pool help!!

[E7mack96]

I have a 20x40 inground pool. I do NOT have an algae problem, What I do have is green water. PH is good, cholrine is good, total alkalinity is good, cyan is good, calcium is good. All chemicals known to pool world have been tried (all kinds of algaecides, clarifiers, flocculants, ect. . )



THe water smeels good, feels good, ect.



There is no growths of any kind in the water. No phosphates either.



What can make water tinted green??? Pool places are stumped. One suggested tannic acid but also stated there is no way to remove it. Whatever it is, will pass through a 3 micron filter and not get caught/trapped.



Has anyone got an idea??

 

[MFalkinham]

You're not alone. Our 20x40 above ground has had the same problem since spring. The staff at our local pool store told us this year has been terrible for everyone trying to keep their pools clear. Of course, I'm in Wisconsin and you're in Ohio, so the causes could be different.

If you have a sand filter, is it possible the tint is caused by sand escaping and clouding the water? Has any sand been accumulating along the bottom of the pool?

As a side note, I just finished fabricating a homemade solar pool heater in an effort to keep our pool temperature more constant. I used parts that I had laying around my shop, including a stainless steel box that I painted flat black inside and out. I then ran three 100' black garden hoses around the inside of the box in parallel connected to PVC pipe manifolds, and covered the top with a glass access door. I just installed it yesterday, so we'll wait and see how it works out for us. Regardless, the cost was much less than a gas-fired heater or commerically available solar units.

- Mike

 

[catoiler]

Mine did the same thing. I just drained it and refilled it and no more problems!First year it has not come back with shock. I also acid washed it while it was empty.

 

[E7mack96]

Well, I may have been wrong.



THe pool people have told me to shock it to 10-15 ppm chlorine. That has been no help.



Last night, i searched on the 'net and found out about a "small cell green algae" that is uncommon. It requires 25 ppm to kill and precipitate from the water.



I figured what the heck and dumped in 18 bags of shock. After about 12 bags, the green stuff literally came to the surface and made about a 1-1 1/2 inch layer of foamy slime. I could smell the chlorine from the patio - about 60 ft away from the pool.



This is the first time anything has worked. I do not know how it looks yet today. It was about 9pm when I did this. I leave for work at 5am and it was still dark. I am hoping that it is clearer. I will shock it again with a boatload of shock if need be



Anyways, for the others. When in doubt, just pour about 25 lbs of shock in. lol



I also replaced (last weekend) the puny sand filter with a hayward 310. it is a 31 inch tank that holds 500 lbs of sand, and I am running a 2 hp superpump motor. The pool has circulation now!!

 

[FOXY005]

If it's green it has to be an algae problem, unless one of your neighbors is missing some green food coloring.

 

[LLLytle]

A friend was saying he had similar problem. He was told he must have some sort of metal in the pool, upon inspecting the entire pool he found a couple pennies and nickles in the bottom. The pennies had corroded, he removed them and the water cleared in a day or so.

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

Yep Hard water will do that too. Copper will green up the water a bit when in contact with Chlorine. . It can mask itself as a mustard or green algae. I use a product called Super erase #ad
on our property pools. It litterally will erase stains off liners , tile , gunite (Our pools) and pulls out and disolves minerals and metals that are less than 2 micron in size. (Metals as in iron , copper , maganeese , and some alkalids but NOT steel , or stainless. It also is a great anti galling liquid that helps bearings as well.



No affiliation whatsoever ... Just a Certified CPO guy.

 

[catoiler]

Our water is so bad when I took a sample to the pool store they said they have never seen water as hard as mine!Said it must have been in the pool for a lot of years. He about fell over when I told him it came out of the tap!I wanted to see if they could tell the differance between pool water and tap water.

 

[E7mack96]

An update... Clear water

WE finally got clear water.



I used diatoms with my sand filter to do it.



I just poured in about 1 lb of the diatoms into the filter basket. We have been backflushing daily, as the new filter system is going from 15lbs at clean sand to 30 lbs by next evening.



If you put in too much, the filter stops working altogether, it will literally clog the sand with small micron debris

 

[KMurray]

same trouble

i volunteer at a local community pool and we had the same problem. To the extent we had to close for several days. Local experst told us it was algae, although none showed up under a microscopic inspection. One tech told us that the chlorine was feeding the algae.



Anyways, we tracked it down to a reaction of the chlorine with the hardness of our water. Specifically, with the manganese in the water and the iron content of the water.



We put in an iron precipitator to a 500 gallon pretreat tank, chorinated, then ran through a diatom filter. water cleared in 24 hours.