Re-filling half of a saltwater pool with HIGH IRON well water

[snetwork]

Hello,

We are re-filling half of a 24,000 gallon saltwater pool with well water that has very high iron content. We started re-filling with 3 different filters in big blue filter housing:

- POOLPURE Garden Hose End Pre Filter for Pool
- Pentek WP.5BB97P Compatible String-Wound Polypropylene Filter Cartridge
- Pentek RFFE20-BB Iron Reduction Filter, Garden hose prefilter

...but we noticed iron was still getting through so we added the Polyfill at the end and continued to add the water.

Being that the existing 12,000 gallons of water has saltwater, chlorine, etc already in it... and the new water probably has very high iron content.

1. What is the first step we should be taking to filter out the iron and metals in the water? What chemicals should we use?
2. Should we use polyfill in the skimmers when turning the pumps back on?
3. At what point should we add shock / chlorine and try to balance the water?

Thanks so much!!

 

[Texas Splash]

1. What is the first step we should be taking to filter out the iron and metals in the water? What chemicals should we use?
2. Should we use polyfill in the skimmers when turning the pumps back on?
3. At what point should we add shock / chlorine and try to balance the water?

Firs, be sure to balance the water per TFP recommended levels right away. While organics should be very low & slow this time of year for you up there, the last thing you want is algae. Yes, use polyfill. You may not see much collected if the iron isn't reacting and precipitating out of solution due to chlorine and/or an elevated pH, but it never hurts. Anytime you do see signs of iron, continue with the polyfill. When you shut things down for closing, you might consider a good sequestrant since you can't actively try to filter when the system is off. You'll probably know more next spring when the new season stars up again.