In a battle with staining and algae

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J

JBJ

0
Jun 1, 2016
7
Wakefield/RI
I had a new sand filer, pump and and Hayward SWG installed this past June. Ever sense then I have been battling low chlorine levels, alge blooms, and metal staining (bad staining - it does remove with ascorbic acid but keeps coming back as soon as I add chlorine). So I am battling low chlorine and metal staining.
Here are the measurements:
FC: 0-1 (SWG at 100% - using liquid chlorine to offset the 0-1 that I get from the SWG)
CYA: 70 (this was lower- I just got it up this high yesterday)
AL: 100
PH: 7.2 (this has been fluctuating between 6.9 and 7.2, correcting with washing soda)
Phosphates: 1800-2000ppm
CA: 50

What I have done this far:
*slammed - Pool liner was heavily stained (pool looked medium brown)
*Let chlorine come down to 0 and added ascorbic acid
*added metal out sequesterant (stains are removed but is cloudy. Stains return after approximately 4 days).

never had these problems with my DE filter and no SWG in the past. Thanks for the help.
image.jpg
 
Are you using Clorox Xtrablue chlorinating products (pucks, granular "shock", ect) or a Frogger system? Those add obnoxious amounts of metals into your pool which causes the stains.

When you added the sequestrant it "hid" the metals temporarily but they can come back out of solution again if the pH or FC goes up. It gets to be expensive and a nuisance to have to add sequestrant all the time.

Maddie :flower:
 
YippeeSkippy said:
Are you using Clorox Xtrablue chlorinating products (pucks, granular "shock", ect) or a Frogger system? Those add obnoxious amounts of metals into your pool which causes the stains.

When you added the sequestrant it "hid" the metals temporarily but they can come back out of solution again if the pH or FC goes up. It gets to be expensive and a nuisance to have to add sequestrant all the time.

Maddie :flower:
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Thanks Maddie, There was a time we used Dichlor/ Clorox Brand - to raise the CYA a bit at the start of the season.
 
JBJ said:
The test results come from the TF-100 and the the Taylor K-1106 Phosphates Test.
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That's reassuring. :goodjob: So we can prioritize things. Unless you wish to exchange water first (i.e. have fresh water trucked in), you have to tackle the algae via the SLAM Process first. Algae before iron. It's critical you maintain the SLAM until all 3 criteria are complete. During this time, the elevated FC level will continue to aggravate iron which helps to make it more prone to filtering via polyfill. So I would incorporate a method to run pool water through polyfill ASAP. The more you catch the better the results and less dependency on sequestrants.
 

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 www.troublefreepool.com

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Texas Splash said:
That's reassuring. :goodjob: So we can prioritize things. Unless you wish to exchange water first (i.e. have fresh water trucked in), you have to tackle the algae via the SLAM Process first. Algae before iron. It's critical you maintain the SLAM until all 3 criteria are complete. During this time, the elevated FC level will continue to aggravate iron which helps to make it more prone to filtering via polyfill. So I would incorporate a method to run pool water through polyfill ASAP. The more you catch the better the results and less dependency on sequestrants.
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Thanks Tex! Copy that and was thinking new water as well. Pool season is only about a month longer here in RI. Do you recommend new water at the end of the season or at the beginning of the next?

I will look up Polyfill. I added liquid chlorine to keep maintain for the day and can start Slam tomorrow night. Traveling today. Also here is a pic with the stain. This one day since I posted the original. When I woke up the Chlorine was at 1 again. Seems that the water is very temperamental with chlorine levels. Anything over 3 and it comes back. 5A6DFC8D-ADAF-46D5-9A8B-B100947684A7.jpeg8E457376-1C9D-4DBF-AB21-FA8E1E04CB92.jpeg
 
JBJ said:
Do you recommend new water at the end of the season or at the beginning of the next?
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Either or really. Keep in mind that once you complete the SLAM portion to ensure there is no algae to contend with, you'll probably want to do an Ascorbic Acid treatment to remove any wide-spread staining. You'll want to do that just before getting new water because the AA will pull the iron off the surfaces and put it into the water. Then you dump and change. The big advantage in your area is the colder water in Sept/Oct - Mar/Apr because the AA treatment requires next to no FC, so you avoid algae with the colder water.

Ascorbic Acid Treatment - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
You didn't happen to use Clorox brand pool salt did you? When I installed my SWCG, I used the Clorox pool salt sold at Lowe's and it had a good amount of iron in it. I had some staining problems, but not as bad as yours. If you read some of the forum post, you will find it is common with Clorox salt.
 

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rldaniel said:
You didn't happen to use Clorox brand pool salt did you? When I installed my SWCG, I used the Clorox pool salt sold at Lowe's and it had a good amount of iron in it. I had some staining problems, but not as bad as yours. If you read some of the forum post, you will find it is common with Clorox salt.
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Nope. I checked that too. I am told that our salt brand is super pure.
 
Texas Splash said:
Either or really. Keep in mind that once you complete the SLAM portion to ensure there is no algae to contend with, you'll probably want to do an Ascorbic Acid treatment to remove any wide-spread staining. You'll want to do that just before getting new water because the AA will pull the iron off the surfaces and put it into the water. Then you dump and change. The big advantage in your area is the colder water in Sept/Oct - Mar/Apr because the AA treatment requires next to no FC, so you avoid algae with the colder water.

Ascorbic Acid Treatment - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
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Thank a bunch. Looking at the slam chart with cya at 70, I need 6 gal of chlorine to SLAM. Is that much ok for the vinyl liner?
 
JBJ said:
I need 6 gal of chlorine to SLAM. Is that much ok for the vinyl liner?
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You are correct that going from zero FC to the SLAM level of 28 requires six gallons of 10% chlorine. The numbers listed on that FC/CYA Levels are safe for all pool types. It's an elevated FC-to-CYA ratio that takes into consideration eliminating algae while even being safe to swim in. So as long as you don't exceed 28, you can still be in the water. Do your best to follow the SLAM Process page and maintain that elevated FC until you pass all 3 SLAM criteria. Good luck!
 
Texas Splash said:
Either or really. Keep in mind that once you complete the SLAM portion to ensure there is no algae to contend with, you'll probably want to do an Ascorbic Acid treatment to remove any wide-spread staining. You'll want to do that just before getting new water because the AA will pull the iron off the surfaces and put it into the water. Then you dump and change. The big advantage in your area is the colder water in Sept/Oct - Mar/Apr because the AA treatment requires next to no FC, so you avoid algae with the colder water.

Ascorbic Acid Treatment - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
Click to expand...
Well, it looks like the plan is to try the polyfill in the the skimmer approach to remove metals. I will start this while slamming and continue with the polyfill once the pool is clear of algae. The remaining question that I have is related to phosphates. I have a high level 1800-2000 ppm. Should I try to bring that down to keep them from chewing through chlorine?
 
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