How to fix Brown Water after Ascorbic Acid treatment

[rmac222]

my pool is supplied by well water and had iron stains pretty bad. did the ascorbic acid treatment per the old thread started by mbar. ended up using 6 lbs of ascorbic total in 20,000 gal pool and got most but not all the stains. added a total of 4 quarts of proteam metal magic after the AA, kept ph =< 7.2 and Chlorine at 0 for 5 days after treatment - the cloudiness of the water cleared a good bit, and i added 1 gal of pool bleach (10 percent) at day 5 post treatment. water had a green tinge 24 hours later and chlorine was zero. (i used a total of three quarts of Combat polyquot 60% starting a few days before treatment and for the 10 days following AA treatment. pool is notorious for green algae growth.) well at 7 days post treatment the water was getting greener and i used two gallons of chlorine bleach to try and stop the algae - in about an hour the water in the pool turned dark brown! so i added 2 quarts of proteam metal magic. (guess i shouldn't have added the bleach, but i wanted to stop the algae. ) at 9 days post treatment i added two quarts of natural chemistry metal free - it lightened up a bit by the next day. had to go out of town overnight got back tonight and water is dark brown again. i have tried stuffing poly fill in the skimmers - didn't trap any brown stuff. i am at a loss for what to try next . any suggestions? should i just get more ascorbic and broadcast it in the pool?

today the chems are:
ph 7.0
alk 80
chlorine 1 ( put a couple tabs in the chlorinator cause i was going out of town)

appreciate any help you might offer.

 

[Mendy48]

Welcome!!!

Could you add a signature on your profile that describes your pool. See mine for example....

I'm not sure about the other stuff you're adding to your pool, but from my experience... all you need to maintain your pool... if it's anything like mine.. is Chlorine (bleach-the plain stuff) & CYA (stabilizer). Muriatic Acid and Borax to manage PH on a periodic basis as needed.

With the description you gave above, you're going to have to SLAM your pool. Click here to see how...However, before you start with that... I would like to know if you have your own test kit. If you don't, get your test kit (TF-100 or Taylor K-2006C). We recommend the TF100 from TFTestKits.net or the Taylor K-2006C. I would stay away from the Taylor K-2006 as it doesn't have enough of the FC test reagent, especially if you have to SLAM right away which it looks like you do. I know that the test kits are a bit of money, but that's nothing compared to the amount of money you'll spend on needless chemicals at the pool store.If your pool is green now, add about a half a gallon of 10% liquid chlorine until you get your kit. That will add close to 5 ppm FC per day.

Once you get your test kit, post your results here.....
FC - Free Chlorine
CC - Combined Chlorine
PH - Acidity/Basicity
TA - Total Alkalinity
CH - Calcium Hardness
CYA - Cyanuric Acid

Here are some links that could also help you...
Pool School - Read This BEFORE You Post
Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
Pool School - How to Chlorinate Your Pool
Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart
Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals
Pool School - SLAM - Shock Level And Maintain
Turning Your Green Swamp Back into a Sparkling Oasis

 

[AndyTN]

I would wait until the fall right before you close your pool to try to eradicate the metal stains. Middle of summer it's not a good time to try to go without chlorine for a week or two and the chlorine will cancel out the AA. Trying to bring pool water to SLAM level with metals in the water is going to cause them to precipitate on all the surfaces, causing you to start all over again.

Others have used polyfill in the skimmer for several days to absorb the metals with very low FC numbers. What finally worked for me was doing the AA treatment and then a complete water exchange. My city water is pretty good and very cheap but it sounds like your source water is the problem. Also, this is not normally a one-and-done treatment. You will likely have to do the treatment several times with the stains getting less and less each time. Persistence is going to be the key here.

 

[rmac222]

thanks [U]Mendy48[/U] and [U]AndyTN[/U] for your replies. I have ordered the TF-100 kit. last night and this morning I flocked the pool and a thick layer of brown iron settled out and I vacuumed it to exhaust, still dealing with some remaining brown water - will probably flock it again. the 2 gallons of chlorine I added is very close to the initial SLAM dosage of 2.5 gallons, and yes, AndyTN I now have iron staining everywhere on the sides and skimmer baskets and all. oh well, at least I am getting rid of a lot of iron before I give it a second go! thanks again.