Help with plaster staining ?

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Cuzmail

Cuzmail

0
Aug 15, 2016
25
Needville area of Texas
About to pull what is left of my hair out. I've read many TFP threads on staining and it appears there are varying opinions on what to do for each poster. I would like to see the pros thoughts on what to do before wasting more money and time.

Last October we had the plaster acid washed because of of a reddish brown staining and a dark grey/black streaking. Acid washing cleaned the plaster to a like new look. We had a long reddish brown streak during refilling the pool where the water hose was located. Muriatic acid easily removed the streak where it was above the filling water level. It did nothing below the water level since it was diluted by the water.

We are on well water that is high in iron. We have to have a pump injecting chlorine into the tank when the pump runs. Without the injector, the water initially has a metallic smell and then it turns to a rotten egg smell. Our plumbing has a the same reddish brown discoloration inside the pipes. We also have a whole house filter treating the water being fed to the house. The pool is filled with filtered water, but even then the water isn't completely "clean". You don't want to see our water filter after a few weeks!

After the acid wash and refill we converted to the TFP chemical method. Slowly the staining and streaks returned. Now we have multiple large areas of reddish brown staining and the streaking has returned.

Testing results from yesterday
FC 6.5
CC 0
PH 7.2
TA 90
CH 300
CYA 30
Temp 95
Borates 60
CSI -0.18
 
Not to sound like "Capt. Obvious" but your description makes it pretty clear that you have really bad well water. Sounds like it is both high in iron as well as possible iron sulfide / hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg odor) content.

From the standpoint of your pool, there's not much you can do besides using trucked in water that is treated and filtered (i.e., not just a truck pulling water from a local well) and then keeping your pH low and using lots of sequestrant to hold any low level iron in solution. Problem is, iron really likes to react with chlorine and get oxidized to its insoluble ferric form (Fe3+). So staining will be an issue.

Folks here on TFP have had good success using Metal Magic to both remove stains AND sequester iron. In some areas it runs about $14/quart and can typically require as much as a quart per week depending on how quickly staining reoccurs.
 
pooldv said:
Or you can just swim in a brown pool. :)
Click to expand...

Ha! That's the frustrating part, the water is beautiful after it clears up. It sill looks just like it did in my profile pic.
Maybe I can paint the plaster a darker color instead of bright white and at least camouflage the stains.

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JoyfulNoise said:
Not to sound like "Capt. Obvious" but your description makes it pretty clear that you have really bad well water.
Click to expand...

No argument here! I tried to give enough info to show the well water was bad. That's the problem.
Hoping to get a fix for the symptoms (staining and streaking).
 
Cuzmail said:
Ha! That's the frustrating part, the water is beautiful after it clears up. It sill looks just like it did in my profile pic.
Maybe I can paint the plaster a darker color instead of bright white and at least camouflage the stains.

- - - Updated - - -



No argument here! I tried to give enough info to show the well water was bad. That's the problem.
Hoping to get a fix for the symptoms (staining and streaking).
Click to expand...

Try ProTeam Metal Magic. It should lift the stains and then sequester the iron.
 
Cuzmail said:
Any suggestions where to buy it in bulk?
Looks like I will need about 4-5 bottles for the initial treatment and then another bottle each month for maintenance.
Click to expand...

I PM'd a forum Member that has recently switched to MM and uses it quite heavily in his vinyl liner pool due to some excessive iron staining. Hopefully he can answer your supplier question...
 
Oh heck, I just noticed your pool is 50k gallons. That is awesome and terrible all at the same time. One other thing to do is everytime the water turns brown put polyfill pillow stuffing in the skimmer baskets and anywhere else you can. It will grab iron out of the water. You can also make a 5gallon bucket filter with a submersible pump to help out.

I wouldn't paint it, that doesn't work that well. But next time you replaster I'd definitely use a darker plaster.
 
Cuzmail said:
Any suggestions where to buy it in bulk?
Looks like I will need about 4-5 bottles for the initial treatment and then another bottle each month for maintenance.
Click to expand...

Hey there. JoyfulNoise hit me up on PM.

The best price I have found is on Amazon Prime. It's actually sold by PoolGeek.com but you can get a case of 12 for around $14.50 a bottle. And because I use Amazon Prime, shipping is free. They deliver it in around 3 days instead of the usual 2 days with Amazon Prime.

Proteam Metal Magic (1 qt) (12 Pack) Amazon.com : Proteam Metal Magic (1 qt) (12 Pack) : Patio, Lawn Garden

05a66adc2bef06ceb5e47c6ddcc42962.jpg
 
pooldv said:
One other thing to do is everytime the water turns brown put polyfill pillow stuffing in the skimmer baskets and anywhere else you can. It will grab iron out of the water. You can also make a 5gallon bucket filter with a submersible pump to help out.
Click to expand...

Thanks, that's good info. The water is only brown when filling the pool. Hopefully, I won't have to do a refill again.

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Thanks! Small world. I have been following your thread to see the outcome. Did Metal Magic work for you?
I already had a case of 12 in my Pool Geek shopping cart! I'm not a Prime member, but it is $188.40 directly from them with free shipping. I was only waiting to see if anyone could recommend a better deal.

carlos31820 said:
Hey there. JoyfulNoise hit me up on PM.

The best price I have found is on Amazon Prime. It's actually sold by PoolGeek.com but you can get a case of 12 for around $14.50 a bottle. And because I use Amazon Prime, shipping is free. They deliver it in around 3 days instead of the usual 2 days with Amazon Prime.

Proteam Metal Magic (1 qt) (12 Pack) Amazon.com : Proteam Metal Magic (1 qt) (12 Pack) : Patio, Lawn Garden

05a66adc2bef06ceb5e47c6ddcc42962.jpg
Click to expand...
 

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Cuzmail, from your description I'm guessing your well has an even higher ppm iron than mine, plus maganese, which account for the smell and the black staining you reference (iron and maganese tend to go together in a high iron well.)

While Metal Magic is usually the best "two in one" style treatment and in this case absolutely necessary for sequestering, if you have high maganese you ay need to use more than average as its difficult to control.

I fill my pool from softened water, which gets my iron down from 2 at the well to .5 ppm. But last year I added a 10" Pentek filter housing with a reducer filter, 25 micron to 1 micron, and have been able to get the pool fill water down to around .3ppm, which is just borderline staining and needs less sequestrant.

The filter will not necessarily get all the extra iron as much is soluable, but IME, it helps.

There are also greensand filters that might do a marginally better job if the manganese is high but I've not used them to date.

Lastly, if MM doesn't entirely lift the stain, the is a tool to do an underwater acid wash that I've seen reports of success with. Here's a link for future reference if needed ;)

https://www.amazon.com/Purity-Kit-Underwater-Acid-Wash/dp/B00BF2WMIA
 
Swampwoman said:
Cuzmail, from your description I'm guessing your well has an even higher ppm iron than mine, plus maganese, which account for the smell and the black staining you reference (iron and maganese tend to go together in a high iron well.)
While Metal Magic is usually the best "two in one" style treatment and in this case absolutely necessary for sequestering, if you have high maganese you ay need to use more than average as its difficult to control.
I fill my pool from softened water, which gets my iron down from 2 at the well to .5 ppm. But last year I added a 10" Pentek filter housing with a reducer filter, 25 micron to 1 micron, and have been able to get the pool fill water down to around .3ppm, which is just borderline staining and needs less sequestrant.
The filter will not necessarily get all the extra iron as much is soluable, but IME, it helps.
There are also greensand filters that might do a marginally better job if the manganese is high but I've not used them to date.
Lastly, if MM doesn't entirely lift the stain, the is a tool to do an underwater acid wash that I've seen reports of success with. Here's a link for future reference if needed ;)
https://www.amazon.com/Purity-Kit-Underwater-Acid-Wash/dp/B00BF2WMIA
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info.
I have the Spot Out smaller version of the underwater acid wash tool. It works, but it's real slow and doesn't hold much acid and it uses a lot of acid. I can only assume it's due to the dilution with pool water.
I wonder how the larger tube fed version works. I don't mind spending the $$ if it works. Anyone have experience with it?
 
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