Stain on Vinyl

Hi all,

I haven't posted here in a while. I used to be here a lot but had problems with logging on and by the time I was able to get on there were a lot of more knowledgeable people around and didn't feel I could contribute much.

Anyway, I open my pool and found a ring of either bacteria or algea on the pool wall for the second straight year. I scubbed the wall and shocked with approximately 2 1/2 gallons of ultra bleach. The stain still remains ... it was actually there last year as well. Funny thing there are parts of the wall that doesn't have this stain and the floor doesn't seem to be affected. It is at the level that the water settled over the winter.

My questions are what is it (if this could be answered) and can I do anything to get rid of the stain.

After opening up the pool, using a Taylor kit I figured I added over 8 PPM chlorine. I had no CYA and PH was at 7.4 ~ 7.6. I did not test for alkalinity. I tested the pool this morning and I had about 5 or 6 PPM chlorine and PH about the same.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Vinny

You can try a Mr. Clean Magic eraser, just rub it on the stain and see if that takes it off. You will need to get some cya in there, or you will lose your chlorine fast in sunlight. You didn't say if you lost the 2ppms overnignt or if it was from one day to the next (again the sunlight). If you lost the chlorine overnight, then you have some algae, and you will have to take it up to shock and keep it there by testing 3x a day till the chlorine holds overnight, keep the filter running 24/7 and brush the pool walls. Chlorine will get rid of organic stains, but if the stains are really stuck on, the Magic Eraser should take care of it. Let us know how you fare out:)

Thanks for the reply!

This is the second year of opening the pool that I have no CYA in the water. I threw in some trichlor tabs to boost chlorine and CYA. I've had the pool for 6 years now and the last 2 years have been a strange opening.

That chlorine reading I listed was overnight. I also had to replace the DE from the filter ... obviously I had a lot of stuff in my water. I did brush the sides and put in my pool cleaner in for the floor. Since I had over 3 PPM reading this morning I was under the impression that the chlorine had done it's job ... I have put in 3 gallons of bleach at night and wake up to no chlorine. I'll take a chlorine reading tonight and then tommorrow morning and see how the chlorine situation is going

I thought it was an organic (algea) stain but being in chlorine all last year and now this year with at least 8 PPM (possibly more) chlorine (and no cya) I would have thought the stain would have been bleached away. I'll try the magic eraser and see if that does anything.

Thanks again!

Vinny

I usually open to 0 cya in the spring. I live in the woods, and have a mesh cover, so I'm sure all kinds of things get in my pool, and the cya is eaten up by all that stuff. The same has happened in your pool, since you mentioned that you had a lot of stuff in your pool. You are fighting some kind of biological thing in the water. You will have to keep adding chlorine 3x a day to get it back to shock, keep brushing, backwashing, and keep the filter going 24/7. This year my pool was a pond when I opened - it took me almost 2 weeks of keeping my water at shock level for it to hold overnight. Even though the water was clear, and I didn't get any cc, the chlorine was still being eaten up. It didn't fall as fast the second week, but it still went down a couple of ppms, so I just kept adding bleach. My advice would be to kill it with chlorine now, and really keep on it, this way you will not be fighting it all summer. My pool is sparkling clean, and holding the chlorine! Just when I thought it never would.:) Let me know how it goes - keep using the trichlor pucks too - it is a good way to get some cya in your water. As for the stain, I think the eraser will work.

interesting..i have exactly the same thing from the sounds of it..a green stain all around the pool but not on the floor..it actually looks like 2 strips of stain and quite faint but obviously there..it's like at water level and goes down about say 5 inches, then it's like it's clear for about 6 then another one below. i too thought it was an algae stain..never had this before. i wonder if vinny has a chlorine generator as i've had the pool for 5 summers and this is the first year i've seen something like this (and first winter post using a chlorine generator. i always have a bit of algae to brush off and got most of it off but thought somehow it stained the liner permantly. i just happen to have a couple of magic brushes so i'll give that a whirl when i go swimming tomorrow and report back.

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Originally Posted by tenax

interesting..i have exactly the same thing from the sounds of it..a green stain all around the pool but not on the floor..it actually looks like 2 strips of stain and quite faint but obviously there..it's like at water level and goes down about say 5 inches, then it's like it's clear for about 6 then another one below. i too thought it was an algae stain..never had this before. i wonder if vinny has a chlorine generator as i've had the pool for 5 summers and this is the first year i've seen something like this (and first winter post using a chlorine generator. i always have a bit of algae to brush off and got most of it off but thought somehow it stained the liner permantly. i just happen to have a couple of magic brushes so i'll give that a whirl when i go swimming tomorrow and report back.

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I don't have a chlorine generator, just use bleach, trichlor and cal hypo as needed.

Last year was the first time it happened, this is the second. It seems to be at the winter water level which was lower than I originally had it. Maybe some sunlight got through my winter cover ... who knows. Funny thing is my original winter cover gave out on it's second year and the pool was virtually uncovered all winter with no staining.

Other than being stained, liner has no other problems that I know of. I didn't have a chance today to get into the pool but maybe tomorrow.

hmmm..interesting vinny. until this past winter, my pool was uncovered all winter. this past winter, i put on a leaf net, but no other cover..i'm trying to think of anything else i've done different..solar cover last year for most of the pool season? i was thinking maybe it was the amount of chlorine i used..i dumped in about 10 jugs in 4 days to shock, but i'm sure i've done that before. i knew these marks weren't algae persay by the way because they weren't slimy at all to touch..like a true mild green stain on the blue liner..just looks kind of like the pool walls are dirty, you know? well, tomorrow afternoon, we'll see what the magic brush does..if that doesn't work, i think i'll have to get some vitamin C to eliminate metal staining (which i think is highly unlikely given i use a chem test kit and we're blessed here with our water in that my chemicals are great..so you know, i did start with some cya in my pool this season, but did add more, but surprisingly, didn't need much..about 3/4 of one one quart size bottle or so brought it up to the 60 i was looking for. last year, i had to dump in 2 or 3 of those to get the level up. i'm wondering if maybe the cya was part of the problem..to simplify the differences, year before last i had nothing but a heater, pump, filter and used chlorine and chlorine pucks in combination. no cya, no solar cover, no salt generator. and no stains. ph and alkaline have always naturally been a good level.

this was bugging me and it's still light out so i reached in with the magic sponge and it takes the stain off just like that! some good arm exercise to be had tomorrow for a perfect swimming day!

I close my pool in Sept and don't look at it until May. I don't think I did anything unusual the past 2 years.

I was thinking that the stain may be caused by whatever ate the stabilizer, low PH, low alkalinity or a combination of all of them. I even thought that the stain may be from a rusty pool wall but my pool is only 6 years old and seems like it's in good condition externally

I agree it just looks dirty! Please let me know how you make out just in case I don't get to do it this weekend.

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Originally Posted by tenax

this was bugging me and it's still light out so i reached in with the magic sponge and it takes the stain off just like that! some good arm exercise to be had tomorrow for a perfect swimming day!

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Thanks! There's hope!

no problem..it took no scrubbing by the way..just a swipe across the stained area like cleaning a window and it comes off just like that. hopes your's is the same problem..and you know, you maybe onto something that it's the interaction of the cya with the algae or something as we do have that in common..my pool season, sadly, is the same as yours:)

Magic eraser didn't work. I tried it on 2 spots, even scrubbing the areas and nothing happened.

I guess it's time to go to a pool store and see if there's some magic chemical that'll work.

damn..sorry to hear that, vinny. have you tried vitamin C tablets yet to see if it's a metal stain? i had a pipe blow this morning in my pool shed so haven't had a chance to hit the pool yet to get after mine.