New question about recurring "metal" staining

[mkmscr]

I am a new pool owner and I understand at times I will need to fill the pool. My concern is I live with a well system and we have high soluable iron in our water. We do have a softener in the house but should I take precautions when filling the pool? Perhaps additional testing or any additives to counter the metals should be added. We have a salt system on the pool. Many thanks to the folks here and this forum.

 

[duraleigh]

The best solution to your issue is to refill with your pool with that softened (iron removed) water. Continuing to do that will eventually result in your pool containing little or no iron.

Meanwhile, monitor your pH very carefully and never let it get much higher than say around 7.6. That should prevent any staining until your softener reduces the iron content.

Have you found "Pool School" in the upper right hand corner of the screen? Lot's of good stuff in there.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Just adding to what Dave said, if you have metals you may need to maintain a level of sequestrant until you can get the level of metals down.

 

[mkmscr]

Yes, I have found Pool School. The site is a great resource. All the chemistry to pool maintenance seems a bit overwhelming. I am assuming there is a test kit to measure metals in water, any kind recommended?

 

[JasonLion]

Taylor has some good metals tests, but they are somewhat expensive, for example the K-1716 iron test kit.

 

[mkmscr]

Once in awhile the well company comes out and they use a TDS meter. I wonder if that would work well for the pool. I believe it measures all disolvable solids such as iron.

 

[JasonLion]

TDS measurements are essentially useless for this use. They tell you the total, but they don't give any indication what specific compounds make up that total. In well water most of the dissolved solids are going to be things like calcium, which isn't usually a big deal. The calcium level will completely drown out the much lower level of iron, leaving you with no idea what the level you care about (iron) really is.