White water mold and Iron

thewakefield3

New member
May 23, 2025
3
South Carolina
Hi all. New here. We made the mistake of covering our pool this winter (never again) and ever since it's been nothing but problems. We uncovered it and super shocked the dark green water, all was fine. Water cleared up nicely but the pool steps turned rusty brown. After much research, discovered it was iron, so we used Pool. Magnet Plus and Sparkle Up according to directions....PERFECTION! All was great for a week, yesterday it looked like toilet paper all in the pool and growing on the steps. I figured out that was white water mold. Not completely sure how to remedy that situation, so I super shocked yesterday and this morning woke up to no mold floating around, but brown steps again. I'm losing it it! Please help!!!!! What am I doing wrong?? I appreciate any advice.
 
Welcome to TFP.

You are using the wrong methods to get an algae free and iron free pool.

Our SLAM Process using your own test kit is how you get your pool algae free.



The Ascorbic Acid Treatment - Further Reading is how you lift iron off pool surfaces.

One you get the iron in solution you either need to drain the pool and replace it with iron free water or continuously use a Sequestrant - Further Reading to keep the iron in solution.

Do you know where the iron in your pool came from?
 
So I've always only maintained
Welcome to TFP.

You are using the wrong methods to get an algae free and iron free pool.

Our SLAM Process using your own test kit is how you get your pool algae free.



The Ascorbic Acid Treatment - Further Reading is how you lift iron off pool surfaces.

One you get the iron in solution you either need to drain the pool and replace it with iron free water or continuously use a Sequestrant - Further Reading to keep the iron in solution.

Do you know where the iron in your pool came from?
Chlorine
Welcome to TFP.

You are using the wrong methods to get an algae free and iron free pool.

Our SLAM Process using your own test kit is how you get your pool algae free.



The Ascorbic Acid Treatment - Further Reading is how you lift iron off pool surfaces.

One you get the iron in solution you either need to drain the pool and replace it with iron free water or continuously use a Sequestrant - Further Reading to keep the iron in solution.

Do you know where the iron in your pool came from?
I've always only maintained balanced chlorine for years with no issues at all until this year. After adding four 1lb bags of shock to the pool, the steps turned brown. I know for a fact it's from over shocking because it's the second time it's happened and it's the only thing we did to the pool yesterday. The water was crystal clear but the white mold was everywhere, so the only way I knew to get rid of it was super shocking. I've never seen or experienced white mold. I'm sure in dis something wrong. But now it seems that I'm in a cycle. Brown steps means I have to use pool magnet plus and sparkle up but in order to use those correctly, the filter has to be off. I'm not sure what in the world caused the white mold unless it's from having the filter off. Now I'm back at square one.
 
You are using chemicals we don’t recommend.

Somehow you got iron in your water. Super shock raises the pH which causes iron to flop out of solution.

Super shock does not get your pool algae free. It just gets rid of the visible algae. The algae will return when you drop the FC level for the iron treatments.

You will be in that cycle unless you get rid of the iron in the water.
 
Ok. I understand. But the issue was white water mold, not algae. How else could I have gotten rid of that? I didn't find an abundance of information on the subject and kind of panicked and wanted to get rid of it.

Mold and algae if the same family.

What chemicals do you recommend I use?

Chlorine.