Leslie's Metal Test

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Shocktop2000

Member
Jul 16, 2019
14
Houston, Texas
I posted in here about a month ago with what I thought was a calcium dirt issue. Now, a stain has appeared on my stairs that is quite clearly iron or some other metal. Additionally, little rust colored circles are showing up in any irregularity in the plaster. I just bought this older home in Houston in May. It has galvanized pipes. These pipes produce rust laden water in the shower if the pipes sit for too long. The fill water I have been using is from those pipes. I have a different spout I used to add water this week which is a copper pipe directly from the water main. I hope that water is cleaner as it bypasses the galvanized plumbing.

I took both fill water samples and my pool sample to Leslie's. They found no copper or iron in the water. I just do not believe this is possible. I know those pipes release rusty iron water. And the stains on the floor and now the steps support this hypothesis. I would rather not spend $300 on a legitimate metal testing kit. Does anyone have any faith in pool store metal testing? I have the K-2006 and stay on top of all my numbers. Water is perfect.

My other concern is none of the spots - floor or step respond to Vitamin C tablet exposure. It does nothing. So I guess my questions are: 1) will pool stores totally screw up metal tests? and 2) any ideas on what this could be if it is not responding to Vitamin C? I plan to get Jack's Magic stain identifier tomorrow to see if I cannot isolate this more.

Man it is frustrating to finally get the water balanced and perfect with liquid chlorine to have more stuff pop up.

14,000 gallon / plaster
PH 7.4
FC 5
CC <.5
CH 270
CYA 50
TA 75
 
Pool store testing for metals is approximate at best. The chlorine tends to skew the results. But the Vitamin C doesn't lie, so if it's not changing from those, it's not iron. Have you tried a chlorine tablet to rule out organic staining? Last item would be some dry acid to see if it's copper.
 
Texas Splash said:
Pool store testing for metals is approximate at best. The chlorine tends to skew the results. But the Vitamin C doesn't lie, so if it's not changing from those, it's not iron. Have you tried a chlorine tablet to rule out organic staining? Last item would be some dry acid to see if it's copper.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the response.
I have two separate staining patterns. One is an orange red spot on the steps with some similarly colored dots in the imperfections in the plaster. The dots are only located near the steps. The rest of the pool shows no sign of similar staining.

The second staining is a ton of irregular shaped grayish stains on the bottom of the pool. They can appear brown in sunlight. But seemed to have mostly faded to gray these days. My thought is these two stains are caused by two distinct sources but I haven’t confirmed that yet.

I have left a trichlor puck on both stains for the 30 minutes. No change. I have rubbed a vitamin c tablet on both stains. Nothing happens. Copper and some dirt scale derivative are my next two options. I’m going to get jacks magic stain Id today and see if I can shed some light on the stain source. Maybe the copper and scale treatment will be the answer.

I bought this house two months ago. The pool is about 8 years old. The previous owner had a pool guy. I wouldn’t be surprised if they used a copper algaecide to control algae (which can be a problem if let in attended under the waterfall) and a sequestration to prevent staining. It is interesting that 30 days after I get the pool, the stains appear after a few shock treatments to nix some algae formations.

Hopefully, it’s copper, Jacks Magic treatment works and I can Culator the residual out of the water. I won’t be adding copper again if that is the case.
 
Update on these stains. I ran the entire Jacks Magic ID kit from copper/scale, iron, to those with O2 testing. None of the tests did anything to the stains. And a chlorine puck on top for 30 minutes or grinded against the plaster does not remove the stains. These stains are amazing. And now they are just growing. They started in the middle and now I can see them forming in the entire bottom of the pool. Whatever is causing them has some weight to it, because they never go further than an inch up the wall incline.

Current Levels with K-2006:
FC - 5
TC - 5
TA - 70
PH - 7.5
CH - 270
CYA - 45

I keep the water Dang near perfect on the LSI at all times. Which makes these bad boys all the more frustrating.

The only things I can think of is the mustard algae I have under control is just barely under control, and they are depositing on the bottom of the pool.

OR it is scaled on dirt. But this does not make sense since I see no scale deposits anywhere in the pool or nodules on the bottom. But still a possibility.

Anyone else dealt with this issue? Or have some insight? My next step is to run some Muriatic Acid to the bottom and see if that will lift it with brushing.
 
The chlorine tablet rules out mustard algae. Even it would easily succumb to such an acidic and concentrated form of chlorine sat on it. It's definitely not organic.

Did you get your hands on some sodium bisulfate (dry acid) to try on it? I know the Jack's test didn't register copper, but with such a stubborn stain I wouldn't hesitate to verify it.
 
YippeeSkippy said:
How does dry acid help identify a copper stain versus Vit. C on it? This is new news to me....teach me Sensai!

Grasshopper Maddie :flower:
Click to expand...
Ascorbic acid will have little effect on copper, or potentially make it darker. It causes iron to become more soluble so it lightens or removes the stain, but it speeds up oxidation in copper so it will have a darker appearance if any change is noticeable.
 

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