HELP - Ascorbic Acid treatment - I have a problem

Help please... Marie, I wish I knew your number...and I'm sure you're glad right now that i don't have it..;)

Anyway, I put my pump on recirculate after dropping the ascorbic acid treatment in and my pump is losing water out the drain hose, where water comes out when I backwash! I was losing a lot of water so I have the hose in the skimmer now. I put some metal treat in too.

I turned the pump off and came in to see if I can get some help as to what to do. My pump also has a setting that says "close" - would that work?

I can see where I dropped the AA down the sides of the pool.. it does work like magic. What a time to discover a problem with my filter!!!!!!:mad:

If your valve is a Hayward, then CLOSE simply shuts all the pipes. That won't work. Sounds like you have a leaky gasket in the valve. Have you ever replaced it? I typically replace mine at startup every year. (They are under $10).

If you have a way to divert your WASTE hose to your pool, that will keep you from losing so much water. But putting the hose in the skimmer basket is recirculating that water from the basket to the pump to the basket without mixing it much in the pool. Place the hose farther away from the basket to allow the recirc'd water to mix with the pool water.

I have never replaced the gasket... I don't know how to do that yet.

I do have a pool guy coming to look at the lights at 6, I will see if he has a gasket with him or something.

Great idea about moving the drain hose to the pool and using Waste. I will try that! The stains are lighter and the sidewalls are streaky right now with the pump off. I'm hoping by getting some circulation going that these stains will disappear.

Thanks for your help.

Ok the pool guy came.. he wasn't much help at all.

It seems I do have a bad gasket so I can't recirculate. Putting the drain hose in the pool was an option but I tried it and busted the clamp which holds the hose on so that's not an option now either.

Can I run it on filter? Or should we get in and stir it around?

Now I am at a complete loss and quite heartbroken about the whole thing.

Pool guy didn't fix my light either. There is water and gunk in the dome.

Run the filter...it will work fine that way. I have a cartridge filter so I don't have the option of recirculate and I have used ascorbic acid sucessfully.

BTW, sounds like you need to find a different pool guy!

Thanks.

I finally got a new clamp for the waste hose and it's been zig-zagging all around the pool for over an hour now. I still have stains.

My staining is streaky and lighter but on the one part that was the darkest stain it doesn't look like the ascorbic has touched it :confused:

Marie had said there was more that could be done but she didnt' say what.

Did you drop your FC to about 1 ppm and your pH to about 7.0-7.2 before putting in the ascorbic acid? Also, did you put a seqesterant in the water after you put in the ascorbic acid? IF not that could be why some staining still remains. If your pH is high I would try dropping it down and see if that helps. Filter for about 24 hours. If you has high chlorine levels when you put it in you burned some of it up before it got a chance to work on the stains. You might need to get the chlorine and pH down and repeat the treatment in that case.

I dropped my FC down to 0 before starting. My Ph may have been around 7.6 though. I thought the AA would just pull it down... I did put a sequesterant in actually both before and after because I added water before I started and so I added sequesterant with the water, then treated again after I put in the AA.

So, I'm not sure now other than the Ph. Should I check the Ph and drop it now? Do you think that would make a difference at this stage in the game?

I'm going to order another dose of AA. In any case I'm sure i will have to try again.

Drop the pH. If your pool is vinyl don't go below 7.2. If it is plaster or filberglass drop it to about 7.0 and then filter for 24 hours to see if the stains get lighter or disappear. You might also want to test the darkest stains with a vitimin C to see if they lighten. If they do then another dose of ascorbic acid will help. IF they don't post back and we can try some other things.

Thanks for helping me. I am going to go out and test the Ph and lower it if it needs it. My pool is 8500ig fiberglass.

My Ph is 6.8 right now. I've got the pump on recirculate. I will post tomorrow about how the stains are looking.

Thanks,

Gerri

Waterbear, today I still have stains although they are much lighter and streaky. I still have the pump running on circulate. The Ph is very low. I don't want to do damage. I may have more AA tomorrow. I ordered it last night and if they shipped it today it may come tomorrow because they are only 130 miles from me. Have you ordered from the Chemisty Store in Cayce SC before? Are they fast shippers?

Any advice as to what to do? Can I keep it as is and add more AA tomorrow if it gets here?

Thanks

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Originally Posted by gerri

Waterbear, today I still have stains although they are much lighter and streaky. I still have the pump running on circulate. The Ph is very low. I don't want to do damage. I may have more AA tomorrow. I ordered it last night and if they shipped it today it may come tomorrow because they are only 130 miles from me. Have you ordered from the Chemisty Store in Cayce SC before? Are they fast shippers?

Any advice as to what to do? Can I keep it as is and add more AA tomorrow if it gets here?

Thanks

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Are you sure you pH is 6.8 or is it possibly lower? You might want to add just a bit of borax to bring it up to 7.0 just to be safe. If there is still staining you can add more ascorbic acid around the stained areas when you get it. Sometimes it can take a while for all the staining to disappear. Adding more seqesterant can sometimes help also. I have never ordered ascorbic acid mail order. I get it locally.

I'll check the Ph again to be sure and add borax if it's too low. I'm glad I stocked up on everything before I started this treatment process.:)

Well my Ascorbic Acid didn't come today. I am so hoping it gets here tomorrow.

I tested my Ph again and it's creeping up! It is 7.8 now.. should I add some Muriatic Acid to lower it? I'm so scared of handling the MA. I don't know how much for 8500 gallons either.

I am sorry to seem so ignorant.

add about a pint and then test the pH a few hours later. If it has not come back down enough add another cup to pint and test again. How much to add really depents on how high (or low) your TA is at this point.

My TA is very high, over 220. I need to test again to get a really accurate reading but I know it is very high.

I will add some MA tonight. Do you wear goggles and saftey gear when using it? I'm really scared of it. :confused:

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Originally Posted by gerri

...I will add some MA tonight. Do you wear goggles and saftey gear when using it? I'm really scared of it. :confused:

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You should wear safety glasses or a face shield and gloves (almost any will do), avoid breathing the fumes, and keep it away from other chemicals but it's nothing to be scared of. With those safety precautions and a healthy respect for strong acids, you'll be fine. You can also dilute it in some pool water in a bucket before adding it to the pool (always add acid to water, never the other way around), but I don't think that's necessary.

Muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid) IS a chemical that deserves respect but should not be feared. You probably use things just as dangerous every day. Ever use Draino? It's lye, every bit as dangerous as muriatic acid. Ever use liquid toilet bowl cleaner....active ingredient in most of them is hydrochloric acid. Ever put gasoline into your lawn mower? Do you know how explosive gasoline vapors are? The biggest danger in using muriatic acid is fear because that leads to accidents. You should respect it and take safety precautions but if you are afraid of it don't use it! You can use sodium bisulfate (dry acid, pH decreaser) instead. It is easier to use but still a dangerous chemcal. Rubber gloves and eye protection are always a good idea when working with chemicals. Keep pets and children away from the area while you work with it. And remember that if you get any on yourself you can just jump into the pool to wash it off quickly. The most important rule is NEVER ADD WATER TO ACID...ALWAY add the acid to water.

I got over my fear of Hydrochloric Acid last night and added some. Today Ph was about the same though so I just added a little more.

My AA still didn't come today. I'm not too happy about that. I have the filter running on filter, switched over from recirculate. I also added a touch of bleach. Since it's going to be all weekend it looks like I'm just going to be starting over when the AA finally gets here.

The good news is my TA has dropped down to about 180 now.

keep adding acid in small amounts until the pH starts to drop. Your high TA is keeping the pH from moving easily. Once you overcome it it will move fast so be careful. Get it back down to about 7.0 and keep it there. It might help lift some more of the stain. Also, if you have not maxed out on seqesterant you could add another dose.

I got the tracking number on my AA. They just shipped it today and it's supposed to be delivered on Monday. I called every local pool store, the pharmacy and a specialty hardware store looking for it locally yesterday and just no one has it. They only have Oxalic which I tried and it's no where near as effective on my stains as the Ascorbic. So I have to wait.

I will check Ph again in a little while and see where I'm at. I'm going to try to have it at 7.0 exactly on Monday when UPS comes. I'm so ready to get rid of these stains. I really think the AA is going to work out when I get my hands on more of it. I should have ordered 2# to start with but I thought with 8500g that 1/2 to 1# would be plenty. My stains are just brutal and all over. The vitamin C tabs do remove it even in the worst areas so I'm confident that AA will take care of it.

Thanks again for your help. This is an awesome forum and I'm so glad I found it rather than just struggling with my pool.

Have a great weekend. :) I will keep you posted on my progress.

If you can find NaturalChemisty's Stain Free at a pool store it is ascorbic acid (although it is EXPEN$IVE ascorbic acid).

Thanks for the tip. I will call around tomorrow to see if anyone has it...although I hate expensive stuff.. lol... I think I hate stains even more.

I would just wait. the stains aren't going anywhere and your order is on the way. What you need is a big bottle of POP (Pool Owner Patience)!:D

LOL... I am really low on POP! ;)