Just found this site- lots of great info. New to pools, so i'm going to read through the site this weekend. Tired of pool stores, and want to learn to do everything myself. Is the L-ascorbic acid found at PC NetworRx OK? I really dont know the difference between it and the Ester ascorbic acid. Have any of you guys used this product from there? Also, when I add the ascorbic acid, will it turn water milky? Thanks in advance.
Welcome to TFP!
Yes, PC NetworRx ascorbic acid is fine, as are many other sources.
The ester forms are oil soluble instead of water soluble, and should be avoided for pool use.
Water does not turn milky when you add ascorbic acid (except perhaps for a moment before the powder dissolves). However, once the AA starts removing metals from the pool surface the metals can react with any sequestrant in the water and cause temporary clouding (typically a day or two).
Yes, PC NetworRx ascorbic acid is fine, as are many other sources.
The ester forms are oil soluble instead of water soluble, and should be avoided for pool use.
Water does not turn milky when you add ascorbic acid (except perhaps for a moment before the powder dissolves). However, once the AA starts removing metals from the pool surface the metals can react with any sequestrant in the water and cause temporary clouding (typically a day or two).
Just want to make sure I understand this. The ascorbic acid will cause release of iron from plaster into water. A sequestering agent will keep it suspended in the water, but when that agent gets low the pool will start to stain again? once the iron is suspended in the water is there a way to get it out. I have well water running through a water softener. ( other than draining and refilling with trucked in city water - sounds pricey)
Yes, you have it right. The only reliable way to completely remove iron from the water is to replace water with some iron free water.
right now, the iron reading of the water is 0. If the stain comes up and is sequestered in the water will i be able to get an iron reading ( or will the sequestering agent prevent a test from seeing the iron). once the iron is in the water could i have culligan filter the water with some other device other than a softener?
Most of the iron tests will work even with sequestrant present, but not all of them.
Water softeners are only so so at filtering out iron, and really aren't designed to process the amount of water you need to process.
Water softeners are only so so at filtering out iron, and really aren't designed to process the amount of water you need to process.
amberjack said:
I have the same problem and had the same question about using a softener to remove the iron from the pool water. I had a Culligan rep come to the house today and we spent about 2 hours discussing options. He says the normal softener is limited to an iron content in the incoming water of about 3 ppm mainly because of the increased regeneration requirements. With higher iron concentrations (3 ppm or greater) the unit needs to be regenerated about every two or three days and that is cost prohibitive in a residential application. However, in a temporary application, such as my swimming pool, that can be over come by the use of multiple softener tanks.
His proposal was to deliver several regenerated softener vessels (maybe 6 - 8) and I would switch vessels as they become depleted. The actual number will depend on the final iron content and I don't know what that is yet - and I don't have a price either. The normal flow rate though each vessel is about 7 gpm so in my case it may take about a month to get the iron concentration to the non detectable level.
So, other option is to just continue adding something like " metal free " on a routine basis to keep the current iron suspended. Would I eventually be able to shock the pool?
----Start refilling with iron free water to prevent the need for even more Sequestering agent.
Any idea who I could call or how much it would cost to have city water trucked in--- any suggestions there. I'm afraid to drain the pool too far, I live in panama city,fl. On a canal ( high water table).
. You know, well water sucks! I have great house water coming out of my kinectico softener ( I use this the fill the pool) but my irrigation turns my plants, house, pool deck, ect brown with rust. ......had to get that out of my system-- felt good
----Start refilling with iron free water to prevent the need for even more Sequestering agent.
Any idea who I could call or how much it would cost to have city water trucked in--- any suggestions there. I'm afraid to drain the pool too far, I live in panama city,fl. On a canal ( high water table).
. You know, well water sucks! I have great house water coming out of my kinectico softener ( I use this the fill the pool) but my irrigation turns my plants, house, pool deck, ect brown with rust. ......had to get that out of my system-- felt good
OK- added 2 lbs of ascorbic acid for 20,000 gal. after 30 min- nothing. added another 2 lbs. not sure if its working. How much can you add ( and over what period of time ) without dropping pH low enough to cause damage?
I also have 4 lbs of Suncoast Iron and Cobalt stain remover. can I add that in with the ascorbic acid?
how soon after ascorbic acid do I have to put in sequestering agent- is 10 hours later to long to wait?
The goal is to wait until the stain goes away and then add sequestrant. In some cases it takes up to 24 hours for the stain to fully go away. In any case you are fine waiting 10 hours, even if you didn't have to.
How quickly do I raise the chlorine. I have a 20,000 gal salt water gunite pool- how much chlorine should I add at one time?
You want to raise the FC level by about 1 ppm per day. Keep in mind that doing this may well involve adding a lot more chlorine than that during the first day or two. The idea is to never add more than enough chlorine to reach your temporary target level, but then wait a hour (or more) and repeat as many times as needed until you actually reach your temporary target level.
There will be a large initial chlorine demand (due to the ascorbic acid). But you don't want to add too much chlorine at one time least you risk raising the FC level too quickly and causing the stains to reappear.
There will be a large initial chlorine demand (due to the ascorbic acid). But you don't want to add too much chlorine at one time least you risk raising the FC level too quickly and causing the stains to reappear.