Pool problems ?

H

Hillhater

100 TW
Joined
Aug 3, 2010
Messages
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Location
Sydney ..(Hilly part !) .. Australia/ Down under !
This is a long shot by a desperate man !
Any swim pool expertise on the board here ?
Issue ..
8 am ,..nice clean clear , sparkling water. Filter and solar running normal
11am...dark brown water !! Pumps still running ,...( but found a poly bag partly blocking the skimmer box ?)
Pool has auto salt water chlorinator . Solar heating. On preset timers. Etc
No problems for the past 8+ weeks , well balanced, all usual test results good . PH, free clorine, hardness, etc.
No top ups, no rain for 5+ days
I have never seen a pool change this quick ..or to brown !
Google only suggests Iron salts will turn water brown when chlorine is added.....but i have not added chlorine manually for 8+ weeks. !
Any suggestions ?
PS i have now slugged it with a couple of Kg of dry chlorine .....on the well proven basis of “if in doubt ..Chlorinate”
 
Are you using a sand filter? If you are using filters i would find a sand filter. Backflush like hell. Hit it hard with shock.
 
Idk. I fight pollen and seeds and such in the spring. Mine doesn't get that dark . Mine is only 7600 gal. 18 foot above ground. 2 pounds of shock is al it usually takes. You probably have 2 or 3 times more water?
 
Any luck figuring out what happened? Once it gets cloudy it can take awhile..
 
First check for cracks and/or breaks in both the pool and the piping. Second find out what was in the poly bag. A large bag of instant tea or coffee makes a heck of a prank. :twisted: :twisted: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
 
No luck yet..waiting for Chlorine to work its magic
I have “test buckets” with various chlorine levels and floc to test best actions to take
Poly bag was just a clear thin bag used to cover a spare new pump, wind blew it into the pool i guess.
No pipe leaks, no water loss or gain ?
And only about 20mm rain in the past week....not much compared to feb or march.
Water is not really “cloudy”,..more like weak black coffee/tea !
 
My bet would be on a prank or accident, that put that poly bag in there with something that caused the color change.

Or in an algal bloom, if it's warm enough there with enough sunlight. That isnt' always green; there's a number of colors of algae, and if it bloomed but didn't get to the matting stage before the chlorine/etc in the water killed it off, it might just look murky.
 
Is the area around the pool sloped properly?
Are there any eaves troughs diverting the rain water away from the pool? Look at your neighbors troughs and slopes too.
Maybe a bad batch of consumables the pool uses, have you changed suppliers or changed brands?

Maybe setup a webcam to record and see if it comes back, then atleast you can see the debris stream left behind and tackle it that way.
 
The poly bag in the skimmer box may be a factor, but only in so far as it restrictrd the circulation through the sand filter and chlorinator for a few hours. The bag was definitely just blown into the pool by the wind,
The only chemicals in this pool are salt and consequently chlorine from the chlorinator.
Temperature is 20 deg C in the water...no close neighbours ..2 acre block.
Pool is in an enclosure ,..2 mtr high walls, visible from the house, and im sure there was no external interference,
No abnormal issues, no rain for 5+ days just a very quick change (1-2 hrs !) from “ideal” to “disgusting”
Im sure this is a “chemical/bio” hiccup, but seems very uncommon ?
Currently im still testing fix options..chlorine , acid, floc , etc
Indications so far are that even more chlorine (5-10 ppm) is needed to knock this out.
 
Update.. !
OK, after $150 of chemicals, a week+ of repeated chlorine shocks, Algicide doses, chemical checks, and multiple Floc & vac treatments, ... the pool is now back to its sparkling normal !
Im still not certain what the issue was, either some weird sudden brown algy , or a metal salt (Fe or Cu ?) since they are known to give brown contamination ..and the water hardness reading is high, implying high salts.
Either way, there was a lot of brown crap precipitation from the floc treatment.
Unfortunately, whilst cleaning this mess up,.... a combination of vac to waste, water level top ups from the mains and much settling time for the Floc,...means that the Solar circuit has been off and the water temperature has dropped to 16C just as the weather has also turned wintery. (12C outside compared to 25-30C last week !). . :shock:
So i will probably just be putting the covers on now anyway.. :roll:
 
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