need to treat iron or copper? vit c tabs work. how do i know which metal?

[mark2013]

My water turns more green every time I add chlorine. My test actually turns bright pink then totally clear and then i ad about 5 drops reagent before it starts turning pink then it goes bright pink again and around 55 drops it starts clearing. Im reading that this is usually copper but maybe iron. I've had pool store test and they say I have 0 of each in pool. However I have stains that came off with vit c test. So do I need to get my own test kit for copper/iron? Does this sound like good plan? ... Drain as much water as I feel comfortable doing and then hit with blue and pink stuff. I bottle of each. OR. Do I try to determine if its iron or copper as main issue and treat for that metal type using 2 bottles of 1 metal type. If I drain 1/3 I'll be around 10k gallons. I was hoping there was a simple test I could do using household products to test for iron/copper

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Other thought was should I even drain to treat? I figure at this point some fresh water won't hurt but might be cheaper and easier to buy more bottle of majic instead.

 

[mark2013]

I may have answered my own question here...copper stains will NOT lift using vitamin c tabs. Is that correct? The stain lifted easily so its iron as my main problem. Then copper is causing the green when adding bleach

 

[Isaac-1]

The important question to ask here is where did these metals come from, is it in your fill water, or from from magic in a bottle pool care product (algaecide, etc.) or mineral system?

 

[JasonLion]

Copper is only occasionally removed by vitamin c. Copper stains come in several forms, only one of which can be treated with vitamin C.

As long as the vitamin c test works, the treatment is the same, so there is no real point in testing for copper/iron. Besides, they won't show up on the test if they are currently coloring the water.

 

[mark2013]

Awesome. Thank you very much. I suspected but was really hoping you all would confirm. The fill water surely has small amounts of iron that have accumulated but I think my real iron build up is from magnolia and maple leaves. I read that iron deficiency causes light yellow magnolia leaves. Mine are dark dark brown almost rust colored or black. They are always in pool. The tree needs cut down.

Update on pool...it rained today and the color shifted noticeably towards blue. I ordered three jacks pink. I am gonna try culater as well. But before I treat with pink I'm gonna let the chlorine levels keep falling. Should I drop my water level as low as I'm comfortable with before treating w/pink? The reason i am asking is i think I could at least get the water low enough to get top step to scrub with an acid treatment and wipe it up with cloth. And then I could hit the remaining water with the pinks treatment and fill from there. Is there a downside to this plan that I am not considering? I could go more extreme and get down to second step and get even more water out. I'm just not sure if I want as much water replaced as possible or if I was as much in there as possible when treating.....maybe it would be best to drain and fill the. Treat...I dunno. I am sure that the pinks will fix for now but I am thinking into the future for best results that will help me avoid this issue. I know the leaves are the culprit and I am home now to keep up with them.

 

[mark2013]

I dropped the water lvl to below 2nd step scrubbed the stairs returns and skimmer with diluted pinks and everything is bright white again. I repaired a hole in stairs where rust was entering water and repaired the skimmer basket where rust was entering pool.. Now leaks sealed and water level is back up. Water clarity is much better but its still not where it should be. I will get some new readings tomorrow.. Im in balance now except for chlorine is high not sure what fc but its over 10. I didnt test with dsd. my alkalinity test shifted from blue to green so the chlorine lvls have dropped significantly. Now it appears that I need to wait out and let it filter. Is there anything else I need to do? I could drop the water and fill again... In the meanwhile I'm researching a filter upgrade