Iron Stains

[mikergibson]

Our water contains a ton of iron so I am constantly adding sequestrant to prevent and ascorbic acid to remove stains. My question is this, the metal sequestrant wraps the iron and keeps the iron disolved. I continue to add iron to my pool every time that I add water.. How do I get this iron out? Will floc get this out?

 

[JasonLion]

There is no reliable way to get the iron out. Some sequesterants are supposed to clump together and be able to be filtered out but I haven't heard of anyone having particularly good success with that.

 

[mbar]

I have always dealt with metals in my water since I have a well. This year however, I switched to using Proteams Metal Magic, and had the most stain free year ever. It is supposed to turn the metals into salts so that the salts can be filtered out. I don't know if it is true, but in my own experience whenever I add a large dose of metal magic (when I add a large dose of new water), the pool turns very cloudy and takes a couple of days to filter out. It is a pain to get the cloudy water, but once cleared up, the pool stays stain free, even when shocking. It is too soon for me to say that it really does work, but I would be interested to hear from anyone else who has used this product, and what results they have had. My friend that has the same pool as I do is going to try it next year. This year they had already purchased the sequestering agent they had been using, all at once the beginning of the season, so they didn't try the Metal Magic. I intend to use it again next year too. When putting in a small amount (the maintenance dose), the water only gets slightly cloudy and clears up very quickly. So if anyone else has had success with Metal Magic, or any other product, please post so we can all learn from each other

 

[ric]

hi all
I have bin using metal magic this year. I also have lots of iron from my well. The Metal Magic works ok but I havent used a full dose to clean stains. I have only used the maint dose and if I forget the stain gets dark very quick. I have light metal staining at the bottom of the slant at the deep end. This stain gets dark and the metal magic does lighten it up. I probably should do a acid treatment and it would probably get it all but its time to close soon. I keep my ph at 7.4 and run a aquabot after i dose with metal magic and it seems to help. As far as cloudy i have not seen this but i have not used more then the maint dose. I also use a filter on my hose that came with my hot tub as i add to my pool water. I dont know if it helps but I had the filter so it probably didnt hert anything. I do feel the Metal Magic is helping and also keeping the ph down helps. as far as shocking i didnt have to shock this year but I think the higher the ph and cl the more it would stain. I have used 2 quarts of metal magic to date this year. My ears always perk up whin we talk about metal staining.

 

[medelman2k]

I hate to seem so dumb, but what does metal staining look like?

 

[JasonLion]

Jack' Magic products web site has some examples of fairly serious stains. When they are first starting out they will be small regions of stain that grow and spread across the pool over time.

 

[mikergibson]

My whole pool surface turns yellowish brown except for a checkerboard pattern where I assume there is some type of fiberglass seaming or taping

 

[mbar]

Fiberglass pools tend to stain very easily. To contol the stains, you have to keep your water balanced, and use a sequestering agent. I know that stains will usually disappear over the winter when the pool is closed. If you don't close your pool, then you need to get rid of the stains using ascorbic acid. While doing the stain treatment with ascorbic acid, it is very important to add the sequestering agent - something that says "controls metals". Once your pool is stain free and the sequestering agent is in the water, then the chemistry should be kept as follows:

Chlorine should be kept in the perameters of what your cya is.

PH should be kept between 7.2 - 7.4 (when the ph gets above 7.6, it can react with the chlorine and let any metals that are not sequestered fall out of suspension and stain the surface of the pool)

Alkalinity should be kept from 80 - 100

Calcium levels should be anywhere from 150 - 250. Some say that fiberglass pools don't need calcium, but I found that my pool reacts better with a clacium level of at least 150. If the calcium gets too high, it sometimes reacts to cause staining also - so anything under 250 is ususally good.

These are just my own observations of dealing with a fiberglass pool. I have my pool for eight years, and have really concentrated on what works best to keep it stain free. I have tried all kinds of chemisry levels - and this is what I have found to work the best for me.

I keep my cya at between 30 and 60 ppms - this way my chlorine is always between 3 and5 - I like to keep it around 5.

I like to use regular household bleach with a combination of trichlor pucks. This way I can regulate the ph (trichlor pucks are acidic) and the cya at the same time.

I use a sequestering agent, added at the opening of the pool season, and add as needed when new water is introduced through filling, because I fill with well water. This year I used Proteams Metal Magic and was very happy with the results.

At opening I add the sequstering agent when I open the pool before I put any other chemicals in. If I have to shock, I make sure the ph is no higher than 7.2. I keep my eye out for stains and add more sequesterer if I see stain forming. If the stains are too heavy, or are not lifted with sequstering agent and low ph, I do an ascorbic acid treatment. Once all of the stains are gone, I rebalance the water, and keep the chemistry in check. this ususally works well for keeping the pool stain free. It is very simple once you get to know your own pool, and you can do your own testing.

I will answer any questions anyone would have on stains - I hate stains