Pool help please!! (RL pool that is)

UGH!! We filled our pool today and while it started out very clear, after about 3 hours of filling it started to turn brownish? Why? Do we need to empty and re-fill? How do we clear it up?

So disappointing...

Incidentally our toilet water and tap water is cloudy too...grrr.

Thanks

Probably heavy metals in the water. You can go get something to treat it with or you might try using a hose filter when you fill it. Or both. Did you test the water for alkalinity? Did you fill with well water?

EDIT: If it's iron, then it is oxidizing and probably also made worse with chlorine and alkalinity increaser will probably only be a short term solution. You need to treat prior to chlorinating if you have a mineral problem. I suggest taking a water sample to a pool store.

No it's city water, didn't hear anything on the news about any water main breaks or anything. We didn't test the water yet because it isn't completely full yet. What's concerning is that last night in the middle of the night we lost water pressure, the toilet water was brownish yellow this morning, the shower smelled very metallic, yet as far as I know we have no water problems in the area. I'm just very confused and don't even know who to call to find out if the water is ok in the area, which I'd really like to know before I have to make my baby's formula in the morning.

Thanks


*edit* Thanks, I plan on taking a water sample to a local pool store tomorrow

If this is a new problem, I would not want to hazard a guess. Any kind of pipe issues, storm flow, filtration breakdown, etc etc etc

Can't hurt to go with bottled water for the babe until you get it checked out. Good luck.

Concrete it up and go and use the council baths.

how old is your neighborhood? If it is new you really should call the city water people. If your neighborhood is older it could be a rusting water main pipe. Otherwise I don't know what to tell you.

Replace it with one of Siggy's pools.

Oh, wait...

P2

Take a water sample to a pool supply store. They'll analyze your water and tell you exactly what to do. Sounds like too much iron in the water, but I'm no expert.

It takes a few weeks sometimes to get your new pool water crystal clear, but it's SO worth it!

Here in Florida they put a colorant in the water at times to know where the water came from for tracking (no kidding). It's a pain, because you get it on the side of your house when you turn the irrigation system on, it has the color of iron.

So this could be the issue. What you need to do is take a sample of the water and take it to your nearest pool store. They are always more than happy to sample the water for you and tell you what chemicals you need to add to fix the issue. They will also tell you how much chlorine you need to add plus any other chemicals. They have been a great source of information for me.

There are chemicals you can add that will cause solids to drop to the bottom of the pool so that you can sweep them up and the pool will once more be clear.

Ok...so i just found out that there was a water-main break in the area yesterday which is what is causing the cloudy water....we're definitely going to get it checked, but does that sound like something treatable by chemicals?

That happens fairly regularly round here. Generally speaking, you'll not notice a difference in the taste of the water and it's not dangerous - just looks a bit unpleasant. Some places in Derbyshire and Scotland have permanently brown-tinted water because of peat.

I hope that the water-main break didn't coincide with a sewer-main break. That might make the water brownish too.

Enough chlorine will kill anything and chlorine eventually evaporates so yes, it's treatable. Once I came home from vacation and my entire pool was mustard yellow and I got it back in shape in a week with chemicals.

You just may not be able to swim in it for a day or two while you wait for the chlorine level to go down.

.

heh...thanks. It's a bit too cold for swimming anyway. I figured it would take a good week to warm up enough for swimming anyway. The pool place said there was a lot of iron and copper from the watermain break and showed us stuff that will dissolve the metals in the water. relaxing and feeling better now

Thanks everyone