Stain Removal Help - Metal Magic vs Jack's Magic

[Megsyperk]

Hi guys,

Long time no see!

Now that fall is here (sort of), I've turned my sights on the stains in our pool - mostly on the steps. I did an AA test several months ago and it seemed promising so I'd planned on doing that, but then came across this thread during my research: Switching Sequestrate from EDTA to HEDP

So I decided to give Metal Magic a whirl since I wasn't keen on battling algae again and the fighting FC after AA scared me a bit.

I did the sponge test, but looking back I didn't do it long enough so I'm unsure if I added enough Metal Magic to make a difference (2 quarts). I decided to head back to the pool store to get more but the girl talked me into trying the Stain ID Kit from Jack's Magic before spending more money on the MM.

I did that today and the treatment for iron scale was definitely the winner (http://jacksmagic.com/pdfs/FAQ-IronScale-Treatment.pdf).

But I have some questions:

1. Is it a bad idea to proceed with the recommended Jack's Magic treatment if I've already added Metal Magic?
2. If I do this, do I skip over the Jack's Magic Blue Stuff since I've already added the MM? (Are they both sequesterants? I'm so confused!)
3. Should I try more Metal Magic instead of proceeding with Jack's Magic?

On a side note, what causes these stains? The previous owner (we bought this house in July) said it was from the floaters hanging around the steps - but that just seems odd to me. We've got bottles of PhosFree and other oddities in the garage so I know he'd been pool-stored in the past. Surely the metal staining came from some treatment he tried, right?

Anyway, thanks in advance for your help. Hoping Chemgeek and/or Swampwoman stop in

 

[Swampwoman]

Hi there. For me, jack's pink and metal magic work equally well on iron stains. When I switched from jack's pink to metal magic, there were no negative side effects between the two, both of which have similar makeups -- provided you're not on a salt water generator set up...in that case use jack's magenta, which is especially formatted for swg use.

Are you on a well? Well water s the most common source of iron and it builds up over time via evaporation-concentration. ...

 

[Megsyperk]

Thanks! Not on a well. I went ahead and proceeded with jacks magic iron scale treatment. Current,y waiting for the copper stuff to do its thing and then will proceed with iron etching. I figured the metal magic was a sequestering agent so I skipped the jacks blue stuff (which I think is the same as magenta?). Gah, they really do make this stuff confusing!


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