Metal Stains Continue to Return

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fedman

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Jul 20, 2012
5
Granville, OH
I have been having difficulty with metal stains returning to the floor and sides of my concrete pool. The pool is about 45,000 gallons and is approximately 6 years old. I have never had this trouble before, so I am assuming that the fill water I had trucked in this year after I painted the pool is the source of the metal.

I completed the Vitamin C treatment...lowering Cl level and pH level while I did this...this removed the stains...for a while. The stains are slowly creeping back (I'm sure they are metal in origin because chlorine tab does nothing on them while a Vitamin C tablet removes them.). I have been adding Metal Free at an insane rate...3 bottles during the Vitamin C treatment and at least one bottle a week as maintenance/or when I add water. They continue to return, even when new water is not added.

Any thoughts. I have gotten the impression that Metal Free may not be the best sequesterant from other threads, but I have trouble believing that it is that ineffective.

CH-250
CC-3.0
FC-2.0
pH-7.4
Alk-130

My water is perfectly clear... I have been trying to keep the Cl level from raising too high since this is what caused the terrible staining at the beginning of the year. I really do not want to do another Vitamin C treatment and knock the water out of whack for who knows how long again. I'm also afraid to shock the pool for fear that the stains will become darker.

I have almost come to the realization that I will have to live with these stains until the end of the season...when I can do another Vitamin C treatment before pumping most of the water out for winterization. Of course, this is probably another bad idea.

Any help would be appreciated.
 
The Metal Free product is a Natural Chemistry brand product...believe it or not, the ingredients are not listed as far as I can tell. I have seen on some other threads that it is based on something other than what is in the Jack's Magic solutions, but I don't know what that is.

Are there any sequestering products that you have found effective?
 
I have a pool with a fiberglass liner and we have to use well water, so lot's of staining issues. What I have found to be effective is keeping the pH on the low side (7.2) and making sure the sequestratant is added in sufficient quantities. Additionally, you need to make chemical changes "SLOWLY". 1ppm chlorine at a time. If you search the form with key word "metal" you will find lot's of help.
 
Thanks. I will try to find these forums
Do you ever "shock" your pool then? I have not done it in a while because my pool has been holding the chlorine and no algae is forming, but I have always tried to do it once every other week in the past.
 
fedman said:
I will do my best to stay on top of it then. Just hoping to make it until the end of the swim season when I will be removing about half of the water. Hoping for few metal issues next year.
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Metal Free doesn't work. Been there, done that...twice. I switched to Jacks Pink at the advise of many and it worked perfectly. It's been months and the stain has not returned. I am even backing off the weekly treatments to every other week with the Pink Stuff and still no stain. By the fall I hope to be off the Jacks completely. Try it.
 
I have purchased the Pink Stuff from Amazon and will be using this when I return from vacation. Did the Pink Stuff remove the stains or just keep them from reforming? I may need to do an acid wash before adding the Pink Stuff if it is not effective in removing newly formed stains. Thanks.
 

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fedman said:
I have purchased the Pink Stuff from Amazon and will be using this when I return from vacation. Did the Pink Stuff remove the stains or just keep them from reforming? I may need to do an acid wash before adding the Pink Stuff if it is not effective in removing newly formed stains. Thanks.
Click to expand...

Although Jacks claims that the Pink will actually remove stains over time, you would want to do an ascorbic acid treatment before the initial dose.
 
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