Metal / Organics / ???

[jtpipkin]

Need y’alls Opinion. Water test pic below. Water looks beautiful but this staining on all the white plastic stuff (polaris, drain cover, skimmer and basket, deep end built in stairs) is driving me nuts. Was looking around for staining issues earlier and the reasons were all over the board. I’m leaning towards either organics or iron. Vitamin c tabs whitened the stairs and the Polaris bag. Tried leaving some in filter baskets when pool was off to see if they helped, but not really. I know this site preaches ‘no magic bullets’ but I see recommendations from time to time of jacks magic and pro team metal magic. I even thought about the poly fil in the filter, but my water isn’t dark or discolored... I’ve seen something somewhere where the sand in the filter may be harboring iron??? I did a deep clean a couple of weeks ago and only been on TFP method a month or two. Am I just impatient?

 

[Texas Splash]

Vitamin c tabs whitened the stairs and the Polaris bag.

I'm leaning towards iron myself. The Vitamin C is a good indicator. Iron doesn't always precipitate out equally, so it may like the plastic in your pool. First off, I'd lower the pH a bit. Iron reacts more to an elevated pH. Have you ever used sequestrants? Now might be a good time. Any idea as to the source of iron? Are you on a well? Some rural area water supplies simply have enough iron to cause problems. White cloth (stained orange ) over a water spigot can be a sign as well. You could try a local store to see what iron content you have, but pool store testing for iron can be a bit hit & miss as well. You can try continued use of clothes and such in the skimmer to see if you can grab more particulates, but the success of that method depends on the status of the iron and if it's actively precipitating out. In the end, if it is iron, water exchange to the maximum extent possible is the most reliable.

 

[jtpipkin]

To be honest, back in the day, I used what the pool store told me to use. It’s city water. I’ve recently started using a sock in the skimmer religiously. Same sock in a weeks time is brown. But there is a ton of pollen falling right now. The ph is only high right now because of the temps. Once the water temp starts to rise, pretty sure it will require me to drop it to low 7s to hit my csi. Am I wrong in thinking that the pro team metal magic might not be a bad idea at this point? I really like the science tfp preaches, I guess there’s a fine line when it comes to metals though?

 

[Texas Splash]

The sock color change seems to confirm iron as well. If the cold water prevents you from lowering your pH (for csi), then that could be a reason you're seeing all the staining. The iron is reacting to it. Now would be a good time to filter as much of it as you can. If you use a sequestrant, try to find one that is an HEDP product as they seem to be more reliable. Once the water temp increases and you lower the pH, it may not be as big of a problem as you're seeing now.

 

[jtpipkin]

The sock color change seems to confirm iron as well. If the cold water prevents you from lowering your pH (for csi), then that could be a reason you're seeing all the staining. The iron is reacting to it. Now would be a good time to filter as much of it as you can. If you use a sequestrant, try to find one that is an HEDP product as they seem to be more reliable. Once the water temp increases and you lower the pH, it may not be as big of a problem as you're seeing now.

I’ll look in to the hedp sequestrant, but this problem is nothing new. I’ve owned this house for over 5 years and all these things have been issues since. This actually makes me want to change the sand as well. I’ve never had a water problem , so to speak. It’s always been beautiful and crystal clear. I really don’t want to do a water change but from what I’ve read, there’s no product out there that will really take it out through the filter. Pro-team advertises they do, but I don’t know...

 

[YippeeSkippy]

You don't need to change the sand.

What you're asking to do is *remove* the iron, not just sequester it, right?? I'd suggest looking into using some polyfil in your skimmers to filter thru. The polyfil actually traps a lot of iron (which you'll toss out) and removes it from the water.

Do a search here for "polyfil, iron" and read some of the threads that have successfully managed this problem.

Maddie

 

[jtpipkin]

You don't need to change the sand.

What you're asking to do is *remove* the iron, not just sequester it, right?? I'd suggest looking into using some polyfil in your skimmers to filter thru. The polyfil actually traps a lot of iron (which you'll toss out) and removes it from the water.

Do a search here for "polyfil, iron" and read some of the threads that have successfully managed this problem.

Maddie

Thx Maddie - My post never got much traction so I just went ahead and ordered the Proteam Metal Magic. Went to the pool store saturday morning to see if she could test for iron, but she said her test wasn't very accurate. She also said that adding a metal out product with my chlorine so high was counterproductive. She didn't sell the kind I was looking for so went home and ended up ordering from pool geek and cut off my SWG. I thought about the poly fil and still may add some in the skimmer basket, but as brown as all the plastics appear to be, I must have a lot in there. This time of year for me is hectic with pollen and bugs, so I'm cleaning the skimmer every day and sometimes twice daily. Not sure how well that would work trying to work around poly fil. I keep a sock on the skimmer and can tell it's filtering the iron out as well. If the metal magic works, I may just leave it alone. If I feel I need more, I may run a small sump pump through a 5 gallon bucket full of poly fil and catch the residual that way. Looked up the city water inspection, but it doesn't list iron in the contents checked. The pool looks great, just trying to polish it off once and for all. I have a feeling that once I get my arms around this issue, the pool will look even better. Probably not noticing the staining in the plaster due to the pebble tec style finish...

 

[markayash]

If it's iron add ascorbic acid and the brown stains will go away in a day Mine wasn't as bad as your but looked similar..Tested with a crushed Vitamin C tablet and the side stain faded to about half in 30 seconds

 

[jtpipkin]

If it's iron add ascorbic acid and the brown stains will go away in a day Mine wasn't as bad as your but looked similar..Tested with a crushed Vitamin C tablet and the side stain faded to about half in 30 seconds

When I spot treat with vitamin c, I get the same results. Problem is the staining reappears relatively quickly. How long are your stains staying gone when you spot treat?

 

[markayash]

Look at this thread I started..The Jacks magic guy is telling me to use Jacks Purple stuff and add a cellulose fiber to my fiber to remove the metal..My purple stuff is coming Monday and fiber stuff Tuesday,
Need stain advise