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ok i just came out of 2 back to back battles with green algae the pool is clear now but there are green stains on the diamondbrite walls and floors not everywhere but some spots have green stains that wont come off no matter how much i scrub it. What do i do? any help is appreciated.
You will need to determine if your stains are organic or metals first.
Take a vitamin C tablet and hold it to the stain for a few minutes or if you have stain on the step or floor drop a tab on a spot that is stained. If in a little while your stain is lightened or removed the staining is metals. You will have to proceed with a metal stain treatment.
If you can hold a chlorine tablet to the stain and it lessens or removes it, then your stain is organic and you can raise your chlorine levels to remove the stains.
thank you for the reply, ill go about testing the stains tonight with a trichlor puck since i dont have any vit c. if i just put the trichlor puck on top of the stain and let it sit there for 30-60mins and the stain is organic i should see some lightening correct, that period of time is enough? if the puck does nothing the stain is not organic and i need to get some vit c. will post results tonight/tomorrow
You are correct. Let us know if the puck lightens or removes your stain. :)
The bleach did lighten the green stain, but not much. also once i saw the stain lighten i put enough bleach to make 8ppm in my pool with 20 cya and brushed the stains but they didnt go away. what is my next step? and how do i get rid of the stains completely? also there one spot in the pool maybe 1foot by 6inches that is slighty off color greyish, not green. and it wont brush off or lighten with bleach or trichlor on it, any ideas? thanks for the help.
Ok, here's where Waterbear and mbar come in.. because I'm not sure totally if your stain is organic or metal... I'm thinking organic because you just did battle with algae and the chlorine tab did lighten it, but the grey stain sounds like metal.
I know for organic staining you need to raise your chlorine level very high.. much higher than 8ppm.. and keep it there a couple of days for the stains to be removed. Exactly how high I will have someone else answer because I don't want to give you bad information. I know at least 10ppm but it may be much higher than that.
The thing is, if you have metals in your water.. the high chlorine levels will cause them to make more stains :eek:
So... I want to ask those more experienced than I to help you now. I was actually hoping you "just" had metals and I could help you through the Ascorbic Acid treatment that I just finished up.
Evan.. Marie... can you help?
Ok thanks for your help, its appreciated. I think you are correct though and they are 90% all organic stains from the algae battles, most got a bit lighter with the bleach and scrubbing, however the grey stain has been there for awhile i just never bothered messing with it because its pretty small however i have had really high bleach levels even with this stain and never noticed any other stains or that stain get larger. when i scrub it, no affect. also the diamondbrite in that particular stain/area is very rough, much rougher than in all other areas of the pool, im not sure if that makes any diffrence, i will await more direction and information. thanks again. in the mean time i will continue to bleach and scrub the green stains.
-Arron
Ok, if you want to try the raising the chlorine level route, assuming the stains are organic, which we think they are... I read a post by Waterbear where he told another forum member to raise the Chlorine level to 30ppm and keep it there until the stains are lifted. So you can try to keep raising your chlorine level until you get it to 30ppm and keep it there a couple of days or whatever it takes.
The downside is that if you have metals you may wind up with the metal staining after your organics are gone. If you do we can deal with that by using Ascorbic Acid.
hmmmm.... gray stains are usually plaster issues, called mottling. Although this appears randomly in more than one spot in your pool. But coincidentally, the diamond brite is rough in that same area tells me that it is a plaster issue rather than a metallic or organic stain.
hm thanks for your responce, i think are you correct. however i dont remember seeing the stain 6months ago or maybe i just never noticed it, it is pretty small in either case i guess there is nothing i can do assuming it is a plaster related issue correct? besides replaster.
Don't quote me on this, but lowering the pH level may whiten it, similar to acid washing the surface.
Short of draining and acid washing the surface, there are "no drain acid wash kits".
You can also try to isolate the area and dose some acid over the area.
Since you're in South Florida, so is SGM (they're in Pompano). May be worth a call to them to see how they recommend treating it.