Removing iron from pool

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Ernap01

0
Apr 8, 2015
27
Waukesha, Wi
Went to the pool store yesterday and the gal there gave me a bottle of Keetrol Plus. She told me to put half of bottle in, run filter, and if needed add the rest in 24 hours. I have an intex
pump 1500 gal per hour cartridge filter. Got up this morning and pool doesn't look any different. I added the other half of the bottle. How long does it take before seeing any results. She also
had me put in a hardness product because when the water was tested, it didn't have enough hardness. Again, just wondering how long it takes, and is it possible that the water will never
become clear and we might have to drain the whole thing and have water delivered?
 
Without knowing how big your pool is, what your chemistry is or why you are adding the Keetrol Plus, we really can't give you much advice. Is your water tinted? Rust stains on the liner? I can tell you that you were most likely scammed with the hardness increaser if you have an Intex pool.
 
oh...sorry, :oops: I have an intex 18 x 48 easy set pool filled with well water. Water was a greenish yellow like lake water and very murky. We did fill the pool with some softened and some hard water. Our water straight out of the well is 2 ppm. We did add salt (SWG) and CYA. When tested at the pool store, she said our water wasnt hard enough and gave me something to put in to add hardness and the keetrol to get rid of the iron. I did put a clarifier in yesterday also. The water is still green, but not as murky. Ran the filter all day and night and am still running it. I have devised the cotton batting in a milk jug onto the outtake hose, and put coffee filters on both intake hoses to help. This morning when I looked at the filter is was completely orange. I rinsed it out and put it back on. I could see particles floating in the orange water when I took the filter cartridge out. I tried putting a new filter in, and the replacement did say type A & C but it didn't fit into my filter. I need A filters. Again, How long before I see clear water again, and I know I can't run the SWG until the water is above 70 degrees. I'm afraid that when I get the water clear and I add chlorine, that I may get the brown water. Any advice is appreciated as I am a first time pool owner.
 
You're doing great! You've realized the pool store is selling a bunch of stuff that isn't working, you sought out a second opinion, and you've done enough searching to discover the batting idea and filtering it out.

Chlorine turning the water brown is probably a good thing - it means the iron is precipitating out where you can catch it. If you hadn't added the snake oil sequestrant, it would probably look like espresso. If you don't get some chlorine in there soon, you'll be dealing with green algae as well, so go ahead and dump the jug in. How much CYA did you add? Knowing that and knowing the pool volume, we can get an idea of what your FC level should be and how much bleach you should add.

You just need to be patient with that Iron. Be grateful the water's too cold to get in, or you'd be even more impatient. There's no way to predict how long it will take.
 
Good the temp here in Waukesha today is only 50 and staying cool until the weekend. You're right, I would be more impatient. I added 1.4 lbs of CYA according to what the intex manual said for the amount of water I have. WIll the water turn brown when I add the bleach? Pool has 5455 gal.
 
Ernap01 said:
Good the temp here in Waukesha today is only 50 and staying cool until the weekend. You're right, I would be more impatient. I added 1.4 lbs of CYA according to what the intex manual said for the amount of water I have. WIll the water turn brown when I add the bleach?
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Most likely. Some folks with lower Iron than yours have it turn a lovely shade of green, which is yellow-orange tint against the blue background. But changing colors is good! If the Iron is all dissolved, you won't see it. When it's precipitating, that means it's particles you can see. And that means particles you can filter out.

1.4 Lbs CYA in 5455 gallons (Intex spec for capacity @80% full) puts you at about 30 CYA. At the moment, you have a bleach pool, so minimum FC for that CYA is 2, and target is about 4. It works out nicely to 1 qt. of 8.25% bleach to go from none to 4.
 
Thanks...next year We'll have the water delivered to avoid all this aggravation. I did allow myself added time before it got warm out because I thought I might run into problems. This way all the headaches will hopefully be out of the way. Once I get the water issue fixed, I'm definitely putting the solar cover on to get the water warmer. Do you recommend a solar heater used in conjunction with the blanket?
 
Ernap01 said:
Thanks...next year We'll have the water delivered to avoid all this aggravation. I did allow myself added time before it got warm out because I thought I might run into problems. This way all the headaches will hopefully be out of the way. Once I get the water issue fixed, I'm definitely putting the solar cover on to get the water warmer. Do you recommend a solar heater used in conjunction with the blanket?
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Sorry, no experience there. I don't even cover my pool.
 
there are filters you can run on your well water to take out the iron/manganese. they are quite pricey but would prob offset the cost of filling your pool every year with trucked in water.

a Google search will give you plenty to read about
 

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CeeElGee said:
Why only 5,400-some gallons of water? Is that even covering the outlet? Unless your pool is in full-on sun, some sort of supplemental heat will probably be needed, especially if you have kids -- or a wife -- wanting to swim ;-)
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Because he has an easy-set. That's what it holds when it's filled to 80%. It's not straight-walled.
0600269-2.jpg
 
After adding the Keetrol for iron, and filtering using he milk jug routine, water is finally looking better. Haven't added any chlorine yet. I am seeing iron sediment on bottom of pool that will need to be vacuumed. What is the best way to vacuum the intex easy set 18 x 48 pool after the iron is sitting on the bottom. If I just use the vacuum that attaches to the garden hose, won't I just be recirculating it since I can't hook it up to the filter system. Any suggestions. And when I add chlorine after filtering all this time, will I still get orange or brown water again?
 
Is there any way to line the vacuum bag with paper towels? That's all I can think of, short of buying or borrowing a standard vacuum and struggling to connect it to the intex.

I suspect it will still turn colors when the chlorine hits the water. Then when you add sequestrant, it will miraculously clear.
 
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