I found this forum a few days ago and have been reading quite a bit. Like many others, I have thought that phosphates have been my big problem in trying to maintain chlorine in my pool. I have had my pool for almost ten years now and have always fought the chlorine levels after the first year I had it. The SWG will not generate chlorine. I've replaced the entire system twice. I very rarely have any free chlorine in the water etc. I have always had high phosphates levels in my pool and the local pool store always told me that was my problem.

My pool has sat empty for the last year as I have been and I finally filled it back up about a month ago, but instead of using my house water or having it filled, I pumped water in from my pond. So far, I have been able to easily maintain the proper chemical levels and have 0 phosphates in the water. But after reading this forum, I'm wondering if the phosphates were ever my real problem. When ever I shocked my pool, I usually would put in 2 or 3 gallons of liquid chlorine and let it sit for 24 hours with the pump running. It seems like this is my major problem as I never had enough chlorine in the water and is why I always had so many problems with the pool.

From what I've been reading though, that is not how to properly shock the pool, although with the fiberglass pool, if I properly shocked it, wouldn't it burn the pool? I already have problems with chlorine burning the pool with the way I was previously shocking it. Any recommendations on how to shock the pool and not burn the fiberglass? As I sit right now, I want to continue filling the pool with pond water instead of using my house water because I know it contains high phosphates. With all the problems I had before it's hard to want to risk filling/topping it off with house water when I have had so many problems in the past.

Welcome to TFP...shocking your pool will not burn your fiberglass. The key to pool water maintence is owing your own quality test kit. Even high phosphates are not an issue if your chemical levels are properly maintained. The first step would be to get a reliable set of pool water test results, post them here and we can steer you in the right direction.

Results needed are

FC
CC
PH
TA
CH
CYA

the above result accronyms are explained here in pool school http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/swimming_pool_definitions_abbreviations

I strongly suggest you visit pool school...button on top right of the webpage.

Welcome again.

Welcome to TFP!

Ignore any phosphate advice. There are prominent members of this forum who have run with documented heavy phosphate loads in their pool water and experience no problems with this. It's a sales pitch more or less.

Your original suspicion of not having enough chlorine in the pool is the most likely thing. If you run the tests that dmanb2b suggested and post them here, we will get you moving in the right direction.

also...as far as recommended test kits, I would suggest either the TF-100 from TFtestkits.net or the taylor k2006. Spending $70 on a test kit may seem pricey, but it is well worth the investment to avoid wasting money at the pool store and peice of mind...IMHO

I already have TF100 kit on order. As soon as it comes in I will be posting my results. Is there anything else that can burn the pool? My spa burns fairly easily and I know I havn't run heavy amounts of chlorine through it.

Teeseee 150...could you describe the burn stains a little more. is it possible you have metal stains?? Fiberglass will show metal stains very easily especially if the ph is kept high. A picture would help if not try to explain the burn marks in detail.

Also what is the hot tub made of??

Ric - I think you're on to something ...

Teeseee-
Pool surfaces don't "burn". Are you seeing orange-brownish staining below the water line, kinda rusty looking?

This is what I'm seeing. It's a light brownish color. I mostly see it in my spa. When my filter pump runs, it dumps about 1/2 the water back into the spa and then overflows into the pool. I do see some of this coloring on the pool, but its mostly where the water dumps back into the pool.

The spa is made of fiberglass as well as the pool.

I also expect to have the TF100 kit here tomorrow. I'll post up the results as soon as I get a chance.

Try holding a vitamin C tablet against one of the stained areas for 30 seconds and see what happens.

Yes, that sounds like iron staining. The vitamin c tablet as Jason suggested will confirm or rule it out.

I put the Vitamin C tablet on the stain and it did go away. Does this confirm the iron staining?

Hopefully I'll be posting test results tomorrow from the TF100 kit.

Yes, that means those are iron stains.

You should read this article and consider doing the AA treatment to get rid of the stains.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/metal%20stains
However, if its going to be warm where you are, it might be better to wait until the weather cools to reduce the risk of an algae bloom, as the treatment requires essentially zero chlorine in the water. If you do decide to do the treatment, be sure to use polyquat 60 algaecide.

The pool is an indoor pool. I keep the room around 70*F. I'll take a look at the AA treatment. Thanks for the info. Everything posted so far has been a HUGE help.

I also got the TF100 kit in today and will be testing the water when I get home from work.

Now would be a good time to put your pool specs and equipment into your signature - go to User Control Panel, then Profile, then Edit Signature.

My test results were the following:

The kit in the blue case:
Cl - 2
Br - 4
Ph - 7.5

Drop based tests from TF100
Free Chlorine - 2
Combined Chlorine - 1
Total Alkalinity - 160
CYA - <20 (filled the tube to the top and could still see the black dot)

If your CC is 1 it means you need to shock the pool. (ignore the BR reference in the blue box chlorine test).

Read:
Shocking Your Pool

teesee150,
I also have an indoor fiberglass pool and have never been able to get rid of the brown iron stains. Please post here if you have any luck.
PS. I've tried tons of ProTeam Metal Magic with no luck. The vitamin C tabs do work but I can't do that to the whole pool

Metal magic is not for removing stains, but for keeping the metals suspended in the water and not deposited on your pool (which is basically what the staining is)
The Vitamin C treatment does work, although not one tablet at a time!! It is called an Ascorbic Acid treatment and you can find out about it here.

Sorry, not trying to hi-jack this thread but this question should help the original poster also.
I've read the link/post on AA and will give that a try but how much AA do I need to add each attempt? 1lb per 10,000 gal? more? less?....