sequestrant no longer working on metals in water

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Re: checking myself with the ascorbic acid, sequestrant along with polyquat 60 proces

If the stains are gone you can start balancing I believe. Read the article on it in Pool School.
 
Re: checking myself with the ascorbic acid, sequestrant along with polyquat 60 proces

What a lesson I have learned and have solved a mystery that I’ve had since day one! All these years I have wondered why the skimmers and sometimes the steps would get this yellowish-brown color/ stain to them. It’s the metals in the (fill & refill) water! It never occurred to me that what is basically drinking water, would have metals in it!

cf57de2043f57c990b324d07d66e38ce.jpg


Now she’s stunning and I know how to keep her (and the skimmers) that way!

?[emoji1316][emoji1340]*??[emoji322]
 
Re: checking myself with the ascorbic acid, sequestrant along with polyquat 60 proces

Great Job!!

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Re: checking myself with the ascorbic acid, sequestrant along with polyquat 60 proces

mknauss said:
Great Job!!

We are glad you have found our information helpful. Please, if you can, please consider making a donation to TFP.

We are staffed by volunteers and are registered as an IRS 501 (c) (3) charity and donations are what keeps the forum operating without advertisements.

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Oh yeah, I'm aware...been around since the VERY early days! :kim: I have donated in the past and most certainly will! :lovetfp:

Thanks for everyone's help! It's greatly appreciated! :bowdown:

DirtyRat91...let us know how yours goes!
 
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Re: checking myself with the ascorbic acid, sequestrant along with polyquat 60 proces

Once you are back to balance, yes. I would be careful about low pH and low FC right now.
 
Re: checking myself with the ascorbic acid, sequestrant along with polyquat 60 proces

midtngal said:
What a lesson I have learned and have solved a mystery that I’ve had since day one! All these years I have wondered why the skimmers and sometimes the steps would get this yellowish-brown color/ stain to them. It’s the metals in the (fill & refill) water! It never occurred to me that what is basically drinking water, would have metals in it!

cf57de2043f57c990b324d07d66e38ce.jpg


Now she’s stunning and I know how to keep her (and the skimmers) that way!

?[emoji1316][emoji1340]*??[emoji322]
Click to expand...

?[emoji848][emoji44]?
 
Re: checking myself with the ascorbic acid, sequestrant along with polyquat 60 proces

Okay...reporting in with the progress... about every couple of hours yesterday, from about 10 am to 10 pm, I added 22 oz of bleach in an attempt to bring the CL up to 1. Also during that time, there were a couple of places that stains were trying to come back so I added another 16 oz of sequestrant and that took care of them in about 2 hours. Then the last time last night I upped it to 44 oz. for the last dose of the day. Today I continued with the 44 oz every 2 hours or so. It was getting eaten up pretty fast, still reading zero, so at 7 pm tonight I upped the dosage to 88 oz. All these times I've also been testing the pH and it was staying in the 7.2 range. Now at 9 the CL is reading 4 and the pH is reading about 7.4. I have just added a cup of muriatic acid to bring that back down to 7.2 and left the bleach alone. This wording of doing this "slowly" doesn't really tell me what is considered slow. The steps say the pH should stay at 7.2 for a couple of weeks and to bring the CL up to level for my CYA. My CYA was at 60 so that would be 3. Surely 1 point over that isn't going cause a problem...right?? :grin:

full numbers from yesterday before starting the bleach..

pH 7.0
FC 0
CC 0
TA 70
CYA 60
salt 3700

I think it's coming along swimmingly! :swim: :lol:
 

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Re: checking myself with the ascorbic acid, sequestrant along with polyquat 60 proces

So, the CL is starting to hold...took it up to 3 last night and it was at 2 this morning. The pH is steady at 7.2. This morning the steps were starting to stain again so I have just added more sequestrant. My question - is sequestrant safe to swim in? I ask because I'm having guests from out of town this weekend so of course we will swim. If it was justs me, I wouldn't be concerned. I lean to yes, but want to make sure... TIA!
 
Re: checking myself with the ascorbic acid, sequestrant along with polyquat 60 proces

Pool is safe to swim in with sequestrant is in the water. Many pools throughtout the world need sequestrant due to metals in their water.
 
Re: checking myself with the ascorbic acid, sequestrant along with polyquat 60 proces

Thank you! As soon as I read this, I knew I knew the answer! Jeez...I think my brain has left my body over this! :) I had looked at the maintenance doses and thought it would be a good idea....DUH!
 
checking myself with the ascorbic acid, sequestrant along with polyquat 60 process

Dang it! [emoji20] 10:30 am - CL was 2, pH was 7.2, added 22 oz bleach and 16 oz sequestrant because the steps had a slight shade to them that wasn't white!; 2:30 pm - CL was .5, pH was 7.2, steps definitely having staining showing back up, added another 16 oz of sequestrant. 5 pm - CL is 1, pH is 7.2 and the steps look like this - IMG_0347.jpg.

Is this telling me that this pool needs a whole bunch of sequestrant or do I have to go through all this again??

*UPDATE*. I can now add that the stains are coming back on the floor as well. [emoji22]. I added 32oz of sequestrant at 5 along with 56 oz of bleach.

*UPDATE #2* - 8:15 pm CL is .5 and pH is 7.2. Stains *might* be a little, very little, improved. Adding 56 oz bleach. Should I give the sequestrant until in the morning before adding more?? Guests coming tomorrow.
 
metals STILL causing problems!

Well, I guess starting a new thread may help...last week I spent all week getting rid of metals in my water only for them to come back just as bad as before! At this point, I have now added a gallon and a half of sequestrant to this water over the course of the last week and this is what I found just now...

IMG_0349.jpg

That's worse than it was this morning and I haven 't added a thing today! I have slowly added bleach up to 3 and yesterday turned up the SWG to 20% trying to get back to using it. What is causing this???
 
Re: checking myself with the ascorbic acid, sequestrant along with polyquat 60 proces

Wulfdan said:
Have you thought about bringing the FC to slam level and then filtering out any precipitated metals and THEN adding sequesterant?
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it
Hi Wulfdan. I believe that is what started this mess! The original issue started with me SLAMming for MA when it appears now that I did not have. I'm at a loss as too, with as much sequestrant as I have put into my pool, how there could be ANY metals at all! I have more sequestrant on order and should receive it tomorrow but am wary at this point to continue pouring more in when it only helps for a hour or so.
 
Sequestrant doesn't remove metals from the water. It places them back into suspension in the water so they do not deposit onto pool surfaces as stains. The only way to get rid of metals in the water is to remove the stains, sequester the metals, then drain and refill with metal free water. Certain types of iron will oxidize when chlorine is added and turn the pool brown. This rust can be filtered out. Homemade rust filters work great for this type of metal.

Do you know which metal you have in your pool? Do you have well water?
 
Hi Zea. I do not have well water, just city water. I have no idea what the metal it is but am suspecting iron based on what I've read. In the AA treatment thread there is this - "Here are two important notes: High ph along with high chlorine will precipitate any metals that are not sequestered out of the water and on to the surface of the pool again. If this happens take the ph back down to 7, or 7.2 and add more sequestering agent. This should lift the stain off. You can add polyquat 60 to the water before starting the stain treatment to avoid getting algae while the chlorine is low." I did add polyquat 60 to the water before beginning this. This is where I got that I needed to add more sequestering agent to lift the stains off. My pH hasn't gone above 7.2.

I'm beginning to wonder if the new steps I bought are leaching metal? I bought these. Since the railings are stainless steel I didn't think these would cause problems but I just can't find anything else that could cause this problem. In the past I have apparently had some type of metal issue based on the stains lifting from the skimmer where they were isolated to. I've never had this bad a problem though.
 

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