Re: confirmation of metal stains
Update: We called in a professional pool company to analyze the water, and they found extremely high levels of phosphates (remember I had just drained/refilled one week prior to this). They said the phosphates were well over 3000, and had seen two other cases where phosphates this high would stain pools. They recommended PhosFree. At the same time, as a pre-caution, we did notice the SWG control panel was not in the bonding loop, and we attached the copper wire to the bonding lug on the unit. We used one 3L bottle of PhosFree, and within a day we saw a brown substance starting to floc together. After 2 days, we backwashed (very brown water), then vacuumed the floc'd up areas to waste, and noticed the pool wasn't as stained. We added more water (because we had vacuumed out quite a bit), then treated again with another 3L bottle of phosfree and waited 2 days, backwashed and vacuumed to waste. After 1 week, the stain is completely gone! I've never seen anything but ascorbic acid remove the stain, and we are, to say the least, shocked and ecstatic! We still have over 1000 phosphate level, but are now without stain! Our next step is to use the Phos Floc (which is made for levels over 1000) to try and get more of the phosphates out. We would probably have used this initially but couldn't get it locally so we had to order it online. Will keep you posted!
