First of all, I’m so appreciative of a forum to run to! Thank you! I’m very much a novice at pools. Here’s the scoop, and I’ll try to give a simple play by play which leads me to where we are today.
We bought our new home in the winter. We were told that the pool hadn’t been opened in over two years. The pool is approximately 8.6k gallons, in-ground, fiberglass, salt water system.
About two weeks ago, opened to an almost black pool. Could only see about 4-6 inches deep under the surface. This wasn’t surprising after the info we had been told. I didn’t bother with a sample, and went to Leslie’s and described what we were facing. I was advised to throw in 4lbs of shock, and filter and “I should be good”. The next 24-48 hours showed almost no signs of improvement. I consulted the inspector that inspected the pool when we bought the house. He advised me to Floc and vacuum to waste drain. I did this, and it was a drastic improvement. Flipped on the pump and hoped for the best.
I took a sample to Leslie’s, and they tested levels. He told me I needed 4 more pounds of shock, 5 bags of salt, and a bottle of PhosFree. I held off on the salt as I had some at home. I shocked the pool, and it gradually turned orange/brown.
Long story short here: I had since opened the lines to the heater, and was later told that metals from the heater had circulated into the pool and the shock had oxidized the metals. I took a sample back to Leslie’s and he said there was copper in the pool. I bought MetalFree, and dumped it in the pool.
No changes after putting in the metal free, I still had a orange pool. I went to another pool store, and that was when the bad filter was diagnosed. I knew it was probably bad, I just didn’t know how bad. I came home, sprayed down the filter, and then added in a filteraid I bought from the second pool store. The next day there was a drastic improvement.
We were still having discoloration issues, but the water was very clear. The second pool store said staining was likely from my pictures I had taken them. They sold me yet another product for staining after doing a vitamin C test. All levels they checked were good. The bottle of stain remover literally did almost nothing, so I asked if I could just crush up Vitamin C tablets to save money, and they said that would work. That was the best that the pool ever looked, areas of the pool’s fiberglass were gleaming white, water was clear, we swam and had a blast. The next day I added all the salt into the pool.
A few days later, the water began turning back to a green hue. We also noticed that the pool was “restaining” worse than it was before, especially where I had taken Vitamin C tablets to tougher areas - they are now stained worse!
I talked to the guy that inspected the pool when we were buying the house, he advised me to get a 7lb bag of baking soda and circulate, and get my own testing supplies, and worry more about pH than anything. He also advised to put some algaecide in as well.
That’s where we are today - I’m really frustrated. The pool is covered in the home warranty, but I don’t know if “staining” will be covered. The salt cell was checked and in working order, and I had some chlorine tabs in the skimmer basket also to help bring up the levels when I added salt. They’ve been gone for a few days.
We bought our new home in the winter. We were told that the pool hadn’t been opened in over two years. The pool is approximately 8.6k gallons, in-ground, fiberglass, salt water system.
About two weeks ago, opened to an almost black pool. Could only see about 4-6 inches deep under the surface. This wasn’t surprising after the info we had been told. I didn’t bother with a sample, and went to Leslie’s and described what we were facing. I was advised to throw in 4lbs of shock, and filter and “I should be good”. The next 24-48 hours showed almost no signs of improvement. I consulted the inspector that inspected the pool when we bought the house. He advised me to Floc and vacuum to waste drain. I did this, and it was a drastic improvement. Flipped on the pump and hoped for the best.
I took a sample to Leslie’s, and they tested levels. He told me I needed 4 more pounds of shock, 5 bags of salt, and a bottle of PhosFree. I held off on the salt as I had some at home. I shocked the pool, and it gradually turned orange/brown.
Long story short here: I had since opened the lines to the heater, and was later told that metals from the heater had circulated into the pool and the shock had oxidized the metals. I took a sample back to Leslie’s and he said there was copper in the pool. I bought MetalFree, and dumped it in the pool.
No changes after putting in the metal free, I still had a orange pool. I went to another pool store, and that was when the bad filter was diagnosed. I knew it was probably bad, I just didn’t know how bad. I came home, sprayed down the filter, and then added in a filteraid I bought from the second pool store. The next day there was a drastic improvement.
We were still having discoloration issues, but the water was very clear. The second pool store said staining was likely from my pictures I had taken them. They sold me yet another product for staining after doing a vitamin C test. All levels they checked were good. The bottle of stain remover literally did almost nothing, so I asked if I could just crush up Vitamin C tablets to save money, and they said that would work. That was the best that the pool ever looked, areas of the pool’s fiberglass were gleaming white, water was clear, we swam and had a blast. The next day I added all the salt into the pool.
A few days later, the water began turning back to a green hue. We also noticed that the pool was “restaining” worse than it was before, especially where I had taken Vitamin C tablets to tougher areas - they are now stained worse!
I talked to the guy that inspected the pool when we were buying the house, he advised me to get a 7lb bag of baking soda and circulate, and get my own testing supplies, and worry more about pH than anything. He also advised to put some algaecide in as well.
That’s where we are today - I’m really frustrated. The pool is covered in the home warranty, but I don’t know if “staining” will be covered. The salt cell was checked and in working order, and I had some chlorine tabs in the skimmer basket also to help bring up the levels when I added salt. They’ve been gone for a few days.
