Fiberglass Pool Off-White Beige Stain / Hamilton Index Question

[Draco1219]

Good morning, Draco.
Still couldn't find te msds for that trio of products but here's what I suspect each do:

1. This sounds like either ascorbic acid or citric acid
2. The pool refresh is a floccing agent
3. The liquid metal trap will be a sequestrant

What hydropure appears to have done is to have packaged the AA treatment we refer to at TFP and added a metal floccing element which isn't an entirely bad idea depending on the actual chemicals they're using to do so.

Please ask the rep if anything in the package is "negatively charged" -- some polymer-based sequestrants, like jacks Magenta, (but not purple) are. If anything is the package is negatively charged and you use Polyquat 60 to control for algae while your FC is low per treatment instructions, you will have a mess.

When you bring the FC back up from this treatment, I suspect you will find you need liquid chlorine to do so and make sure you've gotten up to level. Lots of folks who do the AA treatment don't realize that leftover Ascorbic acid literally eats chlorine until spent and sit to long at a low FC and then get algae.

If you end up having to slam/shock after this treatment, you will cause restaining and wear off the sequestrant. You will also need to closely control your ph to around 7.2 post-treatment to avoid restaining.

Another question for the rep is whether the stain remover and floc will actually work on already sequestered metals. Be sure to read for metal levels before application, then after the floc and vac-to-waste...before applying the sequestrant. That will be one way to tell if the floc component did anything. A second way to tell is if the floc removed iron, it will be tinted iron colored like this: (a picture from an Alum experiment on water from my well. Just so you know, a second bucket test on my sequestered pool water with same product failed completely, which is why the jury is out for me on this as a reliable removal method, but I had created high shock value conditions to see if I could precipitate the metal .)
View attachment 52335

When you do the treatment, do post your outcome. Knowing how things work out helps us help others

Good morning Swampwoman,

Thanks again for your reply! I agree with you that their "set" is really Ascorbic Acid, (floccing agent), and a sequesterant. Since I already had about 5 pounds of AA and 3 more bottles of Jack's Purple, I will be using that instead and only using their Pool Refresh to do the floccing.

I did buy 4 bottles of their Liquid Metal Trap though and will call the agent about it to inquire, thanks for the information!!

I also have a few more bottles of PolyQuat 60 on hand.

Here's what I'm going to do:

1. Lower the pH to 7.2.
2. Add a dose of PolyQuat 60.
3. 2 Pounds of Ascorbic Acid.
4. Circulate for around 4-5 hours (this works VERY quickly on my fiberglass).
5. Add the Pool Refresh
6. Filter non-stop for 24-48 hours.
7. Backwash as the pressure rises (I hope I see the rise, since every time I would use Metal Magic or a similar product, I've NEVER seen it rise), but none of the other products were a floccing agent.
8. After 48 hours, turn the filter off and let everything else settle to the ground.
9. Vacuum the entire bottom to waste.
10. Completely replace all sand / clean the filter.
11. Slowly raise my FC to 3 PPM over the next 1-2 days.
12. Add a quart of Jack's Purple and maintain regularly.
13. Maintain pH of 7.2.

Going forward I will use your advice of doing the bucket test with my fill water. I have two Metal Traps now and I'm going to do the test with unfiltered and filtered water to ensure I'm capturing any new iron going into the pool.

I do hope that this Pool Refresh product will work. It supposedly removes all phosphates as well, which I think will help with keeping the algae bloom down during the treatment.

I will be doing it this weekend on Sunday and will be sure to report back.

Thanks again everyone!

 

[Swampwoman]

Hi there. Just a few points since you're doing it soon --
I think their instructions were pretty specific about how long to filter before shutting down -- I would actually ONLY filter for their recc 2 hrs or whatever the steps said after the refresh, or better yet, just circulate, for the specified amount of time, THEN shut down and see if it settles overnight

-- I'm referring to this where you said filter for 48 after adding refresh...flocs just need to circulate, then settle - keep the stuff outta the filter. If you bought the complete kit, the liquid metal trap will replace the Jacks, just so you know. See if you can find out what's in their liquid metal trap. If its HeDP (diphosphonic acid) then use up your liquid metal trap before switching back to Jacks -- they repace each other.

Lower the pH to 7.2.
Add a dose of PolyQuat 60.
2 Pounds of Ascorbic Acid.
Circulate for around 4-5 hours (this works VERY quickly on my fiberglass).
Add the Pool Refresh
Filter non-stop for 24-48 hours.
Backwash as the pressure rises (I hope I see the rise, since every time I would use Metal Magic or a similar product, I've NEVER seen it rise), but none of the other products were a floccing agent.
After 48 hours, turn the filter off and let everything else settle to the ground.
Vacuum the entire bottom to waste.
Completely replace all sand / clean the filter.
Slowly raise my FC to 3 PPM over the next 1-2 days.
Add a quart of Jack's Purple and maintain regularly.
Maintain pH of 7.2.

 

[Draco1219]

Hi there. Just a few points since you're doing it soon --
I think their instructions were pretty specific about how long to filter before shutting down -- I would actually ONLY filter for their recc 2 hrs or whatever the steps said after the refresh, or better yet, just circulate, for the specified amount of time, THEN shut down and see if it settles overnight

-- I'm referring to this where you said filter for 48 after adding refresh...flocs just need to circulate, then settle - keep the stuff outta the filter. If you bought the complete kit, the liquid metal trap will replace the Jacks, just so you know. See if you can find out what's in their liquid metal trap. If its HeDP (diphosphonic acid) then use up your liquid metal trap before switching back to Jacks -- they repace each other.

Hi Swampwoman,

Thanks! I got clarification from the manufacturer on how to use it with the filter. You are right, it's circulate, then vacuum, then filter.

In addition, I am waiting to hear back if the existing sequestrant will affect the product.

Lastly, Jack's Purple is based on HEDP, and I believe Liquid Metal Trap is NOT HEDP based (wish I knew this before). Hopefully they both work just as well.

 

[Swampwoman]

Right..if the liquid metal control product is HEDP which is why I'm saying in that case to just use one r the other as needed post-treatment...then use up the remainder (eg jacks) as needed.

The LMT product is likely best to use with their treatment trio just because then they can support you on threament oddities if they occurr. Long term, the jacks purple is likely better choice as it also is formulated specifically for swg use, and has a cell cleaner component in its formulation.

If you speak with hydropure again, it may be worth asking if the LMT is known to wrk well in "high TDS" environment of salt water pool. Some don't.

Clear as mud?

 

[Draco1219]

Hi guys,

Just an update. Yesterday I performed the Pool Refresh product and this afternoon just proceeding to vacuum all of the sediment to waste.

The pool was cloudy but the bottom was covered in a brown/white fluffy powder like substance. I only hope that this was the iron at the bottom of the pool!


7/25/2016
I just turned the filter back on and attached a Slime Bag to my return jet. Over the next 1-2 days I'm going to continue to backwash/clean the bag until the pool is clear.

Hopefully tomorrow or Thursday I will be ready to replace my filter sand with FilterGlass that I purchased.

I'll be sure to let everyone know how it goes over the next week and if I see any signs of staining once I start introducing the chlorine again.

(Fingers crossed).

If this is the silver bullet, I'll be doing this Pool Refresh treatment at the start of Spring and will continue to top off with Metal Trap.

7/31/2016

The instructions said around 2-5 days for the pool to normally clear and NOT to put any chlorine in the pool during the time, and instead use PolyQuat 60. On Sunday (7/31) was day 6 and I was getting a little uneasy that the pool was still a little cloudy and I had no chlorine in the pool for almost a full week. The sides of the pool felt a little slippery, but I did put in a full bottle of Poly 60 over the course of the 6 days.

I changed out my filter sand and put in 5 bags of FilterGlass and have been running the filter non-stop.

I started bringing up the chlorine today too. I have my SWG set to 10% over 24 hours which should put around 1.4 FC in the pool. On 8/1 (Monday morning) I only had trace amounts of chlorine in the pool. I am going to bump it to 15%/24 hours.

I'll let everyone know if this product worked and if the stains start coming back as the FC comes up to 3PPM.

Thanks !!

 

[Texas Splash]

Good luck!

 

[Draco1219]

Welp, on Sunday I began adding chlorine back since it was then 5 days waiting for the filter to get the remaining Pool Refresh/Metals out. The filter stopped raising the PSI so I assumed it was done, but the pool was still cloudy. After adding in chlorine for a day, the pool was still cloudy.

I checked the levels and FC was only .5 or lower and CC was at 1.5-2.0.

At this point I think the pool needs to be shocked, but the product says NOT to shock the pool. (Which is odd since I shouldn't have any metals in the pool if it actually worked).

I added in one bottle of their Liquid Metal Trap (Sequestrant) before raising the chlorine. My question is now, should I shock the pool? If so, how should I go about doing it safely given my situation? Should I add another bottle of LMT before shocking, or would it just get destroyed with the high chlorine level?

Should I lower PH down to 7.0 to try and keep any of the staining at bay and then shock?

Right now my CYA is at 40.

Hey maybe I can shock it and pray the stains don't come back!! haha. Thanks everyone!

 

[Swampwoman]

You are now entering that well-known twilight zone of those with metals: if you slam, you will wear off the sequestrant for sure, and possibly oxidize metal to tint water, and possibly stain.

Do an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test to be sure you need to slam before you slam. In the mean time, use liquid bleach to get you FC up to the [fc/cya][/FC/cya] reccs...to give the swg a chance to get up to speed...there ay be something in the products that's fighting the FC, plus the polyquat also can increase demand. So until/unless you determine you need to slam, des frequently to NORMAL recc levels.

You will likely have trouble evaluating whether or not the refresh was actually effective without gambling on the slam because even if it was partially effective it might be possible to oxidize the remaining metal.

Lastly, did you intend to bring your cya up to meet SWG reccs TFP-style? Your cell can't likely keep up with low cya combined with extra demand from products, which is why I ask.

 

[Draco1219]

You are now entering that well-known twilight zone of those with metals: if you slam, you will wear off the sequestrant for sure, and possibly oxidize metal to tint water, and possibly stain.

Do an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test to be sure you need to slam before you slam. In the mean time, use liquid bleach to get you FC up to the [fc/cya][/fc/cya] reccs...to give the swg a chance to get up to speed...there ay be something in the products that's fighting the FC, plus the polyquat also can increase demand. So until/unless you determine you need to slam, des frequently to NORMAL recc levels.

You will likely have trouble evaluating whether or not the refresh was actually effective without gambling on the slam because even if it was partially effective it might be possible to oxidize the remaining metal.

Lastly, did you intend to bring your cya up to meet SWG reccs TFP-style? Your cell can't likely keep up with low cya combined with extra demand from products, which is why I ask.

Thanks again!

Last night I did not shock the pool but I took your advice to bump the FC up.

I added around 10 oz of cal-hypo to raise the FC around 4 PPM. In addition, I added in 8 oz of No Mor Problems (in the past this has helped break up the CC for me).

This morning I woke up and the pool was much much clearer, but not 100%, but getting there.

In addition, no staining yet.

My goal is to simply get to the point to whee I can actually follow the "maintenance" dosage on the Jack's Purple/Liquid Metal Trap and have it keep the metals at bay. In the past I had to use 1 bottle per week! This would cut it down to 1 bottle per month, which I'd gladly pay.

I won't totally say Pool Refresh worked or not, but I will continue to keep my PH at 7.2 and keep FC at the low end and will follow the maintenance dosage. If all goes well, I'll report back my results.

My target will be to raise my CYA to around 70 and get my FC minimum to 3.

Last question though, the Hayward AquaRite says to have CYA at 30-50 and FC between 1 - 2. Do I run a higher risk of Oxidizing the metals if I follow TFP and keep FC between 3-4? Or does having the higher CYA cover that for me and balance it out?

 

[Texas Splash]

The Hayward recommendations, like so many other industry recommendations, are antiquated and do not take into account the FC/CYA relationship. Nor do they account for wear & tear on the SWG cells which TFP takes into consideration when the Recommended Level were established. SWGs (cell) will exhaust themselves trying to compete against the sun's UV. The higher CYA helps provide that protection as SWG's generate a slow/steady FC production level for your pool. In your case, trying to maintain a low FC, this is a good thing as the FC produced is slow and steady. But you definitely want to ensure you stay at the recommended level for both FC and CYA or you run the risk of algae. If algae sets-in, all bets are off and it's back to a SLAM and starting over. Hopefully you caught it in time. Have a nice day.

 

[Draco1219]

The Hayward recommendations, like so many other industry recommendations, are antiquated and do not take into account the FC/CYA relationship. Nor do they account for wear & tear on the SWG cells which TFP takes into consideration when the Recommended Level were established. SWGs (cell) will exhaust themselves trying to compete against the sun's UV. The higher CYA helps provide that protection as SWG's generate a slow/steady FC production level for your pool. In your case, trying to maintain a low FC, this is a good thing as the FC produced is slow and steady. But you definitely want to ensure you stay at the recommended level for both FC and CYA or you run the risk of algae. If algae sets-in, all bets are off and it's back to a SLAM and starting over. Hopefully you caught it in time. Have a nice day.

Thank you Texas Splash.. I am hoping as well!

I just added the stabalizer to get the CYA to 70. Based on what you said, even with the Metal issue, I should still aim for FC to be between 3 and 4 right?

 

[Texas Splash]

That's correct. Actually, I'd say between 4-5. 5 is the ideal daily target number based on a CYA of 70. Never let it go below 3 or you run an increased risk of algae.

 

[Draco1219]

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to report back. It's been two weeks now since I did my treatment and have not had any staining thus far. I am still not sure if it's the sequestrant I have in the water or that the treatment worked. I am going to stop using sequestrant now to see if the staining returns over the next few weeks (just to confirm that it actually worked).

The odd thing now is that my water is a very clear light pale green and I am getting patchy green algae which I have to brush daily. After the treatment my CC was about 2PPM and since I did not want to shock the pool I started using No Mor Problem again. Because of NMP, I am unsure where my chlorine levels are and I'm running my SWG in order to add roughly 2PPM of chlorine daily.

So at this point, my stains are gone and did not return yet, but I am in a predicament where I am unsure how to solve the light green water issue (it's more like turquiose than green).

The last time this happened, I dumped a bottle of Jack's Purple Stuff in the pool and it went from light green back into blue. To test this, I did the same thing, I added a bottle of JMP in the pool and it did not change color. This leads me to believe that it's not metals, but algae???

I suppose I could shock the pool and this would prove if the iron/metals are left in the pool.

 

[Texas Splash]

I hope it's not algae as that would require the SLAM FC level and probably negate much of your chemicals/Sequestrants in the water used to contain the metal. That whole thing must be very frustrating.

 

[Swampwoman]

The odd thing now is that my water is a very clear light pale green and I am getting patchy green algae

Draco, I think it might serve at this unfortunate juncture to back up to a few basic TFP tenets to better equip you to come out of the process better despite using products we're not familiar with So I will link to things about TFP pool care in case you haven't already read those areas -- you may have come to the forum with specific metal questions and bypassed the TFP info that predicates surviving metal management

You didn't mention performing the Overnight Chlorine Loss Test and you mentioned producing 2ppm FC per day with a cya well below TFP recc guidelines, though youve now brought that up. You have visible algae so you do now have to SLAM Process -- using liquid bleach and with the swg off...see the tutorial if you're not familiar, and forgive my redundancy if you are

So I want to make sure that all your hard work and product experimentation is not for naught next time. Are you using a tft100 or Taylor k2006 kit for your regular water testing? (TFTestkits.net)

If so, please post a full set of tests.

In general, always keep FC at the target, not the min., of the [FC/cya][/FC/cya] with the exception of maybe 1-2 days treatment time. This chart is the founding tenet of TFP and is science-based.

I am crossing my fingers that the Hydropure Pool Refresh actually did floc some or all of your metal out, and will be delighted if you survive the slam without staining.

But I'm a bit skeptical of the "turqoise" water..it could be the algae but it could also be metals oxidizing from when you added the cal hypo (?)

Now, I suspect you may have gotten into this situation from Hydropure's "2-5 days" recc on the cloudiness clearing. I believe I recall that you used polyquat60, which is positively charged...and if the hydropure product had a polymer thats negatively charged, the two can combine for extra cloudiness.... Adding cal hypo to the mix could exacerbate clouding, as many scale and stain products also latch onto calcium, especially if its excess calcium.

All of these "what-ifs" and unintended consequences are why TFP prefers to add only known, pure-as-possible products to pools. When it comes to sequestrant, that's HEDP in most cases, and to stain removal beyond a sequestrant, thats usually pure ascorbic acid.

 

[Draco1219]

Draco, I think it might serve at this unfortunate juncture to back up to a few basic TFP tenets to better equip you to come out of the process better despite using products we're not familiar with So I will link to things about TFP pool care in case you haven't already read those areas -- you may have come to the forum with specific metal questions and bypassed the TFP info that predicates surviving metal management

You didn't mention performing the Overnight Chlorine Loss Test and you mentioned producing 2ppm FC per day with a cya well below TFP recc guidelines, though youve now brought that up. You have visible algae so you do now have to SLAM Process -- using liquid bleach and with the swg off...see the tutorial if you're not familiar, and forgive my redundancy if you are

So I want to make sure that all your hard work and product experimentation is not for naught next time. Are you using a tft100 or Taylor k2006 kit for your regular water testing? (TFTestkits.net)

If so, please post a full set of tests.

In general, always keep FC at the target, not the min., of the [FC/cya][/FC/cya] with the exception of maybe 1-2 days treatment time. This chart is the founding tenet of TFP and is science-based.

I am crossing my fingers that the Hydropure Pool Refresh actually did floc some or all of your metal out, and will be delighted if you survive the slam without staining.

But I'm a bit skeptical of the "turqoise" water..it could be the algae but it could also be metals oxidizing from when you added the cal hypo (?)

Now, I suspect you may have gotten into this situation from Hydropure's "2-5 days" recc on the cloudiness clearing. I believe I recall that you used polyquat60, which is positively charged...and if the hydropure product had a polymer thats negatively charged, the two can combine for extra cloudiness.... Adding cal hypo to the mix could exacerbate clouding, as many scale and stain products also latch onto calcium, especially if its excess calcium.

All of these "what-ifs" and unintended consequences are why TFP prefers to add only known, pure-as-possible products to pools. When it comes to sequestrant, that's HEDP in most cases, and to stain removal beyond a sequestrant, thats usually pure ascorbic acid.

Hi Swampwoman,

Thanks again for sticking with me on this, I appreciate it.

Last night I raised my SWG up to raise the FC to around 5-6 (not a full SLAM I know, but wanted to get into the recommended range for TFP), and this morning I woke up and the pool was fully stained again. The eyeball threading where the chlorine comes out of was brown and wherever my eyeballs were pointing to got it the worst (the stairs).

During this whole time, my pH was between 7.0 and 7.2.

My current readings are:

PH: 7.1
TA: 70
CH: 225
CYA: 60
FC: 6.0

I believe these are all well within the TFP guidelines, save for the PH which is low.

I am really upset since all my work with this process was unfortunately futile.

However, I've concluded the following, which I think is valuable in and of itself.

1) Pool Refresh from Hydropure Technologies unfortunately did not help at all. As a matter of fact, it caused me to lose a full week of swim time and put me in a position where I had to raise the chlorine levels to counteract the algae.
2) PH for me does not have any noticeable affect on the staining. When my PH was low (7 - 7.2) and my FC raised to the 6-7 range, it still produced staining, therefore for me I can keep the PH in the range that TFP recommends (7.5-7.8) which I prefer.
3) No Mor Problems (which I tried initially to break up the CC and avoid a shock) caused me more problems that it helped. It put me in a position where I have no idea where my FC levels are.
4) I'm going to keep my FC at the low end of the TFP guidelines (3PPM) and avoid No Mor Problems and PolyQuat 60 going forward.
5) Continue to use the Metal Trap when topping up the pool.

My couple follow up questions for you.

1) Do you think that using Cu Lator packs in my skimmer basket will over time coupled with the Metal Trap for top ups help lower the iron/metals going into the water? (Thus lowering the need for sequestrants).
2) I think at this point I should buy stock in Jack's Purple Stuff and invest in one of their expensive sequestrant test kits and just bite the bullet and use 1-2 bottles per month. Since in the Northeast we only get June, July, and August to swim, this might be the best option for me.
3) Anything else you can recommend that I can use that can help reduce the metals over time? (I heard about Metal Magic that crystallizes the metals and allows you to filter out over time.)
4) Would using Jack's Purple Stuff cause any issues with the phosphates over a prolonged use?

Again, thanks again for all of your support, I greatly appreciate it.

 

[buytheseapools]

I recently experienced a similar problem caused by low PH and high chlorine levels in a fiberglass pool. The gel coat in fiberglass pools cotains cobalt which leachs into water when conditions are perfectly wrong. Most pool stores don't have a test kit for cobalt. Cobalt stains are generally silver to blackish in color, so it sounds like iron is your probem, but I'll still tell you how I removed my stains. First I stopped the use of trichlor tablets and switched to liquid chlorine which is better for fiberglass. Then with a FC of 10ppm, PH 7.2, I added a pint of Biodex Aquadex 50 Stain-Off. The following week l cleaned the filter and with 0 FC, PH 7.2. I added 1.5 pounds of Natural Chemistry extra strength Stain Free (ascorbic acid). I tried filling a sock attaching it to my pole and letting it rest on heavy stains, but found it dissolved too quickly so i just sprinkled the rest around the pool with pump off for 24 hours. The following week the stains were completely gone and haven't returned yet.
A possible solution to your water problem:
Contact a reverse osmosis company or ionic exchange to remove all total dissolved solids from exsisting water. Insist they remove all solids and you can adjust your CH and CYA yourself. Then you have mineral free water from the start and can invest in your own reverse osmosis system to add mineral free water in the future.

 

[Swampwoman]

Good morning, Draco. I have to refresh myself on some of your details for a decent response to your questions and have been limited in my am posting time by a physio regime.

My own experience with culator was that it didn't seem to do much, and yes, using sequestrant does or can build up spent product which reverts to ortho-phosphates. Jack's tech has told me though that with ch at 200 or more, much of spent product is carried out. But my own experience (with lower ch) was that in my no-drain conditions over several years, the phosphate did build up to extraordinary levels. I didn't have any algae issues that resulted, so good FC always trumps that, but with my new liner and water change coming, I will likely do a seasonal treatment for annual general control to avoid super high levels compounded over years.

In your case now, im wondering if a way to keep you pool operational for use but to reduce some of your iron load would be to set up a small pump with a 10" filter housing and a 1 mcron filter for extra filtering to see if it reduced it at all. I will take a look at the thread history if I can tonight

In the mean time, get the algae under control. I'm sorry your strategy didnt work out but we'll try to get a better management solution worked out.

 

[Draco1219]

Good morning, Draco. I have to refresh myself on some of your details for a decent response to your questions and have been limited in my am posting time by a physio regime.

My own experience with culator was that it didn't seem to do much, and yes, using sequestrant does or can build up spent product which reverts to ortho-phosphates. Jack's tech has told me though that with ch at 200 or more, much of spent product is carried out. But my own experience (with lower ch) was that in my no-drain conditions over several years, the phosphate did build up to extraordinary levels. I didn't have any algae issues that resulted, so good FC always trumps that, but with my new liner and water change coming, I will likely do a seasonal treatment for annual general control to avoid super high levels compounded over years.

In your case now, im wondering if a way to keep you pool operational for use but to reduce some of your iron load would be to set up a small pump with a 10" filter housing and a 1 mcron filter for extra filtering to see if it reduced it at all. I will take a look at the thread history if I can tonight

In the mean time, get the algae under control. I'm sorry your strategy didnt work out but we'll try to get a better management solution worked out.

Thanks! I do have 2 Metal Traps now and I built a contraption that goes from the return jet into a hose fitting. I may hook up the Metal Trap to run for the rest of the season and let it run and spend that Metal Trap and then throw it out, leaving me with one Metal Trap going forward.

Hopefully it'll reduce the iron load going forward.

I also bought a few CuLator bags since it's the only thing that makes sense for Iron Removal without causing chemistry issues in my pool and wife aggro (all the gamers out there haha).

Anyway, I'll have my phosphates monitored going forward. For now I bought 5 more bottles of Jack's Purple and I have 3 bottles of Liquid Metal Trap left.

My goal is one bottle per month, but we'll see.

Thanks again!

- - - Updated - - -

I recently experienced a similar problem caused by low PH and high chlorine levels in a fiberglass pool. The gel coat in fiberglass pools cotains cobalt which leachs into water when conditions are perfectly wrong. Most pool stores don't have a test kit for cobalt. Cobalt stains are generally silver to blackish in color, so it sounds like iron is your probem, but I'll still tell you how I removed my stains. First I stopped the use of trichlor tablets and switched to liquid chlorine which is better for fiberglass. Then with a FC of 10ppm, PH 7.2, I added a pint of Biodex Aquadex 50 Stain-Off. The following week l cleaned the filter and with 0 FC, PH 7.2. I added 1.5 pounds of Natural Chemistry extra strength Stain Free (ascorbic acid). I tried filling a sock attaching it to my pole and letting it rest on heavy stains, but found it dissolved too quickly so i just sprinkled the rest around the pool with pump off for 24 hours. The following week the stains were completely gone and haven't returned yet.
A possible solution to your water problem:
Contact a reverse osmosis company or ionic exchange to remove all total dissolved solids from exsisting water. Insist they remove all solids and you can adjust your CH and CYA yourself. Then you have mineral free water from the start and can invest in your own reverse osmosis system to add mineral free water in the future.

Not a bad idea, thanks! I'll look into it as a possibility.

 

[Swampwoman]

Good morning, Draco. After re-reading your thread and considering the time you've already lost, I think your plan to go forward with Jack's, followed by an end-of-season treatment before close makes the most sense if you're able to manage that way. I do wonder if the .3 ppm iron you read prior to treatment was your municipal water OR whether the salt you sed for swg startup was maybe less-pure...if you get a chance to test your tap water, that might be good to know.

Before you close, you might be a candidate for a true floc treatment, eg alum, as a removal experiment for the iron and any excess po4 from all your treatments. I'm considering this kind of annual strategy for sequestrant/metal/po4 management going forward, and will be looking into best methods to achieve in a month or so, so will post back.

In the mean time, cheers to clear.