New pool owner struggling...advice appreciated.

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Mikey311 said:
Thanks @DeanP66 and @clambert1273

Definitely taking a lot of chlorine like ya'll warned... looks like I might need to get more. Added about 12g so far.
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How is the staining? Has it cleared up any better in the last day or so? Some people decide to go with just the sequestrant by itself because of the FC demands that the AA causes. You will probably want to use half a quart monthly of the sequestrant for maintenance purposes. That will keep any further stains in solution and off your walls and floor.
 
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DeanP66 said:
How is the staining? Has it cleared up any better in the last day or so? Some people decide to go with just the sequestrant by itself because of the FC demands that the AA causes. You will probably want to use half a quart monthly of the sequestrant for maintenance purposes. That will keep any further stains in solution and off your walls and floor.
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Some of the staining seems like its better but I think I'm fighting a few different issues. The pebble's used have some brown in them so in certain lights it looks like staining.. but it could just be the brown in the pebble.

There are some areas that are obviously spot/area stains and I will try to address them individually when I get back in the pool and can brush/spot treat them.

Then I think i may have scaling or calcium buildup in certain areas. In general, as you can tell, Im struggling just to define the stains/issues in the pool.
 
I will try to get some pics of the different areas and see if anyone can provide guidance. I tried a few "identifying" stains methods without much obvious luck outside what seemed to be a response to vitamin C.... but overall the AA treatment didnt seem to help as much as I hoped.

Will def add sequestrant to the maint schedule though.
 
I know these arent great pics... and they were prob taken right when I moved in before I skimmed the leaves/ran the pool vac, etc... but you can kinda see the diff stains.

Some of the very light areas against the stairs or edge of bottom of pool is what really makes the stains stand out.... but the "light" areas dont really seem natural or the right color either.

I know this sounds kinda stupid, but Ive never seen this pool in a good/right state.... so Im questioning what is stain and what is the natural color of the pebble finish.

The area in the deep end near the main drain is the area most noticeably better from the AA treatment but in hindsight, maybe I mis-diagnosed the main cause of the stains and just created more headache for myself.

pool1.jpg

pool2.jpg
 
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Nice pool. Have you ruled out organic stains? To test if they are organic stains, you can place a chlorine tablet on the stain for a few minutes and see if it helps lift it some. That is the only thing I use tablets for. :) I usually keep no more than 2 around for just this purpose. Sometimes I'll swim down to the stain with a pair of rubber gloves and rub the tablet back and forth against the stain and that seems to work even faster than just letting it sit there.

Do you know how old the pool is and if so, do you know how old the pebble tech finish is as well. Older metal stains are more difficult to get out in my experience. Your mileage may vary. My pool's plaster is from the early 70's and has never been redone. It has quite a bit of pitting in certain areas and of course those areas are more porous and much more susceptible to staining.
 
DeanP66 said:
Nice pool. Have you ruled out organic stains? To test if they are organic stains, you can place a chlorine tablet on the stain for a few minutes and see if it helps lift it some. That is the only thing I use tablets for. :) I usually keep no more than 2 around for just this purpose. Sometimes I'll swim down to the stain with a pair of rubber gloves and rub the tablet back and forth against the stain and that seems to work even faster than just letting it sit there.

Do you know how old the pool is and if so, do you know how old the pebble tech finish is as well. Older metal stains are more difficult to get out in my experience. Your mileage may vary. My pool's plaster is from the early 70's and has never been redone. It has quite a bit of pitting in certain areas and of course those areas are more porous and much more susceptible to staining.
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I've tried granular chlorine without success on the vast stains. The house does have alot of trees (or had, we cut some down) around it so I know the prior owner dealt with a lot of leaves which leads me to think organic as well. Perhaps I will get some tablets and try that again.

I guess the stains could be pretty bad if he left leaves in the pool in the off-season... bad enough to have to stain the pool at least.

Pool was built in 2007.... original finish.
 

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You can swim with FC all the way up to SLAM level as long as you can see the bottom. Also make sure your pH is somewhere in the 7's. Have fun!!!

Keep a close eye on that FC, because I found that even once the FC starts holding, it seems that it takes a couple of weeks before the FC burn off returns to normal. Also, recheck your CYA to make sure it is still where you think. I somehow lost about 20ppm of CYA during my first AA treatment and I couldn't figure out why my FC was getting used up so quick. Then I rechecked CYA and topped it back up to 50ppm and all was good.
 
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