Ascorbic acid isn't working

[mshipley]

I have yellow to dark brown stains on my vinyl liner. I lowered my pool water PH to 7.0, have no chlorine in the pool FC = 0 and added 1.5 lbs. ascorbic acid. Nothing happened.

Put roughly 2 cups ascorbic acid in a sock, dropped it in, nothing happened. Used brush to move around sock, nothing happened BUT the sock now has green stains on the outside.

24,000 Gallon rectangle pool.
Vinyl liner

 

[bassadict69]

Did you try throwing some Vitamin C tabs into the pool & let them sit on the bottom? Did it create little spots that were free of the stains?

You have a huge pool compared to mine (28ft round) & I use 1 1/2 to 2 pounds of the absorbic acid when I do mine...I do not think you have near enough absorbic acid in there!

 

[mbar]

Sounds like you have organic stains. Try rubbing a magic eraser on the stain. You may have the beginning of algae if the sock turned green. If you crush up a chlorine tablet and put it in a sock and rub it on the stain and the stain lifts, then it is an organic stain.

 

[Guest]

Hmmm, have you ever used a copper algaecide? Your stains might not be iron but copper, which can stain several colors (green, black, grey, and brown). The stains could also be algae which can be brown when it first starts but algae will usually brush off. You might want to test your water for copper.

 

[mshipley]

It could be copper. If so , what do I use to get it off?

I have a copper ionizer that was used in the pool. I also have a heat pump that has copper piping in it. So copper is a possibility, although the other sources I have found claim that copper stains tend to be light to dark blue. These stains start grey, turn yellow and then dark brown. They look like iron, but do not respond to iron treatments.

 

[Guest]

Re: It could be copper. If so , what do I use to get it off?

I have a copper ionizer that was used in the pool. I also have a heat pump that has copper piping in it. So copper is a possibility, although the other sources I have found claim that copper stains tend to be light to dark blue. These stains start grey, turn yellow and then dark brown. They look like iron, but do not respond to iron treatments.

Not all copper stains are blue, grey to black are the most common and the yellow stains that your are seeing is also probably copper. It depends on the 'oxidation state' of the copper. Copper staining is very difficult to remove and ascobic acid is not that effective. Check out this link to the Jack's Magic website and look at the second and third example. I bet your stains look like those. They are from copper (and probably caused by your ionizer). Bad news is that they are almost impossible to remove from a liner pool without damaging the liner.