fear that either the CYA level is far higher than you reported (you had said 50 ppm) or that the FC level is not getting to 20 ppm or so which would be needed if the CYA were truly 50 ppm. Your pool should go through stages that look like that in this post where you can see that the green turns to cloudy aqua then cloudy blue until it finally clears.
MSFROGGY
I'm new here
I'm new here
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu 16 Jul, 2009 11:07
My Pool: 24 ft above ground
about 14000 gallons
vinyl
hayward 1 hp pump
sand filter.
Location: florida

Green Pool

Postby MSFROGGY » Sun 19 Jul, 2009 14:32

readings
hardness very high
total chl 10
free chl 10
ph 8.4
total alk 120
stablizer 50

I need to know whether to run the filter all the time or should I turn it off to see if the stuff will go to the bottom to vacuumed. I backwashed it earlier. It isn't as green it has gotten a lighter green, but still can't see the bottom.
chem geek
Pool Industry Leader
Pool Industry Leader
Posts: 2381
Joined: Thu 21 Jun, 2007 21:27
Location: San Rafael, California

Green Pool

Postby chem geek » Sun 19 Jul, 2009 16:45

That's up to you. You can either run the filter 24/7 and backwash the filter as the pressure rises to clear the pool or you can shut the pump off, add a flocculant (OMNI Liquid Floc Plus) and vacuum-to-waste what settles to the bottom. The latter will be faster, but extra cost for the flocculant -- for an above-ground pool without a floor drain and poor circulation (including a weak pump) then this is usually the better approach.

I still worry whether your pH is really very high, even accounting for the falsely high pH reading from high chlorine levels (it will make a middle pH look too high, but it won't make a low pH look that high). Also, if it's still green, that is not a good sign and either indicates the FC/CYA ratio is too low or that you've got metals in the pool in addition to the algae (you mentioned it might be iron from well water).

Do you know exactly what algaecide is was that you added to the pool? What are the ingredients?
MSFROGGY
I'm new here
I'm new here
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu 16 Jul, 2009 11:07
My Pool: 24 ft above ground
about 14000 gallons
vinyl
hayward 1 hp pump
sand filter.
Location: florida

Green Pool

Postby MSFROGGY » Sun 19 Jul, 2009 18:07

Ok she is using the drop sticks in the pool. Which I know is not good readings. To bring ph down I have been told muratic acid is this true. The pool people told us to put STOP YELLOW in it. Ingredients sodium bromide 99% inert ingredient 1%. The pump is brand new. The sand in filter is just a year old. Now we have been having rain everyday also. Yes it is a well. But it was filled up by fire department which was city water. but we have been filling it with well water after vacuuming it. Not sure if I should put iron out in it. I am just getting so frustrated last year we just shocked the mess out of it and cleared right up.
chem geek
Pool Industry Leader
Pool Industry Leader
Posts: 2381
Joined: Thu 21 Jun, 2007 21:27
Location: San Rafael, California

Green Pool

Postby chem geek » Mon 20 Jul, 2009 00:07

The Muriatic Acid would lower your pH so that is reasonable (it's nasty stuff, however, so be careful of the fumes). However, the Stop Yellow is sodium bromide and will turn your pool into a bromine pool, at least for some number of weeks. It's basically a workaround if the CYA is too high since bromine doesn't bind to CYA so doesn't become ineffective (chlorine binds to CYA so higher CYA levels make chlorine less effective). All you need to do is shock the pool with a Free Chlorine (FC) level that is 40% of the CYA level, but if you didn't measure the CYA level yourself with a good test kit, then the 50 ppm may not be right. The only test you really have to have the pool store do is a test for metals (copper, iron).

If you don't get yourself a good test kit, then you are at the mercy of the numbers the pool store gives you so just do whatever they say and hope they know what they are doing. The Stop Yellow will likely kill the algae, but you'll have a high chlorine demand for weeks since bromine breaks down faster than chlorine (with CYA) and it won't fix the main problem that caused this algae in the first place which may be a high CYA level from continued use of stabilized chlorine products.
brianhill69
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Joined: Sun 02 Aug, 2009 09:35
My Pool: 9x4 mtrs
Location: spain

Green Pool

Postby brianhill69 » Sun 02 Aug, 2009 09:45

buy a salt chlorinator and your problems will go away and you wont be useing harmfull chlorine , best place to buy one is e bay
chem geek
Pool Industry Leader
Pool Industry Leader
Posts: 2381
Joined: Thu 21 Jun, 2007 21:27
Location: San Rafael, California

Green Pool

Postby chem geek » Sun 02 Aug, 2009 17:54

A saltwater chlorine generator (SWG) generates CHLORINE from the chloride (salt) in the water. It does save you from handling the chlorine, but not from swimming in it (not that there's anything wrong with this). PLEASE don't claim that salt chlorinators "don't use harmful chlorine". After all, what does the word "chlorinator" mean to you?
Guest

Green Pool

Postby Guest » Fri 21 May, 2010 13:52

you might try a bottle of sand filter cleaner you run it just enough to get in the sand filter and shut it off this only take a hfew seconds pour it straight in to the skimmer let it sit several hours and ta daaa my pool was clear you have to clean and kill the algae in the sand as well, it took me all summer to figure this out. I sure hope this helps you....

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