Hello, I used citric acid to remove stains from liner and now unable to keep chlorine up. This was done a week ago and every 2 days the chlorine drops to nothing after adding shock. I have 24’ round above ground pool. How do I keep the chlorine up? How long until the citric acid dissipates? The stains are gone and the pool is crystal clear with good ph but just have to keep adding shock every two days.
Citric acid
- Thread starter sbrazill
- Start date
- May 3, 2014
- 58,475
- Pool Size
- 6000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Welcome to the forum.
www.troublefreepool.com
It is best that you replace the water with iron free water.
Let's ask @JoyfulNoise on how long it might take for the citric acid to dissipate.
Ascorbic Acid Treatment - Further Reading
www.troublefreepool.com
It is best that you replace the water with iron free water.
Let's ask @JoyfulNoise on how long it might take for the citric acid to dissipate.
- May 23, 2015
- 24,440
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
What do you mean by “adding shock”? What exactly are you adding?
I think he means, are you adding a liquid some call "Liquid Shock" or a powder that sometimes is also called "shock"??
Pool Care Basics. <---- please read
Maddie
Pool Care Basics. <---- please read
Maddie
- May 23, 2015
- 24,440
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Here’s the deal with citric acid - it’s about 3X more acidic than ascorbic acid and it takes a long time to break down from chlorine oxidation. So it’s really not good to use in a pool for stains unless absolutely necessary. Since you had stains you will now need to add chlorine very slowly and carefully so you do not spike the FC too high and cause the stains to reappear. But citrate is going to make that painfully difficult as you are currently experiencing it.
You need to add liquid chlorine every day to get yourself back up to a reasonable level and then you need to test frequently because the citric acid remnant is going to eat the chlorine up. You need to keep at this until the FC starts to hold better. There’s no easy way to know how long this is going to take so you have to be patient and diligent. I would also suggest you keep a careful eye on your pH and you target a low pH range of 7.2-7.4. Liquid chlorine additions temporarily raise pH and you want to make sure that doesn’t happen or else you’ll get stains again.
You need to add liquid chlorine every day to get yourself back up to a reasonable level and then you need to test frequently because the citric acid remnant is going to eat the chlorine up. You need to keep at this until the FC starts to hold better. There’s no easy way to know how long this is going to take so you have to be patient and diligent. I would also suggest you keep a careful eye on your pH and you target a low pH range of 7.2-7.4. Liquid chlorine additions temporarily raise pH and you want to make sure that doesn’t happen or else you’ll get stains again.
So I should be using liquid chlorine instead of powder shock to keep the level up? Normally I use 3” chlorine tablets not liquid. But I know liquid is cheaper.
I have used powder shock not liquidI think he means, are you adding a liquid some call "Liquid Shock" or a powder that sometimes is also called "shock"??
Pool Care Basics. <---- please read
Maddie
How much liquid chlorine should I add every day for a 12,000g agp when no chlorine is registering?
elwood58
LifeTime Supporter
I would add 50 ounces of 10% liquid chlorine per day until you see it holding or increasing. Try to stick to a tight schedule of testing and adding. This assumes that you still have some CYA (35-50).
I’m on Day #10 after citric acid and day #3 of adding 50 oz liquid chlorine every day as above. The level holds overnight but goes to zero by end of day. My CYA is just below 100. Keep at it and eventually will the chlorine hold?
- May 23, 2015
- 24,440
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Can you please post the EXACT product you out in your pool, maybe upload a picture of the front and back label?
- May 23, 2015
- 24,440
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
- May 23, 2015
- 24,440
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Unfortunately there is not much information online about that product and what it contains. Haven’t found an MSDS yet. My concern is that it is not entirely citric acid and you may have added something to the pool that’s causing excess chlorine demand. Without knowing exactly what it is, it’s hard to say.
You can try SLAM’ing the pool to see if you can destroy whatever has been added but your stains are going to come back. If you don’t want that then all you can do is stay the course until whatever it is you added gets oxidized.
You can try SLAM’ing the pool to see if you can destroy whatever has been added but your stains are going to come back. If you don’t want that then all you can do is stay the course until whatever it is you added gets oxidized.
How do you know that it was citric acid and not ascorbic acid or some other product?
Ask the manufacturer to be sure.
Contact
Please fill out the form and one of our sales representatives will call shortly.
boshchemical.com