I moved into a house in the fall almost 5 years ago that has a gunite pool with fiberglass walls. I treated the pool with Baquacil for the first year but with the help of everyone on this form I did a chlorine conversion at the start of the second year. It has worked out great and I'm extremely happy with the BBB method. I have learned a ton about my pool and I learn more every time I come back. Keeping my pool balanced has become quite easy and that has in turn significantly reduced the time needed to keep the pool clean. I'm ready to tackle some of the other more complex issues that have been lingering with the pool.
When I moved in the pool had already been closed. I opened it in the spring and found a large amount of leaves covering the floor in the deep end of the pool. After cleaning up the leaves and water there was a light yellow/brown stain on the plaster where the leaves had been. I didn't do anything with it the first year and it didn't seem to change at all. After finding this forum at the start of year 2 and reading all I could, assumed that it was an organic stain and that keeping the chlorine up and regular scrubbing of the stains that they would clear. No such luck, though, the stain remained and may have become a slightly darker yellow/brown. I also noticed a few other small spots appear in other areas of the pool. They were only about 6" around and a light yellow color. Last year the staining continued to worsen and additional spots and some streaking appeared. At this point the original staining remains (might be a bit darker color than before) and I have many other small - medium sized spots throughout the rest of the pool. The plaster rises about 12" into the fiberglass walls and there is streaking all along the plaster portion of the walls. There are also large streaks along the decline from the shallow end to the deep end and the plaster portion of the deep end walls. There are spots and streaks all over the pool and it makes the otherwise clean pool look dirty. I know it isn't dirty but it certainly looks like it is.
I've read a ton of posts here and since last year I have tried a variety of things to remove the stains. After the chlorine/regular scrubbing didn't work, I tried a chlorine puck on the stains but, as expected, that didn't have an impact. I then tried a Vitamin C tablet and that didn't do anything either. This year, though, I tried the chlorine puck and Vitamin C tablet again and the Vitamin C definitely made a difference. I put the tablet on the stain and within a few minutes the stain began to darken. It didn't quite get black but it was definitely a dark brown/gray. Within about 20 minutes the color dissipated and the plaster looks clean where the tablet dissolved. I tried about 10 more tablets on different stains and all of them did the same thing. Based on that experience I assumed that I dealing with iron stains.
I purchased ascorbic acid and a bunch Proteam Metal Magic in order to do a treatment. In the meantime, I've been reading more and I'm not so sure about the AA treatment anymore. I've now read some posts that have said if a Vitamin C tablet turns a stain dark that it is probably copper instead of iron. If it were iron then it wouldn't get dark like that. I have also read lots of posts that say an AA treatment can make copper staining turn to a darker color with out removing them and that will make the stains look worse.
I don't know where the metal came from but I'm assuming that the metal was in the water when I purchased the house and the previous owner used a sequestrant to keep it from staining. Since I wasn't aware of that I never added any and there is no sequestrant left. Without the sequestrant the metal is free to stain. If it is copper, then I'm guessing that the previous owner either used a copper based algicide or they let the PH get out of balance and copper came from the heat exchange coil. If it is iron, then I'm not sure of the source. My water source doesn't contain any copper/iron.
At this point I'm not really sure how to proceed. Part of me wants to look at the results I got from the Vitamin C tablet and assume that the AA treatment is just a large scale version of that, so I should expect the same results at the larger scale. Another part of me looks at some of these posts about the AA treatment making copper stains worse and I should heed the advise of the experts here and not risk making the stains look worse.
If it is copper and I don't do the AA treatment then I'm only out the cost of the AA. I'll still be able to use the metal magic if I can get the stains lifted. I'm not sure anymore if it is copper, iron, or some mix or both. I also don't know if the type of metal is really relevant since I know that the Vitamin C tablet removed it. I know that in many cases copper staining isn't effected by AA, but obviously the tablet was able to lift the metal staining that I have. If that's the case, wouldn't an AA treatment do the same as the Vitamin C table, just on the scale of the entire pool? I know that I could drain and do an acid wash, but I don't really want to go down that path right now. Maybe at some point in the future but that is a huge hassle and would be quite expensive to refill and re-balance the water.
So what do I do now? Should I go ahead with the AA treatment or is it too risky? Is there something else that I can try to determine the type of metal (if it matters)? I had a copper test come back negative a year ago but it was done at a pool store so I don't know how reliable that was.
When I moved in the pool had already been closed. I opened it in the spring and found a large amount of leaves covering the floor in the deep end of the pool. After cleaning up the leaves and water there was a light yellow/brown stain on the plaster where the leaves had been. I didn't do anything with it the first year and it didn't seem to change at all. After finding this forum at the start of year 2 and reading all I could, assumed that it was an organic stain and that keeping the chlorine up and regular scrubbing of the stains that they would clear. No such luck, though, the stain remained and may have become a slightly darker yellow/brown. I also noticed a few other small spots appear in other areas of the pool. They were only about 6" around and a light yellow color. Last year the staining continued to worsen and additional spots and some streaking appeared. At this point the original staining remains (might be a bit darker color than before) and I have many other small - medium sized spots throughout the rest of the pool. The plaster rises about 12" into the fiberglass walls and there is streaking all along the plaster portion of the walls. There are also large streaks along the decline from the shallow end to the deep end and the plaster portion of the deep end walls. There are spots and streaks all over the pool and it makes the otherwise clean pool look dirty. I know it isn't dirty but it certainly looks like it is.
I've read a ton of posts here and since last year I have tried a variety of things to remove the stains. After the chlorine/regular scrubbing didn't work, I tried a chlorine puck on the stains but, as expected, that didn't have an impact. I then tried a Vitamin C tablet and that didn't do anything either. This year, though, I tried the chlorine puck and Vitamin C tablet again and the Vitamin C definitely made a difference. I put the tablet on the stain and within a few minutes the stain began to darken. It didn't quite get black but it was definitely a dark brown/gray. Within about 20 minutes the color dissipated and the plaster looks clean where the tablet dissolved. I tried about 10 more tablets on different stains and all of them did the same thing. Based on that experience I assumed that I dealing with iron stains.
I purchased ascorbic acid and a bunch Proteam Metal Magic in order to do a treatment. In the meantime, I've been reading more and I'm not so sure about the AA treatment anymore. I've now read some posts that have said if a Vitamin C tablet turns a stain dark that it is probably copper instead of iron. If it were iron then it wouldn't get dark like that. I have also read lots of posts that say an AA treatment can make copper staining turn to a darker color with out removing them and that will make the stains look worse.
I don't know where the metal came from but I'm assuming that the metal was in the water when I purchased the house and the previous owner used a sequestrant to keep it from staining. Since I wasn't aware of that I never added any and there is no sequestrant left. Without the sequestrant the metal is free to stain. If it is copper, then I'm guessing that the previous owner either used a copper based algicide or they let the PH get out of balance and copper came from the heat exchange coil. If it is iron, then I'm not sure of the source. My water source doesn't contain any copper/iron.
At this point I'm not really sure how to proceed. Part of me wants to look at the results I got from the Vitamin C tablet and assume that the AA treatment is just a large scale version of that, so I should expect the same results at the larger scale. Another part of me looks at some of these posts about the AA treatment making copper stains worse and I should heed the advise of the experts here and not risk making the stains look worse.
If it is copper and I don't do the AA treatment then I'm only out the cost of the AA. I'll still be able to use the metal magic if I can get the stains lifted. I'm not sure anymore if it is copper, iron, or some mix or both. I also don't know if the type of metal is really relevant since I know that the Vitamin C tablet removed it. I know that in many cases copper staining isn't effected by AA, but obviously the tablet was able to lift the metal staining that I have. If that's the case, wouldn't an AA treatment do the same as the Vitamin C table, just on the scale of the entire pool? I know that I could drain and do an acid wash, but I don't really want to go down that path right now. Maybe at some point in the future but that is a huge hassle and would be quite expensive to refill and re-balance the water.
So what do I do now? Should I go ahead with the AA treatment or is it too risky? Is there something else that I can try to determine the type of metal (if it matters)? I had a copper test come back negative a year ago but it was done at a pool store so I don't know how reliable that was.