Metal stain help

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That’s the range I typically operate it at and what it had reverted back to over the weekend.

The cloudiness didn’t get much better today. Is there any of the clarifiers that can be used without any other issues?
 
I fear that any clarifier use will only make the pool stay cloudy for longer. Clarifiers & sequestrants generally don’t play well together.
Keep filtering & cleaning your filters.
The cloudiness from sequestrant can take a while to clear. Especially if you used a bit. You had some in the water initially & used more after the aa treatment correct?
Be sure to maintain a sufficient yet lowish fc level (above minimum for your cya) & keep the ph in the low 7’s. Run your bot/cleaner if you have one.
 
Understood. FC is holding at the 2ppm range with the SWCG running at 20% and the PH is holding at 7.2. I could just barely see the outline of the main drains this morning, so it is improving. I will stay the course and leave everything alone until it’s clear again. So far no stains have reappeared. I am guessing at this rate it’s going to take a week or more to get it back to clear again.
 
You don’t need to hold minimum fc forever.
Increase it slowly a ppm at a time. You don’t want to risk algae now after doing all this work! A slam now would likely make the staining return.
Holding at least 3ppm would make me feel better lol.
Take care to keep ph 7.2 to prevent the stains from returning as you increase fc slowly to target range.
 
Ok. Bumped up the SWCG and added a bit more liquid chlorine that brought it almost to 5ppm. Expecting rain today so I am figuring on it getting diluted some. Pool was a little more clear this morning. I could see the main drains without having to look for them.
 
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Got about 2” of rain in the pool yesterday. My chlorine guess worked well and everything is still holding above 3ppm for now. It did raise the PH a bit so I had to add some acid to get it back down to 7.2. Will see how everything is balanced out tonight after work. The cloudiness is still there but slowly getting better. At this point I think it’s going to at least 4-5 days more.
 
The pool is fairly clear now. It’s not cloudy but not perfectly clear yet. It is starting to get a little sparkle to it. I cleaned the filter after 7 days running 24/7. It was definitely full of white stuff. I truly think not cleaning it is what helped to get the super fine cloudiness out of the water. It’s been holding a good chlorine level of 3ppm all week and I have had to add a little acid to keep the ph between 7.2 and 7.4.

I went ahead and did some water sampling to see where I am at now.
PH 7.4
Total & Free chlorine 3ppm
Alk 70ppm
CH 200ppm
CYA 40ppm
Salt level 2500ppm

Looks like I need to start raising most of my levels. I guess I should go slow on the Alk & CH? The CYA and salt levels need to come up to the standard so I can make and keep the chlorine level in check. Any other thoughts about the levels?
 
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Chlorine is king 👑
Cya will lower your ph a little as it is an acid so keep that in mind
The ph is currently fine. Keeping it there should help avoid stains while bringing fc up where it needs to be. You’re riding the line with fc - bring that up to at least mid target for your cya.
The ta is fine
The ch is likely fine (what is your fill water ch?)
 
Mdragger88 said:
Chlorine is king 👑
Cya will lower your ph a little as it is an acid so keep that in mind
The ph is currently fine. Keeping it there should help avoid stains while bringing fc up where it needs to be. You’re riding the line with fc - bring that up to at least mid target for your cya.
The ta is fine
The ch is likely fine (what is your fill water ch?)
Click to expand...
I was thinking the TA is a little to low according to the calculator?

I had to order some CYA. When that comes in I will work on getting the Chlorine level up to 4-5 ppm with a CYA level around 60 if I am calculating that correctly.
 

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You want to maintain mid to high target fc for your cya so that you have a buffer & don’t broach minimum & risk algae incase of a high uv day or other conditions.
 
Everything is all clear now and looking good. The stain removal went well and the areas on the pool bottom looks great now. Still monitoring the chemical levels and adjusting as necessary.

In the past I would let the PH climb as high as 7.8. So now I am monitoring that more closely. I have a project I never finished to use a Steiner pump to dose MA. I am going to work on that again and see if I can get it going. The plan was between the SWCG and a MA dosing system the balance should be good for just weekly testing.
 
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It ended up taking a lot longer than I anticipated but the results are great. Along with removing the stain and brightening the pool up, it allowed me to see some areas that had algae spots. I tried just using a ss brush in them but it didn’t really help. I ended up getting some triclor pucks and one of the pool pole holders. That really works great and is taking care of the spots. I know not to use many of these as it can throw the chemistry off. I ended up using 1 complete puck over the course of 3-4 days. There are still a few more areas but I am going to give it another week or so before I work on those. Cleaned the filter again and there was no more “white stuff” just pollen and debris.
 
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Mdragger88 said:
I’m assuming you mean spots of black algae?
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Yes there where a few of those.

The color of our plaster is called “Natural”. It’s a light sand color that has specks of larger black pieces and smaller red, brown and gold pieces.

There where also areas that green algae had been a while back. I thought I had cleaned them away but found I could now see algae deeper in the plaster. After rubbing them with the puck and leaving some white triclor on them, they where gone the next day. So now that’s my game to look over the entire pool for those areas.
 
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Yep I had checked that out before. That’s where I got the idea to use the triclor puck.

How soon should I start the monthly dose of the seqeustrant?
 
gregs said:
Yep I had checked that out before. That’s where I got the idea to use the triclor puck.
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👍🏻
gregs said:
How soon should I start the monthly dose of the seqeustrant?
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If you used the “initial dose” already I’d set a reminder for every 4 weeks - if you start to see stains reappearing before then you’ll need to go ahead & add it. Some people are able to go longer without seeing stains reappearing so they wait to add.
 
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