brown tinted water

[Ovadyah]

Hi guys,

I'm a little clueless, so go easy on me.
This is my 3rd year as a pool owner, I was always testing with strips. Last year I got a Taylor kit but didn't really understand it well. So I figured this year I'll get the ColorQ 2056 by LaMotte as it seemed idiot proof. Guess I'm wrong.

My pool water has a brown tint and seems to be staining the white areas. I figured it's metals but don't want to be wrong.

I have a vinyl pool 16 x 32.
I believe it's about 22,000 gallons.
Here are the results from the ColorQ.

FCL - 0.20
TCL - 5.82
PH - LO
ALK - 8
CH - 89
CYA - HI

I have no idea what this means.
I read pool school, but these types of numbers seem different.

Help a guy out?

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Which Taylor kit did you get? Can you go back to it....cause that ColorQ isn't serving your purposes well at all if you can't understand the results.

"Hi' and "Lo" aren't good enough results to act on.

 

[Ovadyah]

It's the K-2006. But it's from last year. From what I understand the reagents have to be replaced annually, right?

Maybe I'm an idiot but I also didn't understand the Taylor results very well.

 

[Ovadyah]

Whoops double post

 

[Ovadyah]

Tested with the Taylor kit.

I needed 13 drops of R-0006 to get to 7.0. The Taylor table only goes to 10 drops so I'm literally off the charts. I guess I need about 8 or 9 pounds soda ash. Do I add it to the skimmer or directly into the water? Would this be a reason for the brown staining?

TA results from Taylor kit - 30 PPM

Calcium hardness -140 PPM

 

[Ovadyah]

Tested with the Taylor kit.

I needed 13 drops of R-0006 to get to 7.0. The Taylor table only goes to 10 drops so I'm literally off the charts. I guess I need about 8 or 9 pounds soda ash. Do I add it to the skimmer or directly into the water? Would this be a reason for the brown staining?

TA results from Taylor kit - 30 PPM

Calcium hardness -140 PPM

 

[Ovadyah]

I read on these forums to try to hold a chlorine puck against the stains. It didn't do anything at all. I tried the Vitamin C tablets in sock method and that worked like magic. Whitened whatever it touched. So now I know it's metals, probably iron. I guess a metal treatment is the next step.