Please help me remove this rust and yellow stains - pics

[Rockstead]

Hi,

I had an inground pool installed about 3 years ago.

The stairs have since developed these rust like specs on them, it was there following the first opening after my first winter. I've also had these yellow stains develop on my stairs as well as the jets (you can't see it in the picture), I know that magic erasers are normally recomemnded but I find they became so much less effective underwater compared to above the water line and it isn't doing much, especially due to the way the stairs are designed with grooves so you don't slip, it tears apart the strongest magic eraser available in just a few minutes.

I would really apprecate some advice to finally solve this and to get my stairs back nice and white. Someone had told me that the rust on the stairs is probably due to the builder trying to ge rid of glue on the stairs when it was first built and it caused the rust to occur.




Thanks[attachment=0:2jfjfeyk]rust on stairs.JPG[/attachment:2jfjfeyk]

 

[Bama Rambler]

Have you tried crushing some vitamin C tablets and putting them in a sock and rubbing them on the stains?

 

[Rockstead]

Have you tried crushing some vitamin C tablets and putting them in a sock and rubbing them on the stains?

Wow, really, Vitamin C, I never read that before, any particular brand or stength

I mean something abrasive won't remove these stains, and you can feel the rust, it sticks out but it won't rub.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Yep, regular ole vitamin C tablets. The cheapest ones you can find. Nothing added. If it doesn't work it's not rust.

 

[Rockstead]

Yep, regular ole vitamin C tablets. The cheapest ones you can find. Nothing added. If it doesn't work it's not rust.

I'll be proactive here, what do I try next if it doesn't work, I'm going to try the vitamin C tonight, just wondering if I could have tried a rust remover like CLR rubbed in to a cloth?

How ground up should the vitamin c be? I mean won't it dissolve quickly when I have it submersed underwater rubbing away?

 

[Bama Rambler]

I think it'll work but if it doesn't we'll have to try and figure out what it is and what will dissolve it. Acid maybe the next step.

Just crush it up good. You want it to dissolve through the sock enough to attack the stains. You can also try holding a tablet directly on the stains.

 

[Rockstead]

Hi,

It didn't work, I doubt it makes a diff but I noticed the pills I had were in chewable format. I tired rubbing the vitamin on the stains, I also rushed a lot of it and placed it in a nylon sock and rubbed that on it but not a dent.

Would CLR work on something like this? Not sure what to try next.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Since the Vitamin C didn't work it's likely not a metal stain. Try taking a chorine tablet and holding on one of them for a little while. Let us know if that fades them.

 

[Qwaxalot]

Try scraping those little dots with your fingernail. Do they, sort of, come off? If they do, does the residue (on your fingernail) seem to be kind of green and slimy?

If the answer to these questions is yes, you have black algae.

 

[Rockstead]

Try scraping those little dots with your fingernail. Do they, sort of, come off? If they do, does the residue (on your fingernail) seem to be kind of green and slimy?

If the answer to these questions is yes, you have black algae.

It won't come off, or in such a small amount that i can't. Measure it, certainly not off when I try to scrape with my fingernail.

 

[Rockstead]

Since the Vitamin C didn't work it's likely not a metal stain. Try taking a chorine tablet and holding on one of them for a little while. Let us know if that fades them.

Since I have a salt system I don't have pucks around, you think that this something I can buy in a single format?

I have that super cocentarted chlorine in granular for when I shock at the start of the season, I'll go by the store and ask but I'm not confident they will sell one puck.

Or maybe they sell some commercial version of a chlorine sponge or something like that, assuming its is even that. You can certainly feel the stain if you ru your finger on it but you can't pick it off.

 

[Vette]

You should be able to buy individually wrapped chlorine tabs. Or if you have a friendly neighbor that uses pucks or tabs.

 

[PAGirl]

Walmart and Kmart sell individual pucks. That's what I used to add my CYA at the start of the season.

 

[Bama Rambler]

As said, Walmart has them.

 

[Rockstead]

Bringing this one back up, I still have the rust type spots, vitamin c didn't work and rubbing a puck against it didn't work either.

Any other options?

I don't know if I dreamed this or not, but I remember one service person that thought it could be due to the installers having used something course to remove whatever residue was on the stairs after it was installed and this would be the result.

Could there be any truth to that? And can it be fixed? It's actually a lot worse in some areas compared to the pictures.

 

[tcat]

Interesting read on stains: http://www.isaacspools.net/docs/vinyllinerstains.pdf
If you have removable coping to see if the stain is coming through the liner, that would help diagnose the problem. Don't own a vinyl pool, so can't comment more.

 

[Rockstead]

Interesting read on stains: http://www.isaacspools.net/docs/vinyllinerstains.pdf
If you have removable coping to see if the stain is coming through the liner, that would help diagnose the problem. Don't own a vinyl pool, so can't comment more.

In my case it isn't a vinyl stain, it's on the stairs which aren't vinyl.

 

[Rockstead]

So as my season will be started soon I thought I would bring this one back up. I still haven't been able to get rid of this. Not with Chlorine tab, not with Vitamin C, assuming I've applied both correctly.

Yes you can feel the spot with your finger nail but it can't be rubbed off, it can't be picked off, doesn't feel like it.

I don't mind spending mine on pool store chemicals, is there anything commercially I can add to the pool to try and solve this?

 

[Rockstead]

I didn't notice that original attached picture was lost, forum must have lost attachments with re-design?

 

[JasonLion]

I see the attached picture in the first post just fine. You won't see it if you are not logged in.