Definitive Iron thread

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astronaut888

astronaut888

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Jun 7, 2013
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southeast
Having trouble locating a definitive "iron staining" treatment thread or area on "pool school"
I have diagnosed the yellow staining on my pool steps as iron and am looking to treat and have found several threads addressing this in a number of different fashions.
Any guidance to an appropriate thread would be much appreciated.

FC 7
CC zero (!)
CYA 40
TA 50
pH 7.2
Temp ?

Really hoping that I don't have to get my FC to zero to effectively treat (!)
Can't really think of how Iron is in my pool to begin with?
 
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quick snaps before the sun even was up this morning - yes, pretty much isolated to the steps - a bit on the flat surface of the skimmer but not too bad

added a pack of "Emergen - C" vit C powder (the little packs for mixing into a glass of water) and it went away almost immediately

16622822644_ca625459d3.jpg

So, just from that I'd imagine it is iron yeah?
 
I had a similar problem where just the steps and skimmers were affected. Rather than dose my whole pool, I just used the vitamin C tabs in a sock and scrubbed the steps and skimmers clean. Your FC may lower so keep an eye on it if you go this route first.

Have you had any unusual pH swings lately?
 
MarianParoo said:
I had a similar problem where just the steps and skimmers were affected. Rather than dose my whole pool, I just used the vitamin C tabs in a sock and scrubbed the steps and skimmers clean. Your FC may lower so keep an eye on it if you go this route first.

Have you had any unusual pH swings lately?
Click to expand...

no pH swings that I am aware of

I keep the pool up and clean all winter here in S Carolina to make easier at the start of the season, however, over the winter I certainly test much more infrequently
At the start of the season a few weeks ago I hit it w/ a larger dose of bleach upon going out of town for a couple of days b/c the weather temp spiked for a few days - just kind of blindly got some bleach in there to help prevent a bloom -
Measured and was at like 11 or 12 ppm chlorine w/ a CYA of 40

Allowed to get back down to the normal range prior to daily adjustments and that took a couple of weeks
pH was steady around 7.5-7.8 at that time.

I feel the staining was noticed after hitting with that large bolus of chlorine but really can't remember if it was there prior to that or not

Have heard that Metal Magic may be the way to go if I am not keen on getting my FC to "zero" - and, I'm certainly not keen on that idea b/c since liner replacement last spring I have had ZERO CC and ZERO concerns w/ algae and CERTAINLY don't want to tempt fate (!)

Still reading up on the link Richard320 provided - so, may discover that Metal Magic is not the preferred method.

Pool store told me on phone that they feel that is what I'd be looking for and that it would be it's own sequestrant - I'm not so sure until I do some of my own recon on the issue.
 
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One bottle of metal magic (quart)
added over steps then brushed vigorously
The top 2 steps cleared up within a couple of hours - then, the next day checked it out and all look great.

Only used half of the recommended dose (quart per 10,000 gallons) in my 20k gallon pool and seemed to do the trick

Added when the FC was right at 3 and pH was somewhere above 7.2

Added in the evening and the next day we saw no sunshine / rained all day - so, waited until the next evening (about 30 hours after application) to take the FC back up to around 6.

That was 3 days ago.

We will see how it goes from here.

Never saw any cloudiness in the water as many had noted in various reviews of the product that I read online.

Hopefully it stays nice -

Anyone here suggest a maintenance dosing of metal magic - or, should I just "wait and see"??
 

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Greetings. I have good luck with Metal Magic too.

If one dose cleared your steps, then I would try half their recommended "low" monthly dose, eg. Just 3 oz instead of six. Just add more/adjust if stainng comes back.

Thanks for the suggestion - will certainly give that a try!
Going to check online - This was one of those RARE "pool store" visits - didn't have a single one last year after obtaining my CYA early in the season ;)
Will likely look into ordering product online - as it was pretty expensive at pool place
 
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