Metals and Chlorine Levels

[jonathan8610]

I am trying to put together a weekly maintenance plan for my pool and want to see if I'm on the right track and what everyone else would recommend.
My pool has copper in the water which I am currently sequestering with ProTeam's Metal Magic which is a great product and does a great job of lifting the stains and sequestering the metals. However I know I need to be careful with chlorine levels in the pool even with the metals sequestered. Too much chlorine and the metals will come out of solution and too little chlorine and I risk an algae bloom.

So I think on a regular basis I will try and keep the FC between 1 - 3 and the pH between 7.0 - 7.2. When it is time to add more chlorine to the pool, I'll add a maintenance dose of Metal Magic. I was also thinking of using a PolyQuat 60 algaecide on a regular basis if the chlorine levels are low in the pool to prevent algae from growing.

Just wondering if this is a good plan and if I am missing anything. Last week my chlorine levels dropped to 0 and I added enough liquid chlorine to raise the FC to 3, however this caused the metals to come out of the solution, so I am thinking of adding less next time and adding the Metal Magic before adding any chlorine as an extra precaution. Maybe only raising it to 1-1.5 at a time and going from there.

 

[jblizzle]

Depends. What is you CYA? That determines what FC levels you need to maintain according to the FC/CYA Levels.

Now you might be able to get by with lower FC if you try a few things outside the mainstream TFP advice.

 

[jonathan8610]

CYA is 30.

 

[jonathan8610]

I spoke to someone from ProTeam and they told me to try using dichlor (granular chlorine) instead of the liquid chlorine as a test to see if the water does not change color after adding. He said if that is the case then the shift in color is due to an increased pH not the chlorine rising. He mentioned liquid chlorine having a pH of 13 vs dichlor having a pH of 6. He said dichlor is not a long term solution as it is stabilized chlorine but using it now may help get some chlorine into the pool without the water turning green again. Previously I was using liquid chlorine and trichlor tablets. If I switched to dichlor chlorine would I ditch the trichlor tablets as well?

Any thoughts on this?

 

[jblizzle]

Both dichlor and trichlor are acidic and they are going to increase your CYA level, which will increase the required FC levels.
While liquid chlorine does have a high pH, the effect is neutral as the pH will drop back down as the FC is consumed.

I suppose they are theorizing that the metal coming out of solution is due to the locally higher pH when the bleach is added? I am not sure if that is true or not.
Let's see if Matt (@JoyfulNoise ) has any thoughts

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Have you ever considered draining and refilling the pool to rid it of those pesky metals? Do you know how they got in there anyway?

Maddie

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Drain the pool and refill it, that’s the solution here. You are wasting huge sums of money and mental energy on trying to concoct a chemical routine to deal with metal contamination. Get rid of the metal laden water and your life will be a lot simpler. You live in CT....water is not an issue.

Who cares what the pH of liquid chlorine is. You’re adding pints to thousands of gallons of water....the pH rise will be minuscule at best. The sane is true for dichlor - it’s less acidic than trichlor and you’re adding ounces ... pH drop is minimal.

Fix the underlying cause and stop treating the symptoms....

 

[jonathan8610]

I have considered draining and refilling but I would need to have water shipped in which would cost nearly $1,000 so I was trying to at least come up with a treatment solution before just draining and refilling. Is the solution that's recommended to everyone to who has metals to drain and refill or have some people successfully removed them?

In terms of the source of the metals, I am unsure if it is from my well water or from a chemical like an algaecide I put in the pool before I closed the pool last fall.

 

[jblizzle]

Have your well water tested. It should not have copper in it.

When the water turns colors, that is the opportunity to physically filter out the metal. Many members have done that to remove iron.
If you are using sequestrants to keep the metal in solution, then you can't filter out the metal.

 

[jonathan8610]

Have your well water tested. It should not have copper in it.

When the water turns colors, that is the opportunity to physically filter out the metal. Many members have done that to remove iron.
If you are using sequestrants to keep the metal in solution, then you can't filter out the metal.

OK I'll have it tested. Is there a recommended test kit for metals? I thought metals like iron and copper were common in well water but I guess not. In regards to your note about filtering out the metal, is there are a recommended process to try for removing copper? I thought the Metal Magic was helping remove the copper by allowing the filter to catch it and then you backwash it.