How to add chlorine after AA treatment

[allhalekaren]

Hi, new pool owner here who has learned A LOT the last couple of weeks. Here are our basics: 32x16 20k or so gallon saltwater pool, in ground. We are on well water.

After hundreds of dollars and thousands of tears trying to treat staining, turn our water blue, etc, we have finally realized our well water has iron in it. Initially we had dark rusty stains that I treated with AA from Amazon. Cleared right up! What we didn't know was everything about AA treatments that I have now learned from this website. Shocked pool, pool turned green and stains came back, started treating it like an algae issue and shocked the heck out of it, nothing helped. Swamp water. FAST FORWARD I found this website and followed instructions to do AA treatment again.

First we neutralized all the chlorine, and rest of our chemicals were pretty balanced but we added polyquat 60 to help prevent algae while chlorine is low. Added 4 lbs of ascorbic acid yesterday morning at 5:30 am and by 5pm pool was BLUE BLUE hallelujah!!! Literally that morning could not see the bottom. We added Metal Out to pool and the metal culator to skimmer basket. So this morning I take a sample in (shown results below). Everything looks great, obviously low pH and chlorine. So we added 2 lbs of soda ash this afternoon to bring ph up to around 7.0, not trying to go higher for a while based on what I read here.

Our question now is HOW and WHEN do we reintroduce chlorine? We are traumatized from trying to before and it turning green again. We have a Hayward SWG with an Aquarite T9 turbo cell. Do we just turn our generator back on to a low setting? How long do we keep it low? Do we introduce liquid bleach to the pool? We have our baby shower Saturday and I would like it to be swimmable. I feel like it is swimmable now since mostly everything is in range. I'm not worried about dirty water since we had about 15 lbs of shock in there just a few days ago. Can anyone provide the POST AA treatment steps for reintroducing chlorine?


Dark green pool pic is from two days ago, before we neutralized chlorine. After neutralizing, it started to lighten and the next picture shows the 6am photo vs 5pm after adding AA. Then our test results this morning before adding soda ash.

 

[reggiehammond]

A great next step is to order a proper test kit. We can’t give information based on pool store results as they’re completely untrustworthy.

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome to TFP! Two big things you need right now:
1. A proper test kit. Either a TF-100 or Taylor K-2006C so that you have accurate real-time numbers. The pool store is doing you wrong and selling you junk you don't need. That's very common.
2. Follow the link below. It clearly outlines the AA process for you.

Consider those two items and let us know if you have any questions. Be sure to bookmark our Pool Care Basics as well.

Ascorbic Acid Treatment - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[allhalekaren]

After chlorine turned our pool green a couple times, and two unsuccessful AA treatments, I think we are further than we have gotten. We had previously tried the AA treatment for removing iron stains from our liner. But did not follow instructions clearly and shocked too early. Then Leslie's had us treating our pool for algae with a Crud ton of shock and their Green to Clean solution which just turned our pool into a swampy mess. ANYWAYS I found this site and thoroughly read up on the AA treatment how to. So last Tuesday we neutralized the chlorine in the pool, then added polyquat 60. Wednesday morning it had already lightened some and we added 4 lbs of AA to pool. By 5pm the pool was crystal blue and stains were gone. AMAZING.

So we added the metal out that evening, with a metal culator in skimmer. Pool was looking great, levels looked good. We brought pH up to about 7.2 after 24 hours. Added Orenda phosphate remover Friday morning because levels were at 4000 ppb. By Saturday pool had started to get cloudy and a turquoise color. Today it is very cloudy, can't see the bottom and definitely turning greener. We added more No Metal last night.

I guess we need help figuring out when we can add chlorine if we still have metals in the pool? We are scared to add chlorine too soon and oxidize the metals. Or does the Metal Out prevent that from happening? But now I think we are dealing with a slight algae issue. So I think we need to add ASAP.

Are we safe to start slowing adding bleach this evening? Will that interact with the suspended metals?

We have a 20k gallon saltwater pool.

FC: .15
CYA: 63
Ph: 7.4

Dark green picture is from last Tuesday. Next picture shows the time lapse between the AA treatment. Then what it looks like now.

 

[Texas Splash]

I guess we need help figuring out when we can add chlorine if we still have metals in the pool?

I see a couple things in your update that concern me:
1 - Yes, you should've started to slowly balance the pH and increase the FC once the stains were lifted. By waiting, especially with warmer water, you increase the potential for algae. At that point all bets are off - it's back to the drawing board.
2. The pool store has done you no favors. I hope you realize that now. But above you are showing test results that are not from what TFP would consider a reliable test kit. Those numbers could be way off, so no matter what you do it's not going to work. Accurate water testing is absolutely critical.

In the end, how the iron reacts depends on 3 basic factors: 1) - The amount of iron in the water; 2) - The chlorine level; 3) - The pH level.

With proper testing, you have control of 2 of those items. For the iron content, all you can do is try to filter out as much as you can with polyfill. The more you filter out to lower the iron content, the easier your water is to manage. Once the filtering has been exhausted, then you a sequestrant to keep the iron in a soluble state.

See this experience below.

From brown to 😍😍. Thank you polyfil!

We filled our pool from our well. We knew the risks and knew we would have a battle when the water was 12" deep as it looked green from the metals. Our fears were confirmed when we added chlorine and the water turned brown almost immediately. Enter 5 gallon polyfil filter. It worked...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[allhalekaren]

I see a couple things in your update that concern me:
1 - Yes, you should've started to slowly balance the pH and increase the FC once the stains were lifted. By waiting, especially with warmer water, you increase the potential for algae. At that point all bets are off - it's back to the drawing board.
2. The pool store has done you no favors. I hope you realize that now. But above you are showing test results that are not from what TFP would consider a reliable test kit. Those numbers could be way off, so no matter what you do it's not going to work. Accurate water testing is absolutely critical.

In the end, how the iron reacts depends on 3 basic factors: 1) - The amount of iron in the water; 2) - The chlorine level; 3) - The pH level.

With proper testing, you have control of 2 of those items. For the iron content, all you can do is try to filter out as much as you can with polyfill. The more you filter out to lower the iron content, the easier your water is to manage. Once the filtering has been exhausted, then you a sequestrant to keep the iron in a soluble state.

See this experience below.

From brown to 😍😍. Thank you polyfil!

We filled our pool from our well. We knew the risks and knew we would have a battle when the water was 12" deep as it looked green from the metals. Our fears were confirmed when we added chlorine and the water turned brown almost immediately. Enter 5 gallon polyfil filter. It worked...

www.troublefreepool.com

Without using polyfil, what of our current methods? The Metal Out and culator? Should that not have been removing some of the iron content over the last few days? Would you advise to start raising the chlorine tonight and seeing how the water reacts? Then potentially shocking? I am thinking we're seeing algae now based on some evidence sitting on skimmer

 

[Texas Splash]

The Metal Out and culator? Should that not have been removing some of the iron content over the last few days?

Metal out is not removing iron at all, it's just holding it in the water in suspension and it wears out. Like any sequestrant, it has to be replenished periodically. The Culator has mixed results by other members.

 

[allhalekaren]

Metal out is not removing iron at all, it's just holding it in the water in suspension and it wears out. Like any sequestrant, it has to be replenished periodically. The Culator has mixed results by other members.

I guess my question then is can I chlorinate like normal if we've added metal out recently? Is the point of the metal out to keep the metals suspended and from oxidizing in the water?

 

[Texas Splash]

can I chlorinate like normal if we've added metal out recently?

To a point, yes. With accurate testing, and depending on your iron level, you hope to be able to keep the FC within the ideal TFP range noted on the FC/CYA Levels. But if your iron level is high resulting in quick color changes, you may have to stay on the lower end and supplement with sequestrants. It's a very fine line for some pools that have too much iron. The more you can filter out the better.

 

[allhalekaren]

Our pool is now officially green again, I'm so ready to give up. We've started adding chlorine as of yesterday which puts us at one week from AA treatment. Considering it was green before adding chlorine I am leaning towards it being algae this time, but also since we had so much iron to begin with I am not sure if the metal out held it suspended in solution very long? We added the metal out last Wednesday and it stayed blue until Friday when it slowly started to change colors. We haven't had any particularly warm weather yet either, 50s in the evening and we've had one day in the 80s but it's been cloudy and rainy.

I've turned SWG back on to 30% and added 2 121oz containers of 7.1% bleach since yesterday. Chlorine seems to be holding on the low end, and I haven't noticed any change in water color. Before bringing to SLAM levels I did add some Polyfill to our skimmer this evening. I am going to give that a few days to see if we start to notice a color difference before trying to shock for algae, I REALLY want to avoid SLAMMING too soon after AA treatment and precipitating iron back onto our liner. Will keep the thread posted with updates.

 

[Deb04]

By the pic, that water looks cloudy, implying algae. Am I right that it's cloudy.

Have you ordered a TF-100 or a Taylor 2006-c test kit? Without one of those 2 test kits, we aren't going to be able to guide you because we won't have the info needed.

 

[allhalekaren]

By the pic, that water looks cloudy, implying algae. Am I right that it's cloudy.

Have you ordered a TF-100 or a Taylor 2006-c test kit? Without one of those 2 test kits, we aren't going to be able to guide you because we won't have the info needed.

Yes it's very cloudy but it became cloudy within 48 hours after the AA treatment. I have been told AA makes the water cloudy, plus we added phosphate remover which apparently adds to cloudiness as well. I don't doubt that there is algae at this point though since we went to long without chlorine. Even though we dumped polyquat in there

 

[allhalekaren]

Metal out is not removing iron at all, it's just holding it in the water in suspension and it wears out. Like any sequestrant, it has to be replenished periodically. The Culator has mixed results by other members.

So update on pool, we super shocked it over the weekend to clear any algae and leftover ascorbic acid. FC is holding at about 1.5 ppm now so this tells me there is no algae right? It held overnight. It is still a swampy mess, which just indicates metals. We are going to add 3 bottles of Pro Team Metal Magic tomorrow, and skip the ascorbic acid treatment because I don't want to lower our FC again. I think the last time we did the AA treatment we might not have added enough metal out to sequester the lofted metals? I think we have a TON of metals in the water, we ended up having to replace our well's bladder barrel a couple weeks ago because basically it was pulling water from the well after every quart, instead of replenishing after every 18 gallons. This apparently was just shaking and mixing up all the dirty iron water at the bottom of the well and that's what we had been adding to the pool. If the MM doesn't work, I think at this point we need to do a partial drain and refill. I have read that the Pro Team Mm Is the best and actually removes the metals through the filter? Crossing fingers

 

[Texas Splash]

If the water is still green getting iron (not algae), be sure to keep using polyfill in the skimmer and any other society bucket filter method you may use to try and remove it before you add the MM.

 

[koffey]

no idea why you keep throwing chemicals into your pool and money into the air. just create a massive polyfill filter and use a sub pump and run it for weeks until the water clears.

 

[allhalekaren]

no idea why you keep throwing chemicals into your pool and money into the air. just create a massive polyfill filter and use a sub pump and run it for weeks until the water clears.

Not all of us have the tools or the know how to rig something up like this, unfortunately. I have attempted putting the polyfil in the filter but it seems to just clog it. So we have been trying to use whatever methods we can find on the internet, before resorting to partially draining and refilling the pool with non well water. Would be great if you could purchase the rigged barrels and then just attach a sump pump as it seems, but I have not seen that as an option to do either.

 

[Texas Splash]

Are you not able to fabricate a poyfill bucket option like the one linked in Post #5?

 

[Texas Splash]

Even as simple as this ...................

 

[allhalekaren]

Are you not able to fabricate a poyfill bucket option like the one linked in Post #5?

My husband is going to try to.... We are not the most handy of people though and I can't find step by step instructions on how to rig one for him

 

[Texas Splash]

We are not the most handy of people though and I can't find step by step instructions on how to rig one for him

If you get stuck let us know. Maybe we can find some good pictures or something to help.