At wit's end, help! With stains and pool chemicals!

[chem geek]

I cleaned steps and ladder with united chem pool stain treat (oxalic acid, 5 lbs) and it worked. Didn't have time to do the rest of pool so hired pool company to "clean my pool". They dumped 6 lbs of oxalic acid and left me a bigger mess. I had a heavy white residue in the bottom of my pool which took me forever to filter out.

See this post for an example of adding oxalic acid to a pool with calcium in it. It results in calcium oxalate powder. It also apparently can interfere with the CYA test causing a falsely higher reading.

While oxalic acid is a reducing agent and also lowers the pH, we recommend using ascorbic acid even though it is more expensive because it does not have the precipitating side effects. You can buy ascorbic acid at PC Networx for $7.50 per pound for 5 pounds (it's also at The Chemistry Store for $11 per pound for 9 pounds so a lot more expensive). Note that the chlorine will react with the ascorbic acid so to avoid wasting money you'll want to get your chlorine level down towards zero first. To help prevent algae growth, you can add Polyquat 60 where if you add a full start-up dose it should lower your chlorine level as well. After the ascorbic acid has removed the stains you can replace some of the water to lower the CYA level and before you refill you would use a metal sequestrant if the fill water has metals. You only slowly bring your pH back up after you've added the metal sequestrant. See Metals in the Water and Metal Stains for more details.

 

[Katydid]

Testing with TFT-100
pH=7.5
TA=100
CH=220
CYA=40 (this IS my first time to do this test and I do have powerful bifocals--I first called it 50, but since it didn't take any more to keep adding to the testtube, I raised it to 40.) I could very,very faintly see the black eyeball staring back at me. At 30 I definitely could not see it. Directions said to read the closest graduation mark. I definitely DON'T have 112 CYA.
I have a question about the FAS/DPD test. I had a very faint pink and one drop turned it clear. So I recorded my FC as 0.5. By the time I got the other reagent, it had turned faint pink again. So I added another drop and called it FC= 1.0. On the CC, one drop turned it clear, but every 15-30 seconds it turns back pink and one drop would turn it clear. I have added 8 drops and the solution is definitely pink again.
HERE'S THE QUESTION: for future reference, do I stop with the first drop that turns it clear? Or do I keep going until after sitting it does not turn pink again?
At this point, I don't know if I want to even fool with getting rid of the stain. I thought I would list what chemicals I have on hand. I know I need to shock, but will wait until I hear from some of you about the stains.
I have about 6 lbs oxalic acid, 2 qts ProTeam Metal Magic, 1 qt ProTeam Polyquat 60, plenty of baking soda, some muriatic acid, bleach, and a $45 qt of seaKlear Phosphate remover (I would like to take back if I am not going to use it). Please let me hear from some of you faithful friends. (this is much better than Facebook which I do not like to use!) THANKS!!!!

 

[kizerman]

I battled iron stains for a while until I used this link to the proper way to do the ascorbic acid treatment.
ascorbic-treatment-to-rid-pool-of-metal-stains-t2298.html

It will work and is quite easy. I tried it a couple of times and had the stain return until I went on the advice of others and used Jacks Pink Stuff as a sequestering agent. It has worked perfectly. You will have to continue using the Jacks Pink weekly for quite a while until spash out and evaporation removes enough of the iron from your pool but the Jacks is not real expensive for weekly treatments and it is worth it.

2lbs of ascorbic acid should run you about $40 and Jacks Pink Stuff can be found online for about $20/ 32oz bottle. You will need at least 1 full bottle for the initial treatment and probably around 10oz of it for weekly treatments.

 

[linen]

Good news on the cya, I am glad you waited with the drain/refill, since you don't need it.

I have a question about the FAS/DPD test. I had a very faint pink and one drop turned it clear. So I recorded my FC as 0.5. By the time I got the other reagent, it had turned faint pink again. So I added another drop and called it FC= 1.0. On the CC, one drop turned it clear, but every 15-30 seconds it turns back pink and one drop would turn it clear. I have added 8 drops and the solution is definitely pink again.
HERE'S THE QUESTION: for future reference, do I stop with the first drop that turns it clear? Or do I keep going until after sitting it does not turn pink again?

If you wait it will always turn back to pink, so you need to keep moving on the test. For FC you add drops until you add a drop and you see no more change, then subtract that drop from your total. So for a FC of 0.5, you should have added 2 drops with the last drop not making any change. You then need to move (within a few seconds) to the CC test, after adding the R-0003 move reasonably quick through the same process again. And you are done...no waiting around...since if you let solution sit, it will eventually turn pink again.

I know I need to shock, but will wait until I hear from some of you about the stains.

I am not sure you need to shock...how does your water look?

I have about 6 lbs oxalic acid, 2 qts ProTeam Metal Magic, 1 qt ProTeam Polyquat 60, plenty of baking soda, some muriatic acid, bleach, and a $45 qt of seaKlear Phosphate remover (I would like to take back if I am not going to use it). Please let me hear from some of you faithful friends. (this is much better than Facebook which I do not like to use!) THANKS!!!!

As you have read, we don't recommend using the oxalic acid, use ascorbic instead. I would return the phosphate remover.

 

[Leebo]

If your CYA level at this point is between 30-50....you're 100% in a great place to start. Your numbers really don't look that bad, with the exception of the FC levels. I read Chem Geeks post on having a low FC mark....so I'd go with that to start, as honestly I know nothing about stains. Just about shocking the pool. I would suggest however a dose of PolyQuat 60 until you can start the shock process. Try to keep the pool as clear as you can.

As for your question on FC.....
Once the water is clear, the test is done. If you let the water sit a few seconds (such as to take the lid off the R-0003 bottle) it will turn back to pink. Don't worry about this. I find myself uncapping the bottles before I start the test helps rid myself of this problem. In your case the FC and the CC level is 0.5. This video will show you just what the water should look like once the test is finished.
FAS/DPD Test for the TF-100

How does the water look? Return the phosphate remover if you can.....no need for it.

 

[Katydid]

I have ordered the ascorbic acid. My water is clear, looks good actually. I will do the acid treatment as posted on forum, but will add the polyquat60 tomorrow. I will probably use the ProTeam Metal Magic since I already have it and it is one of the recommended ones to use. I will slowly raise the pH and chlorine so the metal will not reattach to the liner. By the time I get to this last step, I am sure I will have more questions....thanks again for the clearer instructions on the chlorine test. I had watched the video a couple of times but it made it clearer after reading linen's explanation. Third time's a charm.
The only thing wrong with the test kit is there is no place to record results. What do the rest of you do? Am I missing something?

 

[Leebo]

Some of the older cases had a spot for test results on it....but I never used mine. I alway's just write them down on my phone, and then type them into a spreadsheet I've got on the computer. Do a quick search on here I know there's several floating around.

 

[Katydid]

I will retract my statement. My water is not clear. It is bluish-white and cloudy. We had a storm late yesterday and about one-half inch of rain. I really want to add chlorine but can I get away with just the polyquat60? Don't know when my AAcid will come.