AA treatment - First timer

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spiazza

spiazza

0
LifeTime Supporter
Jun 20, 2009
76
Berkeley Heights, NJ
I am off from work this week and thought this would be a good time to perform the AA treatment. Been suffering staining for the 5 yrs I've owned the pool. Not sure the cause. Starting to think possibly 9 yr old heat pump refrig tubes. Not sure what they are made of.

I have a 5lb bag of AA. I placed a handful in a stocking and rubbed it along the stairs (yellowing stain for weeks). The stain lifted immediately. Stairs look beautiful.
The FC level was at .5 and ph at 7.2
I have a 20K gal pool.
Placed full container of Poly 60 in pool to start.
I placed 1 cup of AA initially and started to see stains lift immediately throughout pool.
30 min later I added more AA and again 30 min later.
The vinyl liner looks amazing. There are very, very light blotchy stains remaining but hoping they lift overnight.
I added an initial dose of jack's purple stuff (2 qts) when all was finished.

I plan to put pool on filter and let it run for 24hr.

Questions:
Should I be concerned about the low FC level?
How long with the Poly 60 hold off algae, etc?
Is another round of poly 60 needed before I start raising FC levels?
How often should I maintain adding sequestrant? How much should I be adding? 8-10oz?
Are their cheaper sequestrant agents available? Jack's is costly.

Steve in NJ
 
It's been 5 days since reintroducing FC back into the pool. I've had the filter running constantly. Last night I decided to shut the filter and perform an overnight FC test. FC dropped from 2 to 1. There was .5 cc. I'm assuming there is still AA in the pool causing this instability. Normally I would shock if the overnight FC fails, but AA treatment instructions advise against it. Is it best to keep the filter running constantly? Sure hope FC stability returns soon.
 
I recently did a Vitamin C treatment on my pool (milder than AA) and noticed a strong chlorine demand for about a week. I went out one day to find that the stains returned, not sure why, but my pH was a little high so that may have triggered it. I lowered my pH and added another whole bottle of sequestrant and within a few days the pool looked great. I would keep an eye on the pH and just add chlorine to stay within the range for your pool. I know my metal treatment said not to shock for at least 2 weeks after the treatment.
 
dattia said:
I recently did a Vitamin C treatment on my pool (milder than AA) and noticed a strong chlorine demand for about a week. I went out one day to find that the stains returned, not sure why, but my pH was a little high so that may have triggered it. I lowered my pH and added another whole bottle of sequestrant and within a few days the pool looked great. I would keep an eye on the pH and just add chlorine to stay within the range for your pool. I know my metal treatment said not to shock for at least 2 weeks after the treatment.
Click to expand...
Vitamin C is Ascorbic Acid (AA). Exactly the same.

The best thing to do is keep your PH to the low range forever. Raise your chlorine level slowly (you'll be at it for a while depending on other factors such as sun, debris, temp etc.) Keep your chlorine level no higher than what is recommended for your water volume and CYA level.

Elevated PH and/or chlorine will cause the metal to stick to your walls and floor again.

Also - use a sequestrant regularly to help keep the metal in your water and off surfaces.
 
Athlon646464 said:
dattia said:
I recently did a Vitamin C treatment on my pool (milder than AA) and noticed a strong chlorine demand for about a week. I went out one day to find that the stains returned, not sure why, but my pH was a little high so that may have triggered it. I lowered my pH and added another whole bottle of sequestrant and within a few days the pool looked great. I would keep an eye on the pH and just add chlorine to stay within the range for your pool. I know my metal treatment said not to shock for at least 2 weeks after the treatment.
Click to expand...
Vitamin C is Ascorbic Acid (AA). Exactly the same.

The best thing to do is keep your PH to the low range forever. Raise your chlorine level slowly (you'll be at it for a while depending on other factors such as sun, debris, temp etc.) Keep your chlorine level no higher than what is recommended for your water volume and CYA level.

Elevated PH and/or chlorine will cause the metal to stick to your walls and floor again.

Also - use a sequestrant regularly to help keep the metal in your water and off surfaces.
Click to expand...

At what point can I begin using SWG back on?

My normal FC level with SWG and CYA is 2.

Keep filter running constantly until FC drop stops?
 
spiazza said:
At what point can I begin using SWG back on?

My normal FC level with SWG and CYA is 2.

Keep filter running constantly until FC drop stops?
Click to expand...
I don't have a SWG - but all that does is chlorinate your pool. So, if I had one, I'd turn it on and slowly raise my chlorine level with it.

And yes, keep your filter running until everything holds.
 

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Athlon646464 said:
spiazza said:
At what point can I begin using SWG back on?

My normal FC level with SWG and CYA is 2.

Keep filter running constantly until FC drop stops?
Click to expand...
I don't have a SWG - but all that does is chlorinate your pool. So, if I had one, I'd turn it on and slowly raise my chlorine level with it.

And yes, keep your filter running until everything holds.
Click to expand...

Thank you.
I've been using the swg in conjunction with bleach to keep the levels in check during this instability period.

My ph is 7.2 and all is at 60. I'm going to leave them there.
 
Athlon646464 said:
spiazza said:
What is the most accurate way to test ph? I still use old color matching test. inaccurate in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Your question tells me you probably don't have the TF-100 Test Kit available here: http://tftestkits.net/TF-100-Test-Kit-p4.html

Best investment for the pool I've ever made, and highly recommended by most everyone here.
Click to expand...

Funny enough. I have the TF 100 kit. Didn't notice the ph test. I'll look again.
 
:hammer: Sorry - I shouldn't have assumed - hope I didn't cause any confusion.

I know you know what it is, but to end any possible confusion on my part :shock: , here's the 'tool' in the TF-100 to test PH:

test-kit.jpg
 
I need some help!
Today it has been a week since reintroducing bleach/SWG back to my pool after AA treatment.
The FC has become more stable but not like normal. Starting on Sunday, I turned the SWG on 60% (normally it lives at 40%) for normal 8 hour cycle and have been turning the pump off at night.
Pool is maintaining 2 FC with a .5 CC
Prior to doing AA treatment, I had no CC. I would normally bring to shock level to clear the CC but I don't know if the CC is because the remains of the AA and sequestrant.
60% on my SWG would normally cause my FC level to raise very high but pool never seems to go over 2 or 2.5 since AA treatment.

Does all this sound normal?
Should I be doing anything different?

Thank you in advance for any help and guidance. This forum has always been helpful to me for the last 5 yrs.

ALK is 65
PH is 7.2
 
I'd wait it out and see if the CC drops and SWG on-time is able to be reduced over time. If things don't improve or if they get worse, then you may have low-level algae and will need to shock the pool to get rid of it. Also, keep the pool exposed to sunlight which should help reduce the CC. Note that there will be some increased chlorine demand when using a metal sequestrant, though using an HEDP-based sequestrant has less of a chlorine demand than others (e.g. EDTA).
 
Thank you chem geek. I have noticed cc drop to 0 at times over the last 7 days typically when pool was exposed to the sun. Have had the solar cover on for the past few days. Will remove it this morning and monitor levels. I replenished pool with jack purple 16oz on Sunday so that could be keeping FC at lower than normal levels as you say.
 

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