ProTeam's Metal Magic Less "Cloudy" Alternative

[tech135797531]

I live in N. Florida and twice a year I play the iron staining / ascorbic acid game. Each time I successfully follow the same process (that I learned here) and use a bottle of Metal Magic. And each time the pool gets cloudier and more difficult to see through than Mt. Denali during a whiteout. The culprit is always, as acknowledged by many including the manufacturer, Metal Magic. Each time it takes a week of brushing 20 times a day and cleaning the cartridge 2 times a day to get most of it out. I get the end results but I'm getting really tired of it.

I would like to start adding a sequestrant monthly to slow down the staining a bit and maybe only have to do the AA treatment once a year. The reason I don't is the fear of having to constantly deal with cloudiness, even if I'm only dumping 6 oz of Metal Magic rather than the full bottle. Is there a good sequestrant that doesn't lead to severe cloudiness and hours upon hours of brushing and cleaning?

Thank you!

 

[YippeeSkippy]

What's causing your staining? Iron? Copper? Where are the metals coming from?

 

[tech135797531]

What's causing your staining? Iron? Copper? Where are the metals coming from?

It's iron staining that vanishes with vitamin C. It's a light blue fiberglass pool so it shows very quickly, especially on the walls, all the way around. The city water around here has a high metal content, so each time I have to add a couple of inches of water due to lack of rain or kids splashing around, I'm adding more metal. So there's nothing I can do to eliminate the metal issue for which reason I regret going with light blue.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

You could try Jacks Magic The Magenta Stuff. It’s based on polyacrylic acid (PAA) instead of HEDP like ProTeam MM.

Long term you either have to spend lots of money on sequestering agents along with their long term use consequences, OR, bite the bullet and install a whole-house iron and mineral removal water conditioning system so that you can fill your pool with treated water. Only you can decide if the upfront cost of a conditioner is worth all the hassle of doing regular AA treatments and living with a constant diet of sequestering agents.

 

[ajw22]

, so each time I have to add a couple of inches of water due to lack of rain or kids splashing around, I'm adding more metal.

Have you tried putting an iron filter on your fill water tap?

Iron Fill Water Filter - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[setsailsoon]

How much iron do you have in the water? Guessing you're on well water? Iron removal isn't all that hard. There are two ways that might make sense depending on how much you're dealing with. You can get de-ionizing filters that have resin that gets depleted but it can be recharged. If you don't have much iron this could be an easy solution and cheap. If you have a lot of iron you'll need an iron removal filter in addition to the refillable resin filter. The iron filter will remove the bulk of your iron (about 90%) and you'll need to do a final polish with the resin. Total cost of the iron filter for DIY is about $800 plus plumbing.

Chris

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Have you tried the polyfil in the skimmer trick? You capture the iron after letting the iron drop out of solution (get ugly brown) then capture it.
You could also use a sump pump/polyfil bucket to recycle water thru the polyfil and grab some of that iron.
Here's one lady who even used paper towels--> A Tale of Two Filters... and Ugly, Rusty Water.

 

[tech135797531]

Thank you, guys! I'll start looking into an iron filter. I don't use well water, but city water. Regardless, it has a high metal content compared to other places. In the meantime, as JoyfullNoise suggested, I'll give the Magenta Stuff a try, maybe it won't make the pool as cloudy as Metal Magic. Thank you again for the advice.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

You can buy sequestrants to eternity and all you're doing is hiding the iron. If you want to be done with it-
Some reading -

Iron water - proof Poly-fil works

I was changing out the Poly-fil in my pvc pipe contraption and thought I would share the color of the Poly-fil to show it really does capture the iron. The brown that is constantly on my vinyl liner is very concentrated into the Poly-fil. The one clump which is kind of white was brown like the...

www.troublefreepool.com

If you’ve got iron in your fill water, use Polyfill to remove it

EDIT: Found out this method only works if your iron is oxidized already, meaning it’s got a dull or bright green tint to the water, or a nasty brown tint. If you know you have iron in your fill water, but it isn’t oxidized yet, bring your pool to shock level and it’ll turn the telltale green...

www.troublefreepool.com

Polyfill in main drain?

Hey there - having a huge iron problem from refilling after the winter with well water. I’ve put Polyfill in the skimmer basket and it is working well. Any reason I shouldn’t put Polyfill in the main drain pump basket? Thanks!

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[tech135797531]

You can buy sequestrants to eternity and all you're doing is hiding the iron. If you want to be done with it-

Yes, my plan for tonight is to grab a glass of wine after I put my kid to bed and read all the threads you've linked in your 2 comments. Thank you again for the kind help! I'm sure I'll have some questions.