New pool here, not real familiar with all the ins and outs, but have been lurking in the shadows here since I discovered TFP last fall and trying to learn. New fiberglass pool installed and opened late August 2023 and only had a short time to use it last summer. One thing I immediately noticed was a tanning around the entire pool below the waterline. I couldn't get any answers from anyone, dealer, pool store, etc. They all thought I was either delusional or sunlight was playing tricks on my vision. Pool shell is a light blue but below waterline it's a definite tan. I finally happened on a thread here at TFP that explained the iron staining and read all that I could find on it. We have red clay soil here and while they were building it there was dirty water in for several weeks. At opening they filtered, balanced and turned it over to me. If only I had known.
So, I did the AA treatment yesterday, followed the instructions to a T. I ended up using 2 pounds of AA, Jacks Purple, Polyquat 60, still a few rusty spots on the bottom that look like a piece of iron had laid there for a while, but the tanning disappeared and I am now in the process of bringing up the PH. I think I may have taken it too low to begin with (I got the Taylor 2006C Kit) but all seems fine so far. Since the PH test doesn't go below 7.0 I can only guess how low it went. Water is cloudy/milky as mentioned in some posts but yesterday it was sparkling clean and had never looked better.
My question is, when exactly do I put the polyfill in the skimmer basket to filter out the iron? Should I actually try to force the iron out of solution in order to capture it in the polyfill? Also, I put a solar cover on every night to preserve heat and chemistry and when I took it off this morning, the sides of the pool had once again taken on a tanning stain but a couple of hours later it seems to have disappeared again. Am I imagining that? My cover is clear, only slightly dirty from whatever falls in from the trees, bugs, frogs, salamanders, etc. What could possibly be going on?
So, I did the AA treatment yesterday, followed the instructions to a T. I ended up using 2 pounds of AA, Jacks Purple, Polyquat 60, still a few rusty spots on the bottom that look like a piece of iron had laid there for a while, but the tanning disappeared and I am now in the process of bringing up the PH. I think I may have taken it too low to begin with (I got the Taylor 2006C Kit) but all seems fine so far. Since the PH test doesn't go below 7.0 I can only guess how low it went. Water is cloudy/milky as mentioned in some posts but yesterday it was sparkling clean and had never looked better.
My question is, when exactly do I put the polyfill in the skimmer basket to filter out the iron? Should I actually try to force the iron out of solution in order to capture it in the polyfill? Also, I put a solar cover on every night to preserve heat and chemistry and when I took it off this morning, the sides of the pool had once again taken on a tanning stain but a couple of hours later it seems to have disappeared again. Am I imagining that? My cover is clear, only slightly dirty from whatever falls in from the trees, bugs, frogs, salamanders, etc. What could possibly be going on?
You can put some polyfill in the skimmer now if you want, although it may/may not actually collect anything if the iron is in a stable-soluble form. If you try to aggerivate the iron (high FC or pH) to enhance filtering, you run the risk of stains returning. As for the cover, I would leave it off for now until you get all the levels stabilized. Only then after you slowly increase the FC and get the pH back into the 7.2-7.8 range can you experiment with things one at a time to find out what works best for your pool based on the current iron content in the water.