looking for info on liner staining due to iron and how ionizer interacts

I understand that an ionizer puts iron into the pool. Last year I had a leak and had to add lots of well water that has...iron. So staining occurred. I've read up on removing the staining, however, am looking for info as to how to keep iron levels down in a pool with an ionizer.

Why do you need the ionizer? What kind of pool do you have and what equipment?

I should have done a Google search before posting! Looks like mentioning 'ionizer' on a pool forum is akin to shouting 'democrat!' at a republican party (or vise versa!). I've had my inground, 28000 gal pool for 14 years. The installer convinced me to build it with the ionizer (to save $$ on chemicals) and I have to say the pool's chemistry was pretty much perfect up until last year (I would add a gallon of bleach every 2-3 weeks). Last year the pool started losing water via a small hole and until I figured that out I kept filling it with well water - which of course is loaded with minerals. So the liner started looking stained. I added Stain Free and it seemed to clear it up, however, I opened the pool about a month ago and the shallow end looks stained to me again. So I was just looking for info. I think I'm going to hit it with ascorbic acid & another Stain Free treatment, back off/shut off the ionizer, go with chlorine tablets and see what happens. I'm starting to think CONDO?

There is a lot of info in our section of the forum that deals with metals. You can also use this link to search. It will search all of the forum and also our sister website www.poolsolutions.com. (It is much better than using the search feature that is part of the forum software.)

http://pool9.net/search/

(Until you registration is completed, you won't be able to see the rest of the forum while you are logged in. So, copy that link and then paste it into a browser window after you log out.)

Hope you are able to find some information that will be helpful to you. :)

. . . membership updated.

An ionizer doesn't add iron, ever. It adds copper, and sometimes, silver or zinc as well.

Copper and silver cause pools stains. Copper causes green hair.

Copper DOES kill algae; it does NOT kill bacteria reliably or quickly. Silver kills bacteria, eventually, but does not affect viruses.

Consequently, pools with ionizers tend to be algae-free, but stained. They are also usually unsanitary. If you swim ONLY with family, that's probably OK, since you tend to already share infections with family members. But if you swim with non-family members, you have a good chance of sharing brand new (to you) infections and diseases.

Some people like them. If you have (a) dark hair, (b) don't mind stains, and (c) swim only with really healthy people . . . an ionizer might be a good idea.

The problem is, that the ionizer sales sleaze-balls don't tell potential customers any of this, so ionizers get installed on pools with twin platinum blonde girls in the family, with predictable and unhappy results, etc.

PF is my site, and I'm probably not as against them as some here. I believe in letting people buy what they want, as long as it's an informed decision; after all my preferred place to swim is in the ocean or in mountain streams and rivers around Chattanooga and NONE of those places are sanitary!

But I don't want to support Cu/Ag ionizers here, because (a) it confuses the chemistry beyond belief for new pool owners and (b) we end up wasting time fighting all the sales lies that ionizer owners bring with them. (We'd rather wait till they are sick of the things, and no longer believe that stuff. ;) )

thanks for the info Ben. currently it's extremely rare than anyone swim in the pool besides me(!), however, I get the cons of the ionizer. and the thing HAS worked for us for 14 years - 3 kids and all their friends. a beautifully clear pool with maintenance little more than throwing in a gallon of bleach every 2-3 weeks (no reason why I did it on a 2-3 week basis beyond wanting to make sure there was some chlorine in there).

so for now my focus is to just get rid of the staining. I'll shut the ionizer off (or turn it way down?) and try chlorine tablets for awhile. see what happens.

thanks again and have fun swimming in all those non-pool places. the ocean is definitely where it's at for me!

cindy

Getting rid of the stains will require a LOT more than turning off the ionizer and adding chlorine. In fact, raising the chlorine high on a heavily stained pool will tend to make the stains worse.

Bottom line: stain removal is not compatible with ionizer use; on a pool where an ionizer has been used for 14 years, it's probably not even possible without draining and refinishing.

Important note: any chemicals that help REMOVE the stains will DISABLE the ionizer's positive effects, and make it rather likely you get algae.

Recommendation: live with the stains and continue to use the ionizer. If you want to get rid of the stains, get a new finish (or a new liner) and then dump the ionizer and switch to chlorine. Don't try to mix and match. (This is why we don't support ionizer use -- it's just not at all compatible with the way we approach pool care!)

Thanks again. Lesson learned (albeit the hard way). I'll follow your recommendations and live with the staining. Have a good summer.

Your welcome!