New to this. We did the abscorbic acid treatment about 2 weeks ago. All stains were gone and started rebalancing the chemicals - slowly as was told. Then the stains started resurfacing just like before. Went to the pool store and was getting some sequestrant and they told us to add the Metal stain remover - Metal Free - instead! Didn't work so two days later we added more AA NOW THE POOL IS CLOUDY! What do we do?
We did the abscorbic acid treatment about 2 weeks ago
- Thread starter adenise68
- Start date
The stains reappeared because you were not using enough (any?) sequestrant. Ascorbic acid will remove the metals from the pool surface, and puts them back into the water, where they are able to form fresh stains unless you do something to prevent that.
Sequestrant binds to the metals and prevents them from forming stains. However, sequestrant breaks down slowly, so you need to add more regularly.
Metal Free is not one of the sequestrants we recommend using. 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.
It is common for the water to get cloudy after adding sequestrant. This typically lasts one to three days. If it continues longer than that something is going wrong.
Sequestrant binds to the metals and prevents them from forming stains. However, sequestrant breaks down slowly, so you need to add more regularly.
Metal Free is not one of the sequestrants we recommend using. 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.
It is common for the water to get cloudy after adding sequestrant. This typically lasts one to three days. If it continues longer than that something is going wrong.
Okay we are into what a week and a half of the cloudy water. The water is still cloudy - we added another quart of Sequestrant and something into the sand filter to trap the particles. Finally yesterday the chlorine started holding and the Ph is at 7.2 and Alkaline at 120. We can now see the bottom of the pool a little but still cloudy and noticed that the staining is coming back. We are officially done with the whole mess and will just live with the stained ladder and pool. Don't know what else to do. Don't know how the metal got in there because we have city water and only put water in when it get's low.
My advice is to stop taking the advice of pool stores and buying their snake oil miracle cures
ivyleager
LifeTime Supporter
In my pool, stained w/ iron from metal ladder in deep end, I've always added 1 - 1.5 lbs of AA, lifts stains immediately, then add 2 qts of Jacks Pink Stuff sequestrant. Each bottle is good for 10K gallons. Each month after, I add half quart of Pink Stuff. They haven't reappeared during a swim season, just at opening. How big is your pool? Maybe you're not adding enough sequestrant.
Here is an article in Pool School that should be helpful, in addition to the info Jason gave above.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/137-metals-in-the-water-and-metal-stains
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/137-metals-in-the-water-and-metal-stains