Brown Stains on Fiberglass Pool coated with Ecobrite
- Thread starter otter86753
- Start date
Any fertilizer spread in the area that may have blown in the pool?
Get a small bag of calcium hypochlorite (commonly packaged as "shock") and apply a small amount to the spots. They may disappear. Just add the rest to the pool, don't save it or mix it with anything, that would be extremely hazardous. Be sure it is cal-hypo and not sodium-dichlor, which is also packaged as shock. Several of the fiberglass pools I used to service would get these spots on occasion and the cal-hypo would remove them. Though it seems strange, the stain is likely coming from behind the surface.
If its warm enough to get in the pool try a Vitamin C tablet (the chewable tablets, not the gummies) and rub against the stain.
Does that change anything?
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Does that change anything?
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Thank you all for your replies! No fertilizer in the area and we have a 25' wall on one side, 12' walls on two sides and the house on the fourth side so blow in could occur, but would be unlikely.
While not warm enough to get into the pool, it is on a sunshelf so only about 18" below the surface. I can brave that and see what happens.
While not warm enough to get into the pool, it is on a sunshelf so only about 18" below the surface. I can brave that and see what happens.
- Jun 22, 2014
- 52,087
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
Based on the time frame this happened and the proximity of the seating area to what appears to be some trees nearby (shadows), I'm also wondering if those are some type of tannin stains. If the Vitamin C test doesn't do anything, you may just need to increase the FC level a bit more for a few days and brush regularly.
The side wall closest (~8') to this is covered in fig ivy and the only tree close WAS (RIP
) a 55' tall washingtonia palm that was removed 1st week of June 2021. There are spanish bayonets (planted by previous owner...who wants a plant with spikes around a pool ) near by as well but I think only the berries of the palms contain tannins. There is a Canary Island Date Palm on the other side of the pool from where the staning it. There are native palmetto palms in the garden next door that do hang over the wall a tiny bit. Where these berries fall into the pool there is no staining. Further afield, there is a sycamore and a dutch elm and the leaves of these do occasionally make their way into the pool, but are usually removed within a day or two of falling into the pool.
I check the FC about once a week in the winter and it get to 4 or so and then I bump it to 10 for the week. I have brushed when the FC is at 10 and nothing is removed. I will report back after I try the Vitamin C, CalHypo, to see if it is cobalt staining and I need to see if Magic Jacks is the next step. I am headed out of town tomorrow so this will have to wait until next week.
) a 55' tall washingtonia palm that was removed 1st week of June 2021. There are spanish bayonets (planted by previous owner...who wants a plant with spikes around a pool ) near by as well but I think only the berries of the palms contain tannins. There is a Canary Island Date Palm on the other side of the pool from where the staning it. There are native palmetto palms in the garden next door that do hang over the wall a tiny bit. Where these berries fall into the pool there is no staining. Further afield, there is a sycamore and a dutch elm and the leaves of these do occasionally make their way into the pool, but are usually removed within a day or two of falling into the pool.I check the FC about once a week in the winter and it get to 4 or so and then I bump it to 10 for the week. I have brushed when the FC is at 10 and nothing is removed. I will report back after I try the Vitamin C, CalHypo, to see if it is cobalt staining and I need to see if Magic Jacks is the next step. I am headed out of town tomorrow so this will have to wait until next week.
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Update: Good/bad news. The Vitamin C tablet when rubbed on made the stains disappear almost immediately (I got creative so as not to stick my arm in the 45 degree water and used a pair of tongs and a long latex kitchen glove!). The pool was refilled with city water and has been topped off with our well water (we use the well for yard irrigation and to top off the pool but not in the house). I've only topped off the pool with water from the well since 2013 and never had an issue with any kinds of metals as I had the water tested when we bought the house and there was no metal at all in it. I will take a sample to Leslie's tomorrow to get it tested for metals to see if something has changed. The stain occurred while we were out of town so I don't know if the house sitter left something metal on the ledge or not. I'll have more intel after the water test.
Thank you again for your help.
Thank you again for your help.
- Jun 22, 2014
- 52,087
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
Well, the Vitamin C confirms it - iron. I suspect over time your well's iron content level slowly increased the iron level enough to cause the staining. Some things to keep in mind:
- Iron generally doesn't leave the water unless you exchange water with fresh water. However some people have had success using polyfill in their skimmer to try and remover iron. That is usually best done when the iron is precipitating out of the water solution.
- You could use a sequestrant to keep the iron in soluble form, but that's a band-aid fix.
- Watch your pH and try to keep it under 7.6 or so. An elevated pH tends to aggravate iron.
- An elevated FC level can also aggravate iron, but you also have to keep algae away.
- If the staining is just in a few places, you can continue spot treatments. If the staining is wide-spread, you may want to consider an Ascorbic Acid treatment.
Ideally, if water isn't too expensive, and/or you get a lot of rain, I would try to exchange some water .... carefully and over time since you have a FG pool and can't just lower the water too much at one time.
- Iron generally doesn't leave the water unless you exchange water with fresh water. However some people have had success using polyfill in their skimmer to try and remover iron. That is usually best done when the iron is precipitating out of the water solution.
- You could use a sequestrant to keep the iron in soluble form, but that's a band-aid fix.
- Watch your pH and try to keep it under 7.6 or so. An elevated pH tends to aggravate iron.
- An elevated FC level can also aggravate iron, but you also have to keep algae away.
- If the staining is just in a few places, you can continue spot treatments. If the staining is wide-spread, you may want to consider an Ascorbic Acid treatment.
Ideally, if water isn't too expensive, and/or you get a lot of rain, I would try to exchange some water .... carefully and over time since you have a FG pool and can't just lower the water too much at one time.
Had both pool water and well water sample tested as Leslie's:
Pool water: Iron .1 ppm, Copper .1 ppm
Well water: Iron 1.0 ppm, Copper .2 ppm.
The pool was refilled in May 2021 with City of Charleston municipal water after it was resurfaced. We get a fair amount of rain in Charleston, so I haven't put a lot of well water in the pool. I am going to do another set of tests after letting the well water run for a few minutes to see if that makes any difference. In retrospect, I realized I noticed a metallic smell when I first run water out of the well that started in the past 6-9 months. At this point, I will only top off the pool with my city water.
Side bar: I haven't had water tested at Leslies in several years and the last time I did, they were still using reagents instead of machine analysis that they did today. The set up for reagent testing was not in evidence on the counter. The clerk who told me she was filling in from another store, told me about phosphates etc. She also laid this tidbit on me, "Water in South Carolina can still grow algae in water temps as low as 20 degrees". I smiled politely when she told me all the magic potions I needed and walked out with my metal test results.
Pool water: Iron .1 ppm, Copper .1 ppm
Well water: Iron 1.0 ppm, Copper .2 ppm.
The pool was refilled in May 2021 with City of Charleston municipal water after it was resurfaced. We get a fair amount of rain in Charleston, so I haven't put a lot of well water in the pool. I am going to do another set of tests after letting the well water run for a few minutes to see if that makes any difference. In retrospect, I realized I noticed a metallic smell when I first run water out of the well that started in the past 6-9 months. At this point, I will only top off the pool with my city water.
Side bar: I haven't had water tested at Leslies in several years and the last time I did, they were still using reagents instead of machine analysis that they did today. The set up for reagent testing was not in evidence on the counter. The clerk who told me she was filling in from another store, told me about phosphates etc. She also laid this tidbit on me, "Water in South Carolina can still grow algae in water temps as low as 20 degrees". I smiled politely when she told me all the magic potions I needed and walked out with my metal test results.
- Jun 22, 2014
- 52,087
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
It's a good thing you smiled and walked away. Crazy stuff. Pool store testing for metals is not much different from regular testing in that it can vary. I'm a bit surprised to see them show such a high copper level from the well. Avoid copper at all costs if possible. There's no chance of filtering copper and the staining is much harder to remove.
I've never used anything but TFP testing and maintenance method since we bought the house in 2013. I've never bought anything other than a hose or part that I needed quickly from Leslie's and never put any of their potions in the water.