Stains on Fiberglass vs. Patience

[akenis]

Good Morning....

My fiberglass pool has a general "dulling" of the surface in some areas. Looking closley, some areas are "streaked". Several months after installed I noticed it, the manufacturer came out w/ Jack's Magic #1 and Purple Stuf, and it was like new again. I did not maintain the Purple Stuff levels since then.

For the last year or so, it's been comming back and getting progressively worse. I bought another round of Jack's about 5 days ago, disconnected my SWG and waited for my FC to drop. Yesterday afternoon I dropped 2lb of Jacks and a qt of the Purple stuff. It wasn't magic. Wile waiting for the magic I dropped in a 40 lb bag of salt thinking that wouldn't effect anything? I thought I could see a difference, but the streaking was still evident. 12 hrs later I added another pt of Purple stuff and checked the PH @7.2. Added a bit more acid, so it's about 7.0 now. I also removed my filter cartridge thinking I don't want anything filtered out now that should be in the water. About 20 hrs later it looks a little better, but still no magic. I can still see the streaking brown spots. I kept the bottle from before and it's interesting that the instructions changed. It used to say wait 24 hrs. Now it says wait 48 hrs, or untill stain disappears.

1. Did adding salt affect anything? Was at 2000
2. Is Jacks #1 about the same as the ascorbic treatment mentioned here?
3. Jacks doesn't mention leaving PH low. Should I try to keep it @ 7.0?
4. Should I add more Jacks and/or seq. agent to speed up the process?
5. Is it a good idea to leave the filter cart out untill all the iron is in the water? Does the cart filter Jacks #1, agent or just agent that's combined with iron. If the later, I guess I should leave the filter in.


Thanks for any and all suggestions.... I really was looking for some magic here.

Andrew

 

[akenis]

Update:

PH had actually creeped up a bit to 7.2. More acid brought it back down to 7.0 or less. Added another lb of Jacks Stain #1 and some more purple stuff to sequester.

In the mean time, I did the Vitiman C tablet test. 4 pills crushed in a sock and rubbed in an area.... cleaned up beautifully. Other areas where acorns had fallen, and left dark brown blotches cleaned up nicely with the chlorine stick as suggested.

So it's been more than 2 days since the initial Jack's application. Almost a day since the additional dossage, and it definitely looks better, but still noticeable. I've got to get the chem back in line and can't wait anymore. I'm guessing the Ascorbic acid treatment would have been much more effective and quicker.....and CHEAPER!!!!!!

Still looking for any answers from the first post...

Andrew

 

[JasonLion]

The salt should not have had any effect.

Jacks #1 is not ascorbic acid, though it works in a related way.

Yes, you need to keep PH at 7.2 or lower till the stain lifts if you want it to work.

More is supposed to help but if it isn't working very well it may continue not working very well.

You should leave the filter in. Mostly the metals will just go into the water and be held there by the sequestrant. Some very small portion might get filtered out.

 

[Guest]

The salt should not have had any effect.

Jacks #1 is not ascorbic acid, though it works in a related way.

Jack's magic #1, according to the MDSD is 100% a non hazardous propriatary formula. Since it works on iron, and cobalt it is either ascorbic acid or oxalic acid. Since oxalic acid is toxic AND corrosive if ingested, inhaled, or absorbed through the skin in dry form and ascorbic acid is not (it's another name for vitamin c) I would make an educated guess that it IS just ascorbic acid but I have no actual proof of this. However the MSDS for Jack's #1 and for ascorbic acid are strikingly similar!

See further discussion of what is in Jack's #1. JasonLion

FYI, United Chemical's Pool Stain Treat (and a few other of their products) are Oxalic acid. (It seems that a good many of the different products made by United Chemical are either Sodium Bromide or Oxalic acid with different packaging and names!) NaturalChemisty's StainFree is Ascorbic acid.

Don't you just LOVE these product companies!?