Copper vs. Iron Stains

[kikiganz]

I am curious if Vitamin C removes copper stains or if it only removes iron stains?

This spring we successfully removed all stains from our pool using Vitamin C. It was gleaming white. Unfortunately, we didn't completely understand how things worked regarding them still being in the water and needing to a sequestering agent so they are back worse than ever. We want to buy Jack's Magic The Pink Stuff to get us through the summer. However, I just want to ensure that it is iron stains we have and not copper. I know Jack's has a test that will tell me but since I already know Vitamin C removes the stains I was hoping to skip that step (and expense).

Thanks!
K

 

[PAGirl]

I think copper tends to stain greenish or bluish. If you haven't sequestered yet, you could have your local pool store test for metals. (Just smile politely and decline their chemical suggestions.)

 

[Propbndr]

+1 what PAgirl said. Copper stains are blue to green. Iron tends to be rust to black colored.

What is your water source? Public utility or well water? The reason I ask is my well water has medium to medium high iron content and a very low pH (5.2 to 5.4). If you have supply water that has very low pH AND copper pipes in your house, your water is corroding the inside of the pipes and sending the copper to each of your faucets. First, excessive copper ingestion is poisonous, therefore unhealthy! Like mercury, it accumulates in the body. Second, it stains every plumbing fixture is evaporites from blue to green in color, including your pool. Third, eventually the pipes will fail due to the internal corrosion. The only fix for a low pH supply is a, whole house acid reducing filter.

 

[kikiganz]

Stains are definitely a brownish rust color. No green to them at all.

I am on city water that has a very high pH. We do not cover our pool in the winter, and have a lot of trees, and a pool guy told me that leaving the leaves in the pool can cause high levels of iron. That doesn't make any sense to me but that is what he said.

In the next 12-18 months we hope to have our pool surface refinished and we plan to get a cover at that point and, hopefully, refilling with fresh water will do the trick.