Copper and Cl testing

[Patrick Block]

Thanks for the responses to my previous post, let me give some background. I purchased a house with a 16X32 IGP vinyl liner about 15 years ago and struggled the first 3 years with persistant algae. Until I tried copper, it was my savior! Not a bit of trouble. I use about 1 pint per season and have amazing water. The only thing I noticed was very low to nonexistant Cl readings even immediately after application (I use 90% granular). Since the water was perfect I added Cl as I saw fit ( not too scientific I know ) and all was well.

As a note, I never have seen any ill effects from copper and have recommended it to several friends who have also had great sucess however some have also noted the Cl problem I have?

This year I opened the pool very late into the season and although the water was clear there was a layer of green growth on the bottom, of course the kids were in a rush to get in so I added about 1 pint of copper ( enough for an entire season) and I haven't had a Cl reading since. This issue has always bothered me so I turned to the internet and found Pool Solutions, thanks for all your efforts this is an amazing site. Now with some proper guidence (those pool stores are a mess) I look forward to learning all I can. Thanks again,

Patrick

[DavidD]

Patric,

Yes my friend, you have a problem. Copper does not sanitize your pool. You mentioned your kids and this concerns me. You are playing roulette with their health. Get some chlorine, bromine or any other sanitizer in there immediately and/or keep the kids at of the pool.
Test or get your water tested and post the results. We need Fc (Free Chlorine) Cc (Combined Chlorine) and Tc (Total Chlorine-Fc+Cc=Tc), PH, ALK (Alkalinity), CYA (Stabilizer/Cyanuric acid) and CH (Calcium Hardness) as well as your current copper level. We'll try to help.
Now for the copper, yes, it is effective against algae however if you properly maintain your pool, you won't ever need it. All you have been doing is covering up your problems at the risk of sickness, infections or worse. If yours was a public pool, you'd be closed down. Your sanitizer, chlorine in this case, not only kills germs and bacteria but also kills and prevents algae. Most of us here do not recommend copper algaecides except in very extreme cases and I never recommend it. I'd be willing to bet that you have something in your pool right now that is eating up the chlorine as fast as you can add it. Scary!

Dave

[Patrick Block]

Thanks very much, I will post results shortly.

Patrick