Ascorbic Acid Treatment - MBAR's suggestion

Hello, I am very very new to this forum and very new to pools as I just bought a foreclosed house with a very stained pool. The pool stains are black/brown/orange which after reading these postings make me believe that they are from metal. I have brushed with a metal brush for 3 weeks now and nothing. I want to try MBAR's Ascorbic Acid Treatment, but I have a cartridge filter and I don't know how to turn the filter off and "circulate" the water. Will the treatment work without turning the filter off? Please help. Thank you so much!!!!

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Originally Posted by jimmysam

Hello, I am very very new to this forum and very new to pools as I just bought a foreclosed house with a very stained pool. The pool stains are black/brown/orange which after reading these postings make me believe that they are from metal. I have brushed with a metal brush for 3 weeks now and nothing. I want to try MBAR's Ascorbic Acid Treatment, but I have a cartridge filter and I don't know how to turn the filter off and "circulate" the water. Will the treatment work without turning the filter off? Please help. Thank you so much!!!!

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Welcome to the forum. :)

Have you been able to test a small area with Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) to confirm that the stains are from metal? In the thread to which you refer (or perhaps you meant this one), chem geek said that he had or was going to perform this procedure (his pool configuration includes a cartridge filter) so he'd likely have some idea how that would work. I can't think of any good way to bypass the cartridge filter during this process and I'm not sure that the dissolved metals wouldn't just pass through cartridge media. Unless the metals originated in the make-up (fill) water it would make sense to drain some or all of the water after a successful treatment. That's one way to obviate continual monitoring and prevent a recurrence.

Of course, if the stains you describe are organic in nature, a period of high-chlorine would be your best bet. (Don't try both at once!)

Thank you for your response polyvue. No i havent tested it with a vitamin c tablet but thats a good idea. I spoke with a "pool guy" and he told me that the only way to bypass the cartridge is to remove the cartridge and run the filter without it. Im hestitant to do this as i don't want to ruin my filter or other equipment. Water looks clear to me and i did test the water and the ranges were pretty much normal. Thanks for your help. I hope chem geek sees this and helps me out. Id like to see if i cant shoot him/her or mbar a message but sadly enough i dont know how to do that either. Thanks for your reply. Much appreciate it.

I am sorry that I don't have any experience with cartridge filters. I don't know that it would hurt a cartridge filter, because it is just taking the ph down for a day or two. I would check with the company that your filter is from. First I would check to see if it is a metal stain by trying the vitamin C, or you can put a little ph down in a sock and rub it on the stain, if the stain disappears, then it is from metals. If not it may be an organic stain, which then is lifted by chlorine. You also need to give a full set of numbers, because you also need your water balanced to see if any of the staining disappears without doing anything else. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thank you mbar for your reply. I will do the vitamin c thing n check my numbers n post it and will let you know. Thanks.

Well, I bought vitamin c and tried putting it in a sock and pole and tried to rub it on the bottom of my pool, but that was too difficult as the stain was at the 9 foot deep end of my pool and the vitamin c kept on coming loose. I'm gonna try the ascorbic acid treatment and take out the filter cartridge to let the water circulate. Thanks for the help. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks.

You also can put some ph down in a sock, or crush up the vitamin c and put it in a sock and tie it to a pole and rub it on the bottom (I know it sounds ridiculous hee hee, but it works) I hate to see you spend the money on ascorbic acid if it isn't a metals stain, however if you have been keeping the pool at high chlorine levels and the stains did not go away, or lighten, it probably is metal stain. Sorry it took me so long to respond, but I was away. Good luck and let us know how it is going.:)

Hello friends!!!

I'd like to thank Mbar and everybody else for helping me out with my stains. I did the ascorbic acid treatment and within an hour, at least half of the black/brown/orange stains on my plaster went away which I was very grateful for. Unfortunately, the rest of the black/brown/orange stains are still there, I'd say about 35%-40%. I don't have any numbers right now to put up, but I will do that when I get back home. I do still have very noticeable yellow stains throughout my pool and hoping some super chlorinating will do the trick. I'm not sure however, what to do with the rest of the black/brown/orange stains, I've been reading in this forum about some people using Muriatic Acid (I hope I'm spelling that correctly), does anybody have any sugesstions about the Muriatic Acid and getting rid of the rest of the stains black/brown/orange or yellow stains. I'd like to substitute the Muriatic Acid for the the Ascorbic Acid and do the same treatment as MBAR treatment. Does anybody have any ideas. Thank you for all your help and responses. Much appreciated.

I have places on my deck where splashed muriatic acid has eaten holes in the concrete, even when rinsed. I would NOT use muriatic for stain removal until marie or chem-geek take a look at this and give an opinion.....

Janet

Thanks Janet! I'll wait for them to see what they say or recommend.

You may not have used enough ascorbic acid. Try rubbing some right on one of the stains that are left. If it lifts off it is from metal and you will need more ascorbic acid. If it does not lift off then it is not a mineral stain, and my come off when your chlorine levels have been steady for a while. Let us know how you do, and feel free to ask any other questions:)