AMAZING. How could my copper problem go away so fast?

[Guest]

Last year, my copper was near the top of the chart on my copper test kit - at about .8.. No matter what I did or used, or how much water I drained and refilled, it remained at .8.

I used a metal sequestering stain preventative last week, and my copper measures only .1 last night.

Is it really possible that it could have become so much lower so quickly? Would the metal stain treatment have something to do with it?


Whatever the reason, it's great news!

 

[chem geek]

I'm not sure why the drain and refill didn't lower your copper reading unless the fill water had copper in it. Have you had your fill water tested for copper?

As for the metal sequestrant, it binds to copper relatively quickly and then copper tests will only show the unbound copper which is all you really care about anyway since that's what can stain. Just note that the metal sequestrant will slowly get oxidized by chlorine so you'll need to add more or else the unbound copper levels will rise.

 

[Guest]

Okay, that's what I was wondering: Whether or not the copper reading will lower with the use of the sequesterant. I will continue to use it weekly. My inbound water supply tested free of copper. I just couldn't drain and refill enough to make a difference. I am noticing much fewer new stains and the older ones on the deep side of the pool, even, seem to be slowly dissolving.

Also, finally determined that my CH was only 100. I'm going to get that in the 260 range. Everything else seems to be looking good.

One thing I'm curious about: Can you use too much sequestrants and what are the ill-effects?

 

[JasonLion]

Sequestrant is fairly harmless. The main impact of using too much will be felt in your wallet. Nearly all of them will lower the PH, so you need to watch for that and make sure that the PH doesn't get wildly low. Really large amounts of sequestrant can also sometimes remove significant amounts of calcium from the water which is often associated with significant cloudiness.

 

[chem geek]

And if you have a lot of sequestrant in the water, you'll probably find a higher chlorine usage. So you want some excess to ensure most of the metal is bound, but you don't want a whole lot of excess though as Jason points out it takes quite a lot before you start seeing problems.