Metals in pool
- Thread starter Pennypat
- Start date
I’m crying uncle! I started rebalancing my chemicals 2 days ago. We did replace the metal band in the filter basket. I’ve followed every suggestion on this site. I’m growing some pink algae now and the iron stains came right back with the chlorine between 1-2 ppm. It’s really hot in Georgia right now. And, I can’t keep the chlorine that low. It’s been dropping to zero, overnight. I’m going to keep it balanced on the low end of pool math. I’ve been trying to get this figured out since the end of April. So, I’m going to keep some purple stuff in it and keep the PH down and the CUlater in the basket. But, the FC is down to zero this morning. And, at 9am the water temp is 85 degrees. So, superchlorination it is!
Honestly, in this heat with summer in full swing, I’d keep the chlorine up at high target and just enjoy the pool. Iron staining isn’t pretty but it only hurts the eyes. Work on it later this fall when the water’s colder and you’re not trying to dance around fighting on two fronts.
- Jun 1, 2018
- 16,012
- Pool Size
- 26000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Just catching up on this thread…
I am going to find me a white bucket right now!
I don't understand why the iron staining is already coming back only -2- days after adding 1-2FC in your pool. That doesn't make any sense if you have ample amount of sequestrant in the pool? Have you spoken with a rep at Jacks? (if so, who?) and what are their recommendations for sequestrant dosing to keep the metals sequestered? Just doesn't make a ton of sense, not at THOSE levels of FC for such a short amount of time. I'm perplexed.
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I did talk with someone at Jacks. I can’t remember his name. He was on the road when he called and I was at work. He said that he thought I should have plenty of sequestrant in it. He wanted me to send him the names of the other sequestrants I used because he thought they might have been fighting each other, which I did . I never heard back from him. He also thought the rust was probably coming from the fill water. He didn’t think the bucket test was reliable because the PH wouldn’t be the same as the pool and that would affect it. Idk. Once I turned up my chlorinator, the whole pool stained again. I’ll attach a picture of the steps after I got the chlorine up to 4. Now, I can’t seem to keep the chlorine up enough to swim. Aargh! The water was 93 degrees today and the chlorine has dropped to zero. I’m a little discouraged. I don’t know if I can straighten it out enough to swim before the summer is over. I’m not even sure where it came from because I’ve never had this issue before.
Attachments
- Jun 1, 2018
- 16,012
- Pool Size
- 26000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Use some liquid chlorine asap! Salvage the the rest of this swim season stains & all.
Sorry, I sure hate to see the stains returning like that
hopefully you can tackle it in cooler weather after more investigation with better results.
Sorry, I sure hate to see the stains returning like that
hopefully you can tackle it in cooler weather after more investigation with better results.
No pool heater. We do have a Polaris motor that is not running anymore. But, it doesn’t look like there is any rust on the parts that the water runs through.
I think what is -more- concerning to me is, you seem to be adding an appropriate amount of sequestrant into your pool, and your staining is coming back instantly after only bringing up FC to 1 or 2. There's something really wrong about that.... That shouldn't really happen.
Iron could potentially come from:
Iron could potentially come from:
- Fill Water
- Auto-Fill Water
- Corroded/Rusty Pool Light Housing
- Corroded/Rusty Ladders
- Corroded/Rusty Screws
- Corroded Equipment
- Corrosion that is hiding behind your liner(?) if you have hot-spots in your liner where the staining is worse
- Anything else Corroded in your Pool
- Rusting rebar that corrodes and bleeds through the Pool's gunite shell
- Wind-born in some rare places like Hawaii
- Water can leech iron from natural landscaping like Boulders/Rocks/Granite that are in your water
I had some rock put around the outside of my pool fence within the last couple years. But, there is 6 feet of concrete between that and the edge of the pool. And, of course it is an orangey/red clay color (it’s Georgia). But, my pool is 8 years old and I’ve never had any problems with it. I’m just going to swim in it this year. I have at least $600 in trying to fix it and to no avail. But, I don’t want a repeat next year. I was thinking about draining it before next summer. But, I think I need professional help.
I tried to go back through and make a timeline of all the things that I have added to my pool. But, it was exhausting. I bought some things online and some things at Homey Depot and Walley World, depending on what I could find when I could spend the time babysitting the pool. I’m a nurse and I’m on call a lot in weekends. My family was starting to get jealous of the pool because I was spending so much time on it. But, I will say it has been quite a learning experience. I did get tired of the money and the effort and sort of gave up for now. My biggest regret was not using polyfil in the beginning. I was confused and did an AA treatment 1st. And, I haven’t really figured out the source. The last treatment I did, I used AA, polyquat60, and Jacks purple stuff and kept meticulous records and tested constantly for days to keep PH down and raise chlorine slowly.
But, I do think I may have figured out why my stains came back looking so much worse. I’ve included pictures before and after I pretty much gave up. And, a picture of my steps after scrubbing half of them. I think
perhaps (because of my 5 AA treatments) and dropping my chlorine so low so many times, I’ve grown some sort of algae that the iron sticks too. It’s not slimy or slippery. I got a new rubber brush and started scrubbing the steps and some of the stains came up. They still look bad. But, they have improved.
When I say, I scrubbed them, I’m talking elbow grease everyday for a week. I think before I slam and hope to use polyfil (after it cools off and I’m done swimming for the year) I want to scrub the pool. Any suggestions on some sort of scrubber that isn’t manual and won’t damage the vinyl? I’m not really strong enough to scrub in the deeper parts. The bristle brush doesn’t seem to help at all. And, I can’t push the rubber brush across the vinyl.
For those of you who took time to read my novelette and offer suggestions, thank you
But, I do think I may have figured out why my stains came back looking so much worse. I’ve included pictures before and after I pretty much gave up. And, a picture of my steps after scrubbing half of them. I think
perhaps (because of my 5 AA treatments) and dropping my chlorine so low so many times, I’ve grown some sort of algae that the iron sticks too. It’s not slimy or slippery. I got a new rubber brush and started scrubbing the steps and some of the stains came up. They still look bad. But, they have improved. When I say, I scrubbed them, I’m talking elbow grease everyday for a week. I think before I slam and hope to use polyfil (after it cools off and I’m done swimming for the year) I want to scrub the pool. Any suggestions on some sort of scrubber that isn’t manual and won’t damage the vinyl? I’m not really strong enough to scrub in the deeper parts. The bristle brush doesn’t seem to help at all. And, I can’t push the rubber brush across the vinyl.
For those of you who took time to read my novelette and offer suggestions, thank you
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I have never really discovered the source of iron. But, I had some rock put around the edge of my pool last year. It’s Georgia and there is some red clay in the dirt. The rock has that clay color. I’m not sure if this could be the culprit. What are your thoughts? I’m attaching a picture. This rock is around the perimeter of the pool.
if this could be the culprit. What are your thoughts? I’m attaching a picture. This rock is around the perimeter of the pool.Attachments
I’m curious about a couple of things. If I do an AA treatment after the water is cooler, would I need to sequester all winter? And, if I don’t do it until fall, will it possibly stain permanently?
I'm curious @Pennypat what is your current PH?
I typically find that any PH above 7.2 will automatically cause staining with Iron no matter how precise I follow the AA treatment instructions. I've been running my PH on the lower 7.0 to 7.2 range and haven't had staining this season. I test PH/Chlorine everyday, and CYA twice a month, since chlorine would be harsher at the lower PH levels without proper amounts of CYA.
I typically find that any PH above 7.2 will automatically cause staining with Iron no matter how precise I follow the AA treatment instructions. I've been running my PH on the lower 7.0 to 7.2 range and haven't had staining this season. I test PH/Chlorine everyday, and CYA twice a month, since chlorine would be harsher at the lower PH levels without proper amounts of CYA.
- Jun 1, 2018
- 16,012
- Pool Size
- 26000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
You should add the initial sequestrant dose right after the aa treatment has lifted all the stains as directed in the article.
Then follow the instructions on your particular sequestrant for maintenance dose’s & frequency.
Without replenishing sequestrant the metals will eventually redeposit onto the surfaces & another aa treatment will need to be performed again.
The only way to stop the cycle is to drain the sequestered water & replace it with metal free water. Or do the slam/polyfill thing to get as much out as possible.
If your iron content is quite high You may need to do all the things - slam/polyfill then aa /sequestrant , then replace some water & keep with sequestrant for insurance.
If the iron level is quite high there’s only so much a sequestrant can do (no matter how expensive it is).
About your landscaping rocks- the pool deck should be designed to drain water away from the pool, if the rock’s placement is impeding that or causing the water to run into the pool that needs to be corrected (no matter what the rocks are made of).
That photo of the CuLator a page or so ago doesn’t look yellow - it looks pink.
Did I read correctly that you have had this pool for years but the staining just started this year?
Did I read correctly that you have had this pool for years but the staining just started this year?
Penny, try throwing some of that rock into your white bucket and leave it for a few days. I’m guessing that is where your staining is coming from, since that it what changed between previous, problem-free years and now.
Right now my PH is 7.6. I just finished a slam. I rebalanced after the slam. Before the slam, I dropped it to 7.3. The instructions on slamming said to adjust it before the slam because of the inaccuracy of testing once you start the slam. But, I’ll keep a close eye on it before I do another AA treatment.