Possible Copper Staining, PLEASE HELP

[BlueMan]

Hello everyone, I've been lurking TFP for about a year now and 99 times out of 100 I find my answers without ever needing to create an account. I hate to have my first post be a "HELP ME" post but I just can't figure this one out. Alas, here I am.

I have a small in ground plaster spa. It has a salt system (archaic one at that). Literally over the course of a 2 week period it went from being totally fine to being almost completely stained blue (walls AND floor). Maybe coincidentally, but maybe not, at the same time the salt system started to NOT generate chlorine anymore.

I personally tested the following:
All chlorines: 0
PH: 7.6
TA: 80
CYA: 60
Salt: 3700
Phosphates: 100

Then I brought a water sample to the nearest Leslie's today and they checked everything they could, they were conveniently out of the solution to test copper/metals. They came up with the same exact results as myself and said it's most likely copper staining and that I could correct the problem with a partial bottle of Stain & Scale2. But my dilemma is this: The copper staining had to have come from somewhere (definitely not from an algaecide seeing as how I've NEVER put any in the spa) that I don't have any control over. So even if the Stain & Scale2 works over the 3 week period it says it will, eventually the staining will come back, right? I mean it's only logical that eventually the Stain & Scale2 will no longer exist in the water and that copper staining will find it's way back again.

Any help whatsoever would be greatly appreciated. Maybe some of you have a better understanding of what's going on. Maybe the inoperable salt system DOES have something to do with it. Maybe I'm just crazy? haha

 

[zea3]

Hi welcome to TFP! Copper can also come from old copper pipes and copper heat exchangers. Can you tell us about the age of the spa and the heating system?

 

[Bama Rambler]

Can you get a water report from your local water department? That will let you know if it came from there.

 

[Butterfly]

Has the pH been low, perhaps below 7 ?

Welcome to the forum

 

[BlueMan]

No, the pH has never been that low, it has always been maintained at or around 7.6.

Yes, there is copper piping on the equipment (heater) as to how it is being introduced to the water.

All the equipment is old, I know a complete overhaul of everything is coming eventually. But what I don't understand is how it went from totally fine to completely blue in the matter of 2 weeks.

 

[Swampwoman]

I personally tested the following:
All chlorines: 0

I guess my question is, have you attempted to test to see if there's any chance it's an organic stain? Eg. water can sometimes get a magnesium-colored (blackish/purplish blue) form of bacteria. What happens if you apply some dry acid or puck in a sock against it?

Alternately, have there been any untoward electrical events that could have causes both the frying of the salt generator AND some kind of electrolytic/oxidation of copper??? (I know, for example, you can create colloidal suspended particles of metals by introducing a low electrical current into solution...so in theory, this electrolysis is possible I believe -- but could be crackpot...)

You can buy stain test kits from Jack's Magic online or at a dealer if you want to figure out definitively what kind of stain it is, and then proceed from there with treatment according to your findings. Can you post a picture to otherwise help confirm what it might be?

 

[duraleigh]

Until the stain is correctly identified , we are all only guessing as to what it might be, what caused it, or how to solve it.

A picture might be of some help but I think a stain ID kit is in the future.

You can hold a tri-chlor puck onto the stain for a minute or so and see if it lightens or removes it to determine if the stain is organic.