Recently, we moved to a new home and brought along with us our spa and our AGP equipment. We trashed our old pool walls and liner, and bought new walls and liner to use with our old equipment at the new house. We've been busy setting both the spa and the new pool up, and not everything has gone smoothly as another recent thread of mine details. When we filled the spa the first time, it was right after a heavy rain (4 inches fell in an hour) and the freshly filled water in the spa looked filthy. We were not sure what was causing the dirty water, and decided to check in with our city water department in the morning for advice. Rather than drain the dirty water, we thought we'd leave it in the tub overnight incase the city wanted to see it or test it. Well, the next morning the spa was crystal clear with no sign of any discoloration in the spa. I took a peek at the filter and found it to be rusty orange colored. After cleaning the filter we've had no more trace of what we now believed to be an obvious iron precipitate, and we've been able to enjoy our tub.
The next week we finally were able to finish filling our pool. Since we'd had so much trouble getting the liner to stretch in properly, the pool had spent a good week or so with a foot of stagnant water in it. That water got pretty skanky over that week, so I was anxious to get some bleach into the water right away. I figured I should go to a full shock level on the chlorine and carefully calculated my dose and added it. Within moments, the pool water turned an ugly, rusty orange. It was then that it dawned on me that I was dealing with a metal precipitate, most likely from iron in the municipal water. Sure enough, a few phone calls confirmed that our city has high iron levels naturally in the water. The addition of the chlorine caused a reaction that formed iron oxide in the water (basically, rust). Well, I wasn't worried as the spa filter had cleaned up the iron right away, so I was confidant that our trusty sand filter would do the same thing.
Boy, was I wrong! The next day the water was just as ugly as it had been the evening before, and the sand filter appeared to have done nothing to remove the precipitate. Now, almost a week later, the water is still ugly orange/brown and I can only barely make out the bottom of the pool. I have used 2 quart bottles of Jack's Magic: The Magenta Stuff, and 1 quart of a metal sequestrant the pool store sold me. At $30 to $40 per bottle, I've got $100 into chemicals so far to correct the problem, but they have done nothing that I can see. I keep thinking about how the spa filter made short work out of clearing away the precipitate in the spa. And I'm starting to think that it might make sense for us to buy a new DE or Cartridge filter to deal with the problem for us in the pool. Remember, this is our municipal water supply that has such a heavy iron load. That is going to be our source water for our pool as long as we live in this house, and we intend to live here for a very long time.
So I am looking for advice on 2 points please:
As always, I appreciate any and all advice!
Leanne
The next week we finally were able to finish filling our pool. Since we'd had so much trouble getting the liner to stretch in properly, the pool had spent a good week or so with a foot of stagnant water in it. That water got pretty skanky over that week, so I was anxious to get some bleach into the water right away. I figured I should go to a full shock level on the chlorine and carefully calculated my dose and added it. Within moments, the pool water turned an ugly, rusty orange. It was then that it dawned on me that I was dealing with a metal precipitate, most likely from iron in the municipal water. Sure enough, a few phone calls confirmed that our city has high iron levels naturally in the water. The addition of the chlorine caused a reaction that formed iron oxide in the water (basically, rust). Well, I wasn't worried as the spa filter had cleaned up the iron right away, so I was confidant that our trusty sand filter would do the same thing.
Boy, was I wrong! The next day the water was just as ugly as it had been the evening before, and the sand filter appeared to have done nothing to remove the precipitate. Now, almost a week later, the water is still ugly orange/brown and I can only barely make out the bottom of the pool. I have used 2 quart bottles of Jack's Magic: The Magenta Stuff, and 1 quart of a metal sequestrant the pool store sold me. At $30 to $40 per bottle, I've got $100 into chemicals so far to correct the problem, but they have done nothing that I can see. I keep thinking about how the spa filter made short work out of clearing away the precipitate in the spa. And I'm starting to think that it might make sense for us to buy a new DE or Cartridge filter to deal with the problem for us in the pool. Remember, this is our municipal water supply that has such a heavy iron load. That is going to be our source water for our pool as long as we live in this house, and we intend to live here for a very long time.
So I am looking for advice on 2 points please:
- 1
Does a new filter make sense? And if so, should we go DE or Cartridge?
- 2 If a new filter isn't the answer to our problem, then what else can I be doing to clear up my pool?
As always, I appreciate any and all advice!
Leanne
Sounds like a lot of work 
