Took bad advice from pool supply company

[rausda27]

Hi everyone..we just bought a house and I have been reading these forums. Lots of info, especially for a first time pool owner like myself. So, long story short we closed on the house a week ago. The previous owners had the pool opened and cleaned. It looked amazing for the first few days. Being new I stopped at the fancy pool store close by with a water sample. The ran it and said everything looked great except the pH was a little low. They gave me 25 pounds of of sodium something to add to skimmer slowly and said to add 2 packets of shock. I did as instructed and the next day the steps and most of the liner were stained a yellowish brown color. I saw on here that I should rub liner with a vitamin C tablet which I did and it immediately came off. I have a pool guy coming by tomorrow to teach me how to use the equipment. He said he was bringing "pool magnet" to fix the staining.

The pool is a 18 x 36 Grecian with vinyl liner and 25000 gallons of water. Does this sound like a proper solution? I have read that the stain removing has to be done when chlorine levels are near zero. Any other ideas to get the pool back to normal? Strange thing was that the water sample I took to them showed 0 iron. I don't see how thats possible when I believe thats the cause of the staining. Has anyone had luck having a pool supply store fix their mistakes when they recommend something and it results in a stained pool?

Thanks!

 

[Isaac-1]

The metal tests are not very reliable even by pool store standards, what is your fill water source (well, municipal water supply, etc.?) If a municipal source they should have a water quality report on file that should show iron levels. If it is low you would likely be better off with water exchange vs continued use of sequesterants.

 

[Pool Amateur]

Hi and welcome to TFP. I bought a house last year but the pool was a swamp. Started off with pool store and 1problem after the other, costing big dollars. When I was told by one expert I needed to dig up concrete because I had broken pipes I started searching and found this site. A week later I turned the swamp into a crystal clear pool. And did not have to tear up concrete, had bad spider gasket and broken lateral, which I found out here. One of the first things you will be told is to get a test kit. If you want to save money follow the advice and get the kit, the kit that is most cost effective is the TFP kit, many buy the Taylor but in a few months they find out the TFP was more cost effective. They will send it promptly and if you order tonight I believe you will have it by We'd., maybe even Tue. The money you spend on the kit will be saved selveral times over in the first season. I am sure that an expert will be replying shortly,if not before I finish typing this message.

 

[rausda27]

There is a test kit that came with the home. I will take a look tomorrow and figure out who makes it. Funny side story, I called my father in law who owned a pool for 10 years and asked advice. He said in the decade he owned the pool he never used a test kit and used to treat the pool with a bag of chlorine and a coffee can...said judicious use of the filter and chlorine were all it took. I think this is the other end of the spectrum as I know there is more to it, but I am realizing rather quickly the pool supply store only stays in business because they recommend and sell pool treatments...

 

[rausda27]

I see a TFT test kit, not a TFP test kit. Should i buy the TFT one?

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The metal tests are not very reliable even by pool store standards, what is your fill water source (well, municipal water supply, etc.?) If a municipal source they should have a water quality report on file that should show iron levels. If it is low you would likely be better off with water exchange vs continued use of sequesterants.

Water supply is a pool water supply company and rainwater...

 

[jblizzle]

The TF-100 from tftestkits.net is the best on the market.

 

[Pool Amateur]

Thanks jbizzle, the proper kit is TF-100 not TFP, my bad, was typing on a phone and could not leave page to get proper name, went by memory which wasn't so good but jbizzle was on the job and gives excellent advice. might also want to click on "pool school" link in his signature. will start to explain how and why to care for your pool.