Organic or Metal?

[Noggin]

My neighbor got a new roof put on her house a few weeks ago, and coincidentally, at the same time MASSIVE amounts of pollen started falling. I work as much as 12 hours a day and I let the buildup on the bottom of the pool get away from me. I had assumed that it was organic.

I got in the pool a few minutes ago (still cold) and held a chlorine puck on one of the stains for about a minute and then let it just sit there under it's own weight for another 10 minutes or so. When I removed it, there was no obvious difference in color. So then I tried a vitamin-c tablet. One was a chewable and the other was one just to swallow (not a gel cap though). I let those sit on two other stains for about 5 minutes. Again, no obvious difference in color.

I then wanted to find out if my main drain was working as I always suspected that it wasn't. I left the pump running and swam down to it and couldn't feel any water flowing into it. While I was down there, I found a roofing nail that had a stain around it that was the same color as the rest of the stains in the pool.

So can a nail or two in the pool cause metallic stains in several different areas? I think I saw another nail down in the drain. I have some people coming over tomorrow, one is a certified scuba diver, so I'll give him a screwdriver and let him take the drain cover off and see if there is anything down there he can get out.

How long does it take for the hockey puck and/or vitamin c tables to affect a stain?

How obvious should water flow be at the main drain? I've had my suspicions that the main drain hasn't been working since we got the house.

 

[JasonLion]

Main drain water flow can sometimes be slow enough that you don't notice. On the other hand it is fairly easy for a main drain to get clogged or tuned off by accident. So there is no telling what is going on there.

One or two nails will only cause stains right near themselves. An entire box of nails would cause a problem eventually, but that would take a while.

Vitamin C should work, or at least show an obvious difference, in 30 seconds to a minute. Trichlor tablets are a bit more variable, sometimes under a minute, usually five minutes, occasionally half an hour or more.

 

[Noggin]

So you think that there is a good chance that these may be organic? I think I read here on the forum that proper FC levels will reduce/eliminate organic stains. I guess I'll give it a few weeks (and go test my water again right now). I've been keeping my FC on the low end of the recommended range, I think I may bump it up to the high end.

 

[Butterfly]

I think I read here on the forum that proper FC levels will reduce/eliminate organic stains.

You are correct.

I guess I'll give it a few weeks (and go test my water again right now). I've been keeping my FC on the low end of the recommended range, I think I may bump it up to the high end.

Excellent idea

 

[Beez]

How obvious should water flow be at the main drain? I've had my suspicions that the main drain hasn't been working since we got the house.

My main drain is plumbed through the skimmer, and although I have verified it is working, you can not feel the water flow. In fact, the flow is low enough that it barely even affects debris such as leaves around it.