Stain slowly increasing over last three years of owning pool

[banjeman]

I have a plaster pool and it is a long story, but to keep it short I have struggled to maintain good chemical balance due to me traveling and my wife not testing chemicals. Anyway so over the three years I have had weird stains develop at the crevise of my pool steps and mostly just on my steps, well earlier this year it started to spread onto the walls like wildfire and I am not even sure it is the same kind of stain as they appear to differ in color.

1. My pool has never tested positive for any metals.
2. I have done two stain test kits (jack's magic and some other one) on my steps.
3. Of the Jacks Magic, I believe Stain solution #1 worked a little, all the others had no affect on the stains on the steps.
4. Because the steps are fairly shallow I have actually poured (used an injection system) Muratic Acid directly on the stain and it appeared to remove the stain, only to see it come back over time.
5. I tried chlorine tab directly on it and had no affect.
5. My last test was this CL: 12 (I know it is high we just had a monsoon that flooded my pool) PH: 7.4 ALK: 90 CH: 200 (it was 290 before the massive rain) CYA: 80 Salt: 3000 I use a K-2005 test kit with additional DFAS-DPD for Chlorine.

I really want to post pictures to show the stains, but the FAQ section wasn't helpful with this, so if anyone can explain how to upload the pictures I would be grateful.

[PoolDoc]

Post pictures using this button: http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/images/editor/insertimage.png and links to the image at Photobucket, Flickr, Picasa, etc.

Or email them to poolforum@gmail.com . . . but I'm behind on those and it will be mid-week or later before I get them posted.

I'll have to see if the MSDS sheets reveal what's in "Jacks #1", but without that information, telling me that it removed the stain may help Jack, but it does nothing for us. Instead try using Vitamin C tablets on one area, and little pile of Iron Out on another. Vitamin C is ascorbic acid, and Iron Out is sodium hydrosulfite + sodium metabisulfite.

[banjeman]

OK figured out why I wasnt seeing the picture icon. my profile was set to basic messaging. Anyway Jack #1 is iron, cobalt, etching. Hopefully the pictures I took will show up below:
http://s1285.photobucket.com/user/banjeman/slideshow/Pool%20Stains

[banjeman]

Looks like PhotoBucket you have to place them in individual albums for them to show up. Take two if this don't work clicking on the link above will take you to a slideshow of all the pool photos.
Below Image is to show what has happened to the wall, there is another spot on the wall in another location
http://i1285.photobucket.com/albums/a590/banjeman/Pool%20Stains/ONE%20PHOTO/IMG_0054_zps925ed577.jpg

The below image is of the top step zoomed in.
http://i1285.photobucket.com/albums/a590/banjeman/Pool%20Stains/SECOND%20PHOTO/IMG_0058_zps69343caf.jpg

This is showing staining on a climb out in the deep end.
http://i1285.photobucket.com/albums/a590/banjeman/Pool%20Stains/IMG_0057_zps06231b2b.jpg (http://s1285.photobucket.com/user/banjeman/media/Pool%20Stains/IMG_0057_zps06231b2b.jpg.html)

[PoolDoc]

Definitely, try Vit. C and Iron Out on them.

You may want to look at this post I just made:
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php/24035-Iron-Pellets-Stains?p=118778#post118778

[banjeman]

Definitely, try Vit. C and Iron Out on them.

You may want to look at this post I just made:
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php/24035-Iron-Pellets-Stains?p=118778#post118778

I find it hard to believe it would be iron, I use city water and in the three years no pool store test has ever showed metals. The thing I wonder is I do get a lot of soil into the pool. Is there a type of staining directly related to always dealing with rain bringing in yard soil? Not sure what Etching is could that be it?

[PoolDoc]

Look in your toilet tank - is IT stained? What color?

(Iron can be present, but not show up on tests, because once it hits the pool, it becomes a stain so quickly. And once it's a stain, it's no longer in the water!)

[banjeman]

In three years I have lived here never lifted the toilet tank (house and pool where built new).

So toilet tank photos:

Toilet Tank at stand still:
http://i1285.photobucket.com/albums/a590/banjeman/Toilet/IMG_20140601_210408_zps317a64cf.jpg (http://s1285.photobucket.com/user/banjeman/media/Toilet/IMG_20140601_210408_zps317a64cf.jpg.html)
Toilet Tank Flushing:
http://i1285.photobucket.com/albums/a590/banjeman/Toilet/IMG_20140601_210416_zps002185e9.jpg (http://s1285.photobucket.com/user/banjeman/media/Toilet/IMG_20140601_210416_zps002185e9.jpg.html)

[PoolDoc]

No metals in your water!!

I should qualify that, after looking more closely. I should have said: "Very low levels of iron in your water!"

Bottom line though, is still the result of testing Vitamin C and Iron Out on stained areas.

[banjeman]

No metals in your water!!

I should qualify that, after looking more closely. I should have said: "Very low levels of iron in your water!"

Bottom line though, is still the result of testing Vitamin C and Iron Out on stained areas.

Yeah I will get some vit c and iron out to test. It will be a few days as I will most likely get them from amazon.

[PoolDoc]

I'm not sure if it's a typo, but their current price for Iron Out is very cheap:

Super Iron Out IO30N Rust Stain Remover (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0014X7B22/scouscho-20)

Ascorbic Acid Powder (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0013OUMVO/scouscho-20)

[banjeman]

I'm not sure if it's a typo, but their current price for Iron Out is very cheap:

Super Iron Out IO30N Rust Stain Remover (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0014X7B22/scouscho-20)

Ascorbic Acid Powder (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0013OUMVO/scouscho-20)

So Vitamin C is used to put the iron back into the pool? Or does Iron Out and the Vit C do different things. I ask because I have a 13.5k pool and wondering if I need to go ahead and get 2 lbs of Vit C or just a small bottle to test first?

I know I am not at that stage yet, as I still need to verify it will work with testing a spot. With that being said as you know I have a SWCG and IntelliPH. I notice in your process you say use bleach to bring up chlorine. Do you think I can get the same affect with an SWCG? plus once chlorine comes back you say to use borax to slowly bring up PH, I assume my intelliPH will allow me to do that no problem. Is there any affect to my salt PPM in the pool while doing this treatment (i.e. will it reduce salt levels).

I am just trying to make sure I fully understand how to bring the system back up after treating.

[PoolDoc]

Just use them both on spots, and see if the spots are lifted.

Let's worry about full understanding, later. If neither lift the spots, there's not much here to understand.

BOTTOM LINE: We do NOT have a reliable procedure for removing stains and then removing the metals from the pool. We've had some success with working out methods by which people can manage the stains and metal, but we are a long way from a reliable complete method.