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My fiberglass pool was all brown. I managed to remove all the stains with iron eraser. I have read many posts on this forum and have taken lots of notes. If I am correct I think I need to keep my chlorine and ph on the low side and keep my calcium on the high side so these stains do not return. I also need to put in a sequestering agent so the metals stay in the water not my walls. Please someone tell me what you think about what I think I learned from all my reading.
I think you've done well and have a pretty good grasp on what to do now :)
Enjoy your pool!!
Hi Jamie;
What you've done is a good start (well, you might skip the calcium) but maintaining a stain free pool usually requires more of a long-term plan.
The reason is two-fold:
1. Sequestrants have a purely temporary effect. You can keep adding them, of course. But all the effective ones are phosphate based, and once they break down, they become algae-food. That's OK for awhile, but eventually you've made your pool so hospitable to algae generally, that the algae will kind of 'overlook' the chlorine, and take up residence anyhow!
2. The iron in your pool didn't fall out of the sky, (well, maybe it did, but it's not likely), but however it did get into your pool . . . it's probably still getting there. The first place to look is the water you fill the pool with. If you have well water with iron, you probably already know. If you're not sure -- check the inside of your toilet tank: if it's dark orange-y brown, you have iron in your water.
So, go ahead with what you're planning (minus the calcium) but remember the clock's ticking: you're going to have to ID the source, and decide how to deal with it.
For starters, you will need the K2006 kit (test kit link in my sig): accurate water testing is essential when you're dealing with metals, and most pool stores do not provide that. Test strips don't either.
Let us know what you find, and think about where the iron came from, and see if there's any obvious answer.
Good luck.