Any idea what kind of stains I have?

[BillyE]

Ok, I purchased a house with an existing pool, I've never owned a pool but was told I need to replaster it. I had that done and over the course of the last year it just gets more and more stains. It's a saltwater pool and I have tried to maintain it myself so I take full responsability for not doing as good of a job as I should. That being said I still have stains I would like to get rid of, but I'm not sure what's causing it. I will attach some pictures I took. I do a much better job of maintaning the chemicals than I have in the past and I get the chemestry checked almost weekly. So I don't think that is a problem anymore.

Thanks in advance for any advice!!

 

[JVTrain]

Welcome to TFP!

What is your water source for filling the pool? Municipal water or well? If it's municipal there is a low chance of the stains being metals based unless you have been using pool chemicals that contain copper or silver. If it is a well water source, then it could very easily be metals staining. A fairly quick method to determine the type of staining is to apply a trichlor puck directly to the stain for a short time, up to 30 minutes where possible. If the stain fades, it was an organics based stain from algae. If it does not fade with a trichlor tablet, you can try holding some pure Vitamin C tablets (ascorbic acid) against the stain for a short time. If this fades the stain, it is metals based.

How are you testing your pool water? Pool store? Pool store testing is not convenient, nor is it usually accurate. When getting to know your pool and solving problems, you need to be able to test the water yourself at home. That's where one of the Recommended Test Kits comes in: Pool School - Test Kits Compared A proper home test kit such as the TF-100 or K-2006 is required to get accurate pool testing and useful advice here on TFP. Pool store results aren't given much weight.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Welcome Glad to hear you're stepping up to the plate and taking charge of your pool. Testing needs to be done more than once a week, and with a reliable test kit.

The 3rd pic looks like something was tossed in the pool and left scattered on the bottom where it caused damage.

Please review Pool School and see how we suggest chemicals be added to the pool to avoid this risk.

Seeing that one pic with the green, make sure you're brushing to disrupt anything into circulation and depending on your water chemistry levels with that green you might need to perform an OCLT (Overnight Chlorine Loss Tess). See Pool School for info!

 

[BillyE]

It's filled from the city water system, I tried putting a puck on the spots but forgot about it until a day later and it burned the paster, but it did seem to kill the stain so I figured it was a biological problem. I tried super chlorinating and sweeping it with a steel brush but it didn't seem to help.

 

[BillyE]

I get water from the city water system, and I take a water samples to the pool store for testing. I have a Taylor K-2006 test kit, but I can't say I'm a pro at using it. It's just hard for me to find the time to test the pool everyday. I do good just checking the pool every couple of days just keepiong up with the polaris and skimmers. I'm tempted to turn it over to a pool guy, but they don't come out but once a week themselves.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Awww come'on Biily... it probably takes more time to get out of the car and go in the pool store for testing than it does to just test your own water yourself. Once you know your pool well and its "personality" you can cut back on the testing to every other day or two.