Pool Stains treated with Vitamin C... Chlorine gone!

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Evydes819

0
Jul 14, 2013
14
Staten Island, New York
Background... Opened my pool and it looked great... Shocked it and all was good except for low ph and low alkalinity. At the suggestion of pool store added ph+ and a cup of alkalinity increase. Right after that it rained and rained and rained. Chlorine was off everyday because of the rain and PH never increased... So my husband was adding Ph everyday and he had the chlorinator on full. I was away with my kids. When I came home I had what I thought was an algae problem. So I shocked again and scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed (everyday for a week) and the stains never lifted. I went to 3 different pool stores for water testing. One said everything was good except low chlorine and to continue to shock and the stain would go away ( wont go back there ever again). Went to a second pool store that tested water electronically. They said I had copper in the pool, good ph. 7.4, cya was 150, and low chlorine.

Third pool store tested and did all the testing in front of me and told me low chlorine, high CYA like over 200 NO Copper, super high ph 8.0+. They tested for phosphates and I am loaded with phosphates.

I have purchased over 100 dollars in pool chemicals in the last week. After reading posts and watching YouTube I learned about the vitamin c test. The stains lifted immediately so I literally bought all the vitamin c I could find and cleaned the entire stain. I THINK I OVERDOSED ON ASCOBIC ACID! Now my pool won't hold chlorine.

It looks like all my levels are now low.... Latest reading from 3 minutes ago today is ( using test strips)

Ph- 6.5
FC- 0 to 0.5
Alkalinity - 40-50 range
Stabilizer - between the 30-50 range and 100

Now what do I do? The third pool store sold me phosfree... And told me to use it at night.

Thank you for your help!
 
Welcome to the forum!

As you can see from your three different stores, three different results, we don't trust pool store testing at all. You really have to get your own test kit to understand what's going on with your pool.

Chlorine oxidizes ascorbic acid, so you are correct that the FC is probably down to zero because of that. This is a normal part of the process. However, the rest of your numbers are so far around the map, I'm really not sure where to start, and I'm leery of giving any advice because I don't know what's right and what's not.
 
Vitamin C and chlorine destroy each other, so losing all your chlorine after using vitamin C is completely normal.

You should take a look at this topic for a discussion of how to do an ascorbic acid/vitamin C treatment. There are several things you need to do carefully to proceed from where you are. Most importantly you need to add chlorine very slowly at this point or the stains will simply come back. You will also want to use sequestrant.

You could also save your self a lot of trouble and money if you stop listening to those pool stores, got yourself a top quality test kit and did some reading in Pool School. Treating phosphates is almost entirely a waste of time and money, great for the pool store, not so great for you.
 
I read the whole thread... It's been 24 hours. There is a gallon of algaecide in the pool already because I tried treating the stain other ways this week. So I can begin bringing my ph back up and alkalinity today. Then add bleach. How much at a time for my pool size would be considered slow. Do I take out my 3" tablets from the pool while doing this? I'm going to order one of the test kits it will take a few days to get here I am sure.

I'm thinking I should have taken chemistry in college! LOL!
 
You will want to take those tablets out pretty much forever, if your CYA is really over 100 you will be needing to do some water replacement. Someone else will have to chime in as to what order to do everything but reliable test results are a must, and thus doing your own testing with one of those kits.

Don't worry, I wasn't too great at chemistry, but pool chemistry isn't too difficult. If things ever get too deep we have Chem Geek to explain the heavier stuff, and he is pretty good at it as well (I assume he, never really asked).
 

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I have ordered my test kit (didn't get it yet) so have been relying on the test strips to tell me if there is any chlorine in the pool . I've been adding A gallon of bleach every few hours yesterday and one this morning. I came home from work to 0 FC. I added a gallon of bleach How long does ascorbic acid stay in the pool? And should I be adding more bleach at closer intervals.... Should I run my filter 24 hours? Should I slam my pool? I read the thread above the only thing I did to was add a sequestrant because I don't think my stain was metal - as per my pool store testing above. Their diagnosis was phosphates and nitrates. I read another thread that ascorbic acid lowers cya. Mine is what I think is under 100 by my test strips ( I know they are unreliable). But I'm at their mercy right now. I did get my ph up to 7 by adding 2 boxes of borax. And my alkalinity is about 100 as well.
 
Frustrated Pool Owner!

Topics merged so we can see the complete history. Bama

Hi Everyone,

I am beyond frustrated. I did a Vitamin C treatment on my pool - to remove stains that were organic in nature (all tests said no metals). I was told my pool was high in Nitrates and Phosphates. I was sold PhosFree - but am afraid to use it after reading this site so much. I am also cross eyed now! LOL My problem is that I cannot keep a chlorine level.

I've read Pool School. 2 - 3 Times already, looked at the Chlorine/CYA Chart, and Read every post I could find about ascorbic acid treatment.

I keep adding gallons of bleach to my pool only an hour later - 0 FC. I am beyond tired - of adding bleach, keeping the filter on, brushing my pool to mix in the bleach (isn't that what the filter is for?). I don't know if I am just not adding enough bleach. Surprising enough - with all the tests of 0FC - My water is still crystal clear - with no algae visible. I'm afraid of getting any stains - so I try to bring chlorine level up slowly as per the ascorbic acid post on this site - but I don't know if I am doing that correctly - how slowly is slowly - and how much do i add. a gallon every 30 minutes until I get to my recommended FC? which I really don't know what that is because of unreliable testing. Anyone in Staten Island that has a kit I can borrow? :-D


I haven't quite figured out the Pool Calculator - and am afraid to follow it because I don't have a reliable test kit and I know pool stores are all wrong. I am still waiting for my test kit from Amazon that is recommended by this site.

So what do I do????

:hammer:

I keep adding gallons of bleach to my pool only an hour later - 0 FC. I am beyond tired - of adding bleach, keeping the filter on, brushing my pool to mix in the bleach, adding borax to get ph up.

Please tell me this gets easier!!!
 
Evydes819 said:
If draining is not an option right now. What do I do?
Click to expand...
Stock up on chlorine. If your CYA is 200 you need a minimum of 15 FC at all times. Is there any way you can start changing some, like maybe 5-10% a day? Any drain and refill will help bring it down to something managable over time.
 
I'm just hoping its not much higher than 200 my kit only registers to 100. So I did the 50/50 tap/pool water x2...

My dad has used th same chlorine for years (the pool is 14-15 years old... 3"pucks. (I now own the home) And he never had this problem or just never realized. I had to drain 50% of my water 2 years ago. For same reason of not getting a chlorine reading. I just don't it.

I basically have to add 4 bottles of bleach per day? Or continually check the chlorine morning noon and night and adjust each time. Water is clear... Should I slam the pool? I feel bad my kids haven't been able to use the pool because I am afraid they may get sick.
 
If you don't drain then yes, you need to add however much bleach a day as it takes to keep it above 15. Probably add enough to get to 23 every night so you don't have to watch it all day. You also aren't going to be able to get a decent reading on your pH when the level is above 10. You really should SLAM it too since your FC was at zero, shock level is 41.

Right now there is an easy way and a hard way, and believe it or not the easy way is to drain 75% of your water. The good news is that after you do it, as long as you keep track of what you put in your pool and watch your CYA levels then you should never have to do something that significant again.
 
Quick update: Tired of dealing with super high CYA - it was 200+. Began Draining pool yesterday --- had to do 1/2 and then almost 1/2 again. Refilling as we speak. Question of the day is... Do I have to make sure my PH and CYA are good before slamming? or do I start Slamming? Heading over to Pool School now to read about the SLAMming process.
 

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