Something interesting is happening

[jaydar]

OK...you all know that my pool is now finally balanced and that I've had yellowish brown streak staining on the pool floor (for several years now)
Well,truthfully I had no idea before about balancing pool chemistry before finding this forum...so I am so greatful for all the great advice.

I'm noticing the stains are almost gone.Not completely but almost.Last year I'd brush and brush and shock and floc....and only after deciding I wasn't going to buy anymor pool store recommendations did things finally begin to straighten out.

I found this forum..BBB for beginners.Still not knowing anything about chemistry balance...I threw about four boxes of borax in and bought an new cartridge filter and a better vacuum.

By the end of last season my water was crystal clear....but my free chlorine was off the charts....probably about 30 ppm.
My pool floor had streaks of staining with sediment,which I would vacuum up....( stains would remain)and as soon as pump circulation was off,within a few hours...more sediment in the exact same spots.
So this year I drained my water by half...twice.....got my cya down....and my calcium is stiill kind of high about 370ppm.
Got my chorine numbers perfect....got my cya about 50ppm and my ph at 7.8...and then
I added 5 40lb bags of salt.

My stains have been lightening...in fact they have almost entirely disappeared.

Last night I put cotton socks over the returns.Today I bought pantyhose and cut the bottoms off...put one in each return and one covering the bottom outside of skimmer basket.
Let me back up a bit....the socks were filthy when I took them off.After several hours with the pantyhose feets on all returns....they were all collecting debris.bugs,grit...and things I have no idea...but substantial...considering I keep my cartridge filter pretty clean.

Back to the stains disappearing.......was it getting my cya lowered and balancing the water?Was it adding the salt?Was it the extra filtration on the returns and skimmer?

I looked all over the place for ascorbic acid or oxalic acid today and couldn't find any.I didn't want to go pay 5 times at the pool store...so I came home.....tested everything again with the tf100 kit....everything is still beautifull....I brushed the floor and walls again with a ss brush.......lounged in the pool for a couple hours and went in for a couple hours.
I came back out to relax in the pool again and was looking at it.......and I could only see faint stains in a few areas.

I might not have to add any ascorbic acid.I can only figure that it is either getting the water perfect with borax or adding the salt.

Any ideas on this?

 

[JasonLion]

Sometimes, though not very often, just lowering the PH a little takes care of stains. They can be unpredictable. I can't really guess at what might be happening in your specific case though. Posting a full set of water test results would help, but even then I suspect you are just lucky.

 

[Richard320]

Last night I put cotton socks over the returns.Today I bought pantyhose and cut the bottoms off...put one in each return and one covering the bottom outside of skimmer basket.
Let me back up a bit....the socks were filthy when I took them off.After several hours with the pantyhose feets on all returns....they were all collecting debris.bugs,grit...and things I have no idea...but substantial...considering I keep my cartridge filter pretty clean.

Are you certain the cartridge is fully seated and the right size? Or is there a multiport valve that could be leaking at the gasket? The water coming out of the returns should be filtered down to microns. There shouldn't be anything in the socks.

 

[jaydar]

re:Are you certain the cartridge is fully seated and the right size? Or is there a multiport valve that could be leaking at the gasket? The water coming out of the returns should be filtered down to microns. There shouldn't be anything in the socks.

Yes I'm using recommended cartridge for the pentair/starite canister with 1.5 hp pump...I've the option of 150sq ft or 175sq ft filter and I'm using the 175.. it's about 9" by 28" with 4 inch open center.I always make sure it's seated firmly.
Yeah...I'm curious as to the debris collected.I'm beginning to think the plumbing job was messed up.
Most of the stuff collected was organic,but I had already vacuumed and there was no visible debris.

There may be a leak somewhere...but I attribute water loss to evaporation.I have 3 line manifold with ball valves...I wish I had a better setup.

I'm stumped.