Plaster Disaster via Chemicals

[andysnoap]

Need some help from the TFP Community.

I got my plaster redone last year and noticed it was just "off". The plaster company ended up agreeing and two months ago they drained my pool, go the moisture out of the plaster and it's looked great. Then all of a sudden I was seeing a bunch of yellow stains around the pool. The plaster guy came back and said metals in the water and to use Natural Chemistry Stain Free and Regal Metal out. The recommendation with this is to have FC at below 1PPM. The rest of my chemistry is/ was
PH 7.5
TA 80
CH 400
CYA 50

After doing this i wasn't noticing any yellow going away, but the water continued to get more algae like in the texas 110 degree heat. I was then told the natural chemistry stain free was essentially calcium so i went on amazon and bought a bucket that i saw folks were using for pool staining. I put in a couple pounds of calcium throughout the pool in the areas where I wanted the staining to go away.

Once again, i didn't see any change other than the water continued getting super algae like and i believe from the calcium powder made it very cloudy in the pool. I did a backwash as that was the reccomendation after as well and recharged my DE filter.

To get rid of the algae ive done a SLAM for 36 hours. The pool water is now clearing up, but what is now showing is a disaster on the plaster. The yellow marks have turned brown like and they are everywhere. At this point i have no idea what to do and have already went through about $100 in chemicals so would rather get some advice before i do anything else.

The Dark blue water photo is the before all my chemicals with the staining i noticed. the lighter blue water photo is right now after i am seeing the aftermath in the sunlight. I have tried seeing if this comes off at all with my hand/ the brush/ etc but it's stained.

 

[mas985]

Iron stains become worse at high FC levels. You might want to read through this:

Stains in Your Pool

The stained pool is beyond embarrassing. Our in-depth Guide to remove stains in your pool will help you to remove the stains and prevent them in the future.

www.troublefreepool.com

Ascorbic Acid Treatment - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[andysnoap]

Thank you for the reply! I just went to the local pool store to see if my Taylor testing kit was off and here is what it is reading as of last night

 

[Texas Splash]

So here's the situation. Between iron and algae, you have to treat for iron first. There's no way around it. Now that you have algae you have to complete the SLAM Process. It is very possible that will aggravate any iron in the water accentuating potential staining. It's unfortunate, but no way around it. Your water itself doesn't appear o be showing discoloration or precipitating iron out of solution, but you might still consider adding polyfill to the skimmer and/or running pool water through a separate bucket of polyfill like in the example below. The more iron you can physically remove the better.

After you pass all 3 SLAM criteria, then you can consider future treatment of remaining iron. It may be the recurring use of a good sequestrant, then later between Nov-Feb when our temps get low, considering an AA treatment.

Trust your own testing.

From brown to 😍😍. Thank you polyfil!

We filled our pool from our well. We knew the risks and knew we would have a battle when the water was 12" deep as it looked green from the metals. Our fears were confirmed when we added chlorine and the water turned brown almost immediately. Enter 5 gallon polyfil filter. It worked...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[andysnoap]

@Texas Splash I have a bunch of people coming over on the 4th of July. Do you think there is anything to me just emptying and refilling the pool versus the money on all the chemicals to try and battle through it? I am sure the plaster stains will still be there getting rid of the water, but atleast the algae fight and $10/ Gallon of chlorine at Leslies nonstop will be done. Thoughts?

 

[Texas Splash]

If you wish, you can do a partial exchange which might help you get a jump on the SLAM Process. You'll still need to do it after refilling, but it might help. Just don't empty the entire pool. Leave a good 1/4 to 1/2 in there to prevent the shell from moving.

 

[andysnoap]

@Texas Splash understood and some more data... I started SLAM this morning and 6 hours later, with adding more chlorine 3 hours in, already down to 5.4 from an initial pour to get me to 20. Wondering if Leslies alleged insane phosphates number is really wrecking all my chlorine. Pool back to completely cloudy/ green appearing. Sad this all started with me trying to get rid of some yellow staining along the edges through the chemicals i listed.

 

[Texas Splash]

Wondering if Leslies alleged insane phosphates number is really wrecking all my chlorine.

Most likely the organic load in the water is more than you anticipated. That's often the case resulting in a fast FC loss in the early part of the SLAM. Keep a few gallons of 10% chlorine handy and do your best to maintain that FC of 20 throughout the day. Test a bit more frequently if needed. Soon the FC should cut throug the heaviest stuf and begin to hold much better.