4th attempt

[WantaSwim]

Hello all
i am new to pools and this one came with the house and i am not sure of its maintenance history. It is 10 years old, fibreglass, 20,000 gal, cartridge filter. The heat pump has been removed - it had a leak and likely the source of copper. The house water is from a well and has been tested showing no copper The pool water has .4 ppm copper, .1 Iron - according to the store and they cannot test for Maganiez The pool is stained brownish. It was advised by the manufacturer to add 10lbs of cytric acid - amazingly we had a new pool in hours. Then the fun started. We added sequestering agent and within days clouding started, we added and agent to the filter to clear it and this did not do much but eventually it cleared up. We then started to add chlorine- slowly and within days the staining started to come back.
we have now been through this process using different products and following posts on this website and drained off 1/4 of the water, cleaning filters etc but without success. Using the last sequestering product the instructions said to shock to engage the chelating - we now have a green pool and the stain has reappeared worse then before. The though was perhaps the algicide HTH Algi gard 10 that was put in on the last round was a contributor but the manufacturer said there is no copper in it

we are planning to use citric acid, dump another 1/4 of the water, add a Culator pack Shop - CuLator Metal Eliminator and Stain Preventer for Pools and Spas. to grab the metal, get the ph back up, then add chlorine and hope for the best. I see the hardness is low, phosphates high and will need to tackle that
thoughts or suggestions would be helpful

fc 0
ph 7.4
TA 159
Cal 104
cya 90
phosphates 3200
copper 0.4ppm
iron 0.1

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

Citric acid and ascorbic acid treat iron stains, not copper. You have iron stains.

Heat pumps don’t contain copper. The heat exchangers in gas heaters have copper.

You may have copper in the pool water from use of copper based algaecides. Or from using chlorine products that say “blue” and contain copper.

The only way to get rid of copper in the pool water is to drain the pool and refill with metal free water which is difficult to safely do with a fiberglass pool.

Our iron stain removal process is Ascorbic Acid Treatment - Further Reading Stains return if you raise pH and add chlorine too quickly.

Copper in Pool Water - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Your CH is fine for a FG pool and phosphates do not matter if you maintain proper FC level.

Phosphate Removers - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

What test kit do you use?

 

[WantaSwim]

Welcome to TFP.

Citric acid and ascorbic acid treat iron stains, not copper. You have iron stains.

Heat pumps don’t contain copper. The heat exchangers in gas heaters have copper.

You may have copper in the pool water from use of copper based algaecides. Or from using chlorine products that say “blue” and contain copper.

The only way to get rid of copper in the pool water is to drain the pool and refill with metal free water which is difficult to safely do with a fiberglass pool.

Our iron stain removal process is Ascorbic Acid Treatment - Further Reading Stains return if you raise pH and add chlorine too quickly.

Copper in Pool Water - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Your CH is fine for a FG pool and phosphates do not matter if you maintain proper FC level.

Phosphate Removers - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

What test kit do you use?

thanks for the info. The test from the store, 2 of the, showed only 0.1 of iron and .04 of copper. I can only add that After the metal dropped back onto the fibreglass the reading also dropped but only the copper from .04 to .03, also that there is a fitting on the old heat pump that is leaking Hayword that looks like copper… the pump has been isolated

Taylor k20005c

 

[ajw22]

That fitting looks iron. Copper does not rust like that.

When iron is deposited on surfaces as stains it no longer is in the water and shows in the water test. You have .1 ppm of iron in the water and more on the pool surfaces.

 

[WantaSwim]

thanks for the help, we are at the end of our rope….
I should clarify that before the chlorine was added, and while the stain was lifted, the ppm of iron did not change. Also we did check the tap water and it was clean of iron and copper, we are also pumping pool water from a dump pump through a RV cartridge filter in hope for it to clear and filters have been cleaned regularly
Regardless, you have stated the only way to get the iron out is to lift it then dump the water and refill. This will be a challenge with the fibreglass pool cracking etc but could possible do 1/4 at a time x4 and dilute

 

[ajw22]

Look at our No Drain Water Exchange in Draining - Further Reading

 

[WantaSwim]

10lbs citric acid today and will brace and drain down tomorrow
90% of stains have lifted, ph down to 6.4, fc .1, copper .2, iron .2

 

[WantaSwim]

although we have added citric acid to the water for 30hr and it has worked well, we still have this discolouration and can see that below the water line it is a lighter colour. We have tried citric in a sock and Ascorbic acid and it has not worked
any thoughts ? we don’t have access to Jacks stuff

 

[WantaSwim]

although we have added citric acid to the water for 30hr and it has worked well, we still have this discolouration and can see that below the water line it is a lighter colour. We have tried citric in a sock and Ascorbic acid and it has not worked
any thoughts ? we don’t have access to Jacks stuff

 

[ajw22]

The fading below the water line could be a gel coat problem with your FG pool.

@Texas Splash may have ideas.

 

[Texas Splash]

Looks like your gelcoat has oxidized a bit resulting in that chalky white color below the waterline. No much you can do with it really.

 

[WantaSwim]

The fading below the water line could be a gel coat problem with your FG pool.

@Texas Splash may have ideas.

thanks Allan, I will try some cut wax and see how that dose.

 

[WantaSwim]

Thanks Pat, i gave it a good try but not much luck. The good thinks is the pool is now filled with fresh water (5 trucks) and it did not collapse
The current levels are
FC 0
CC 0
PH 7.2
TA 30
CH 30
CYA 0
I assume the plan of attack would be to bring up the Cya and Fc. Going forward I will be using liquid chlorine but I do have 2 buckets of bioguard pucks that says 65% trychloro-s-triazinetrone and i have another bucket of IPG chlorine gran calcium hypochlorite.

Can i use either of them to bring up both CYA and FC?
Should I try and return them to the store?
I know the TFP is not supporting pucks due to CYA levels but how do you manage the pool when away for a week or two ?

 

[mknauss]

bioguard pucks that says 65% trychloro-s-triazinetrone

What are the other ingredients? Trichlor should be 99%. Be ware of 'other' ingredients.
Use a floater with some trichlor pucks (plain ones) when going to be away for several days. Test CYA when you return.

The Cal Hypo you can use as your fill water was really low in CH.

 

[WantaSwim]

thanks
unfortunately there is nothing on the web or the container of what the other ingredients are….

 

[mknauss]

thanks
unfortunately there is nothing on the web or the container of what the other ingredients are….

I would not use those. Return them or sell them.