Chlorinating after Ascorbic Acid Treatment

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O

OasisSeeker

0
May 20, 2014
25
Mountain Top, PA
Greetings. Just finished what I think was a successful ascorbic acid treatment, thanks to the directions provided here, which I followed precisely except I have not used a culator because I don't have a sock for my skimmer basket. I used 2 bottles of Leslie's ascorbic acid followed by the Protem (?) metal out once I got my chlorine down to 0.

The water is clear, the metal stains that were on my steps and liner are gone, Ph is back up to 7.2, and last night I added a bottle of bleach (slowly, over a few hours).

This morning, water looks good and here are my readings:
FC: 2.8
CC: .2
Ph: 7.2
Alk: 80 ppm
CYA: 90

My question is: How long before I can turn on my chlorinator? I use tri-chlor pucks. I know my cya is high and needs to come down, but can I put the chlorinator on a very low setting now and gradually turn it up to where it normal position? I am not comfortable using liquid bleach as my main chlorinator.

Also, with regard to prevention: I don't use well water and my heater is about 4 years old. I'm not sure where the metal came from. The staining started last year, mostly on the steps, but it really wasn't horrible and I was able to get most off with stain out (direct application). When I opened this year, after shocking and a few days of the chlorinator running too high, the stain on the steps was unbelievable and had spread throughout the liner. I have a culator and plan to put it in the skimmer once I get skimmer socks, later this week. Is this more effective than the Metal Free, or should I be using both as preventative action? Do you recommend once a month?

Thanks again. This forum has helped me quite a bit since I became a pool owner 8 years ago, but this is my first real problem, and hence my first post. Everyone's expertise and willingness to help has been much appreciated.
 
Thanks for your reply. I added more liquid chlorine last night and turned on my on-line chlorinator at the lowest setting, and now my FC is at 4.0. I'll leave Ph at 7.2 for a few more days, but plan to bring it up to 7.4 over the weekend.

Any thoughts on the best method for prevention? Culator bag vs. sequestration? How often would you recommend treatment? Is there a test to find out which metals are in your water, and should I be testing for this? As I said, I don't use well water, and my heater is relatively new. I can only guess the metal came from heavy rains at the end of last season, combined with a high chlorine level (I finally got a good test kit this year and never worried much about a high chlorine level, as long as Ph and alk were in balance. Now I can see exactly how high I was running, and it was pretty darn high the first time I tested).

I know I shouldn't shock for at least another week, but we are having a Memorial Day party, which means kids in the pool all day, assuming the weather is decent and I get my heater up and running (another issue with a Hayward circuit board that I am going to attempt to replace tonight - fingers crossed). I notice that sometimes after a party and heavy swimmer use, my pool gets cloudy, and in the past I have just automatically thrown in a bag or two of shock to clear it up. I have to admit I am a little worried about what the pool is going to look like Monday after a day of swimming on Sunday.

Thanks again.
 
in the past I have just automatically thrown in a bag or two of shock to clear it up. I have to admit I am a little worried about what the pool is going to look like Monday after a day of swimming on Sunday.
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With a CYA of 90 and a big crowd planned, I would up the FC (just get some bleach, it's quick and you don't have to readjust your SWG again) for a total of 8-10 ppm tonight or tomorrow AM.

Test again after the party and resume your normal level. Easy Peasy and your pool likely will show little cloudiness.
 
As expected, I had a cloudy pool Sunday night after a pool party with lots of kids. I added bleach before going to bed and left the filter running. The next morning, the pool was sparkling. FC was 8.2, other numbers in check. Ph 7.2, TA 80. But by yesterday evening, the steps showed some staining. I poured some Pool Stain Treat on the steps (had this sitting around), and the stain was instantly gone. Before going to bed, I checked my levels, and FC was down to 0 and ph was 7.0. Yikes. Guess it was from the stain treat. I added polyquat 60, some bleach and Ph booster. This morning, there was staining on the steps again. So on my way home from work, I stopped by the pool store. The only sequestering agent they had was Metal Free, so that's what I brought home. Came home to even darker staining on the steps. FC read 2.0. I poured in the bottle of Metal Free, and within 10 minutes, the pool went cloudy. Just keeps getting cloudier and cloudier as the hours pass. Stain on steps seems the same. I added some chlorine because I don't want to put myself in algae danger zone.

I have since done research on Metal Free and see it is not the same as the other sequestering agents and that others have had cloudy water after its use. I guess I have no choice but to wait a few days and see if it clears. In the meantime, where do I want my chlorine level to be? I know I have to keep Ph at 7.2.

Am I stuck with the stains? I didn't think raising FC to 8 was shock level and should have caused the stains to come back. I guess I will have to do another AA treatment if and when the water clears. Drat.
 
Metal Free is not one of the sequestrants we recommend. Sequestrants based on HEDP, phosphonic acid, or phosphonic acid derivatives are the most effective. ProTeam's Metal Magic and Jack's Magic The Pink Stuff (regular), The Blue Stuff (fresh plaster), and The Purple Stuff (salt) are some of the top sequestrants. You can also find many other brands with similar active ingredients, some of which are noticeably less expensive.

You want to ramp up FC by about 1 ppm per day, so 1 ppm today, 2 tomorrow, 3 the next day. But with stains returning and limited sequestrant you may need to pick between cleaning up the stains or preventing algae.
 
Water seems to be clearing up. Looks much better this morning. Staining on the steps is darker than ever, though.
FC 3.8; CC .2; Ph 7.2; TA 80

Questions:

1) Can I start another AA treatment while the water is still cloudy from the Metal Free, or should I wait until it's totally clear?

2) How LOW do I have to keep my FC and for HOW LONG in order for the AA treatment to hold? I assume the stains reset on the steps (and possibly the liner - can't tell yet) because I added almost a whole bottle of bleach Sunday night after the kids got out of the pool. Too much, too fast, like a mini-shock.

3) Where in this process should I backwash my DE filter, if at all? I backwashed after the first AA treatment and the gauge is nice and low, telling me the flow is good.

Thanks.
 

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1) Yes, though you may or many not want to. It is easier to do the entire process if you start from a stable well balanced state.
2) 24 hours of zero chlorine after adding AA, then increase by level by 1 every 24 hours.
3) Any time the pressure goes up 25% over the clean pressure, and one extra time after the water clears up (if it got cloudy)
 
Came home from work today and the water is crystal clear. But those dang ugly stains are still there, dark on the steps and now I can see it forming on the liner as well. As long as there is no harm in waiting, I may hold off until the weekend to start the next round of AA treatment.

Just to clarify, because I actually read the directions on the two new bottles of Proteam Metal Magic (which I didn't last time), first I add AA with FC at 0, then once the stains are gone, I add the recommended amount of sequestrant (in my case, two full bottles for 20,000 gallon pool), put the setting back on filter, then slowly start to raise the FC level.

The directions on the Proteam bottle recommend Ph at 7.5 or above "for best results" and indicate the Metal Magic will eliminate the stain (and remove the metal to the filter) without any prior treatment. But here you say keep Ph at 7.2, do the AA treatment first, and the metals will never be removed.

Just want to make sure with Metal Magic that my ph at 7.2 is OK and the best plan of action is to start over with the AA rather than skip to sequestration product.

Thanks.
 
There are different ways to do things. Metal Magic will work with either set of directions, though with different pros and cons. Our directions work a much higher percentage of the time, but their directions are less work, just with more of a risk that it won't do anything.
 
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