Newbie with Brown Stains in Gunnite Pool

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J

Johnsmelley

0
Sep 7, 2016
8
Longview Texas
Hey guys,

I recently bought a home with a 17,750 gallon salt water Gunnite pool. The pool was put in approximately 1.5 years ago. My water has been crystal clear without any problems. But in the last week or so I have started to see brown rust spots/buildup on the bottom of my pool. The pool is a lap pool with the middle being 5.5ft deep and sides 3 ft deep. The spots are not concentrated in one area. I do have a rock waterfall that I think could be the culprit. I would say some leafs fall but very few. (Only one tree within 100yards). I have read some other forums and have tried a chlorine tab, as well as vitamin c and have not seen any dramatic changes in coloration. Thanks so much for the help!

I could add pics if I knew how.... Lol
 
Hello and welcome to TFP! :wave: Well, since you have tried a chlorine tab and vitamin C, what can you tell us about the texture of the stain? Anything different or unusual? Have you tried scrubbing it to see if that changes anything? If you rule-out metal and organic material, it may be scale/calcium related. A thorough set of test results may be in order at this point. Do you have a TF-100 or Taylor K-2006C test kit? Posting results from either one of those would be best.

For the pics, have you tried linking your photos from Photobucket? That's what many of us do here on TFP. Upload your pics to Photobucket (free), then copy & paste the IMG code for that pic from Photobucket to your TFP post. Works great.

Also, you can try going to the bottom of your quick reply post where it says “Go Advanced”, and then down to where it says “Manage Attachments”. It may let you upload them that way. They may show-up large because you can't adjust the size of the attachment, but it may work.

Nice to have you with us.
 
There has definitely been some white streaks of scale on sides of pool. I let the puck sit for multiple minutes and never saw any type of fading. With the vitamin c, I guess you could say it faded a little bit but not what I was expecting. I am taking a sample in the morning to local pool store and can post results. I think I have figured out the picture.... Hopefully! Thanks for your reply'

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I think this is a better picture.

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Over the phone, the pool store is recommending an AA treatment and to follow up with a metal subquestriant or they said something about jacks magic? I would like to hear some other opinions first.
 

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Jacks sells a Magic ID Stain kit you may want to consider trying if the other methods don't seem to give you conclusive results. You definitely want to narrow-down what the issue is before just dumping stuff in the water in a guessing fashion. The pool store would like that for your money, but we don't. If you go to them for testing, I recommend taking a water sample from your fill source (garden hose) to see if there's metals in the water. If not, and if you've never added any pool store chemicals with copper (i.e. algaecides), then it shouldn't be iron/copper.

Obtaining one of the recommended test kits will be critical for you now to rule-out organic staining as well. If you rely on the pool store, you'll see your wallet empty faster than positive results in the water. We see that all the time. Keep us posted though.
 
I will order a jacks magic ID kit. This is our first pool to own and I just remember about 2-3 weeks ago, that pool store said all my levels were great, but my phosphates were a little high. So I order some phosfree off eBay since it was half the price. Could this be part of the issue??

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Sorry, I am typing on an IPhone and autocorrect has me looking illetirate.

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Here is the rock waterfall pictured. It appears to me as some type of iron ore rock...
 
A lot of what we try to help you with is 100% dependent upon the water testing. The PhosFree won't help anything, nor is it the source of any problems. Phosphates are not the issue. When water is algae-free, phosphates mean nothing. Beware of pool store testing and what we call "snake oil" products that claim to resolve or prevent issues. Generally they are a waste of your valuable money. Don't settle for anything less than a TF-100 or Taylor K-2006C test kit and test the water yourself. It's easy, convenient, and you know for sure what needs to go in the water. Once you test your own water, you'll wonder why you waited so long.

Nice pool by the way.
 
That is a good kit. It provides all the testing you'll need. Two suggestions:
1 - If you stick with the Taylor product, search for the K-2006"C" version. The C is for commercial and will give you more reagents.
2 - You might want to consider the TF-100 which can be found HERE. If you compare the two kits as seen HERE, you'll see it is actually a much better value and it also has Taylor products inside. Also consider the "Speed Stir".

Either way, it's the best move you can make - testing your own water. Believe me, we've ALL been there and know. :) Have a good day.
 
Here are the results from pool store and his recommendations? Now let me ask this, is muratic acid the same as cyanuric? And what is your opinion on results?

Also, they took care of this pool for previous home owners he said and said in the past he has noticed high iron in the water where I live. He said they usually did a jacks magic treatment once a year....
 

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