stupidly added iron out before opening - stains!

[edarling]

It has been an awful spring in the NE, which is the only good thing about still trying to open in JULY!!

I have had a leak behind my light - the electric conduit cracked and water was leaking all int here and causing a short in my electricity. So, I was waiting for the repair person for 4 weeks, and he finally came and fixed it.

I was shocking and using the aquabot to keep it kinda clear during this time, but after adding water from my well and buying another 900 gallons, it was very cloudy.

This is where my problem lies. I was advised by the water person to add the mineral magnet/iron out/etc to the pool before shocking to clean. So that is what I did. My water is much less cloudy, but now very green. I can see the bottom through green water that is staining everything.

I have a liner with the wide white stripes in the shallow end, and all that and the fixtures are now tinged a copper color. There are some copper stains like pennies were dropped somewhere.

I really want to get the pool open, so I would rather shock the pool and deal with the stains once it is in running order.

Also, I am selling the house after this season, so I can live with the copper ring stains for the summer. No one viewing the house will notice and the liner really should be replaced.

I am wondering if I just let it filter for another day, then shock, what do you expect to happen. Since I haven't opened yet, I really feel that shock would work better than algacide at this point. But, if there is a way to get rid of the stains AND get clean enough water to open, I am open for suggestions.

The numbers I have now are :

free cl - 0
total cl - 0
alk - 60
ph - 7

- betty

Is there any chance I can do that, or will the water remain clear.

[aylad]

In order for the metal magnet to sequester the copper, your chlorine levels have to stay fairly low--when you shock, it should cause the metals to fall out of suspension and possibly stain it worse. That being said....if your goal is just to get the pool open and deal with the stains later, then I would shock it, get all your chems where you want them, and THEN drop the chlorine level, add algaecide, and deal with the stains. If you do it the other way around and kill the stains first, then you're going to risk having them come back once you shock your water (and will delay opening that way, too). I highly suggest that you read through mbar's (Marie) stickies posted at the top of the metals forum--she's the resident expert on staining and I'm sure that she can help you through the process if you need it.

Janet

[edarling]

thanks for the info. I read the sticky a few times before posting, and I will do that. I really would like to get the thing opened - if it ever stops raining. So, I'll change the DE tomorrow night and shock after that.

The pool had a lot of dirt in it from digging to repair the electrical issue with the light, I think. The color of the water is from the dirt NOT the iron. It is clearing up much more than the day I posted. I can see to the bottom of the pool and this is only from filtering for 2 days after adding the iron-out product.

The plan is SHOCK, balance, swim for a bit, follow sticky post above to get rid of stains.

THanks

- betty