Want to get the chemicals right ...

[PoolDoc]

We have 8 lbs of stabilizer on hand. Should we use that and liquid chlorine instead of the Dichlor?

That would be fine, but with a cartridge filter, it's rather hard to dissolve. Put it in some old athletic socks, and hang them in front of your returns.

We have 11 bags of Sam's pool shock on hand. Is that the same as the granules?

If it's "PoolBrand" bagged shock, yes it is, and it's fine to use.

Should we be keeping our inline chlorinator with 3 in trichlor tabs while we are getting in balance?

Don't use the chlorinator. If you still have tabs, put them in the skimmer. In your chlorinator, they tend to result in pools stains. But, in the skimmer, they tend to result in staining your cartridge . . . which is a GOOD thing. Just make sure that no OTHER chemicals (including bleach, but excepting borax) come into direct contact with the tabs.

[Debits26]

PoolDoc:
Here's the list as best as I can supply. I ordered the Taylor kit from In the Swim yesterday and should get it tomorrow. I did not get the HTH kit as my pool is looking pretty good and I don't want to throw another $20 down the drain. Unless you tell me there's a reason I need both kits.

Chemicals we have on hand:
1. 5 Bags of Pool Brand dichlor pool shock
2. 3 gallons Transchem 20° Baume muriatic acid
3. Approx. 25 lbs of Pool Brand 3-in. tabs.

As for other equipment:
1. I can't tell you anymore about the filter. It is sand, made by Jacuzzi, approximately 36 in. diameter. We had it installed before 2005. We had a house fire in 2005 and lost paperwork like the pool filter manual, etc. (I guess I could get the records from the pool store ...)
2. We have a heater. The water runs through it, but it has not been able to heat the water since before the 2005 house fire. (we think the contractor forgot to attach the gas line, and we haven't needed it)
That's really it for equipment.

History of 2012 pool opening (sorry this is so long):

During the week of June 20th we drained the pool completely, sprayed down the debris and got it all out and started fresh with our iron-filled well water. We set up our hose to fill a small baby pool. Put our 1.25 hp submersible pump in the pool and pumped the water through a culligan undersink filter contraption. On June 23rd we realized too much iron was still getting through and we quit while we waited for the Metal Trap to be delivered. During the wait, we put 1 gallon of liquid chlorine in the deep end where the water was, then started using the 1.25 submersible pump to send the water in the pool through the culligan-type undersink filter. (we do catch a lot of the iron in that filter)

June 28, began filling again using the Metal Trap on our hose. No other chemical was added until we got it full, which was about July 3rd.
July 4th: Used test strips to measure levels. PH was 8+ Added 1 gallon Transchem muriatic acid (20• Baume 31.45%) and swam in it all day. Water was almost clear, sort of greenish
July 5th: Pool store provided the following measurements:
• Total chlorine: 0.5
• Free chlorine: 0
• CYA: 0
• PH: 8.2
• Alkalinity: 288
• Hardness: 325
• Copper: 0
• Iron: 0
• TDS: 300
Their suggestions scared me. Added 1 gallon muriatic acid no change in color or clarity, started trolling the pool forum to figure out if I should add chlorine slowly or all at once.

July 6th: Took a sample to a different pool store to test the info provided by the first store. I had only added that 1 gallon of muriatic and got these new numbers:
• TC: 1.1
• Free Chlorine: 0.0
• Combined Chlorine: 1.1
• CYA: 5
• PH: 7.9
• Alkalinity: 309
• Hardness: 230
• Copper:0
• Iron:0
• TDS: 500
• Nitrate: 1
Took their advice (BAD IDEA)
• Added 4 quarts GLB Algemycin 2000 ,
• 4 gallons Transchem muriatic acid,
• 4 lbs. Royal Stabilizer,
• 8 gallons of So White Swim Kleer bleach (12.5% sodium hypochlorite)

July 7th: Woke up to BROWN water, perfectly clear, but brown. Added 4 lbs. Stabilizer, 1 quart Lynde Co. Unique clarifier, 1 quart Bioguard Pool Magnet plus. Water changed to greenish. Went back to the second pool store to tell them what happened and showed them a picture. They had no idea, just told us to keep doing what they told us the day before. We left and have not been back.
Water measures from this day:
• TC: 7.6
• Free: 4.0
• Combined: 3.6
• CYA: 15
• PH: 7.2
• Alkalinity: 246
• Hardness: 230
• Copper .16 (from the algaeside, ya think?!!)
• Iron: 0
• TDS: 570
• Nitrate: 19

Added three more gallons of muriatic acid and two more quarts HTH metal control from Walmart in the afternoon. Water color and clarity hasn’t changed.

July 8th: Using AquaChem test strips
• FC: 10+
• TC: 10+
• CYA: Less than 30
• PH: ~7.6
• Alkalinity: ~200

Swam all day with 3 dogs and 10 people in and out of the pool.
Ph looked higher on the strip in the evening, and chlorine was still high. Added 3 gallons muriatic.

July 9th: Backwashed in the morning, put one Pool Brand triclor 3-in. tab in the skimmer and started adding fill water on top of the tab, still using the Metal Trap. Test strips showed:
• FC: 8
• TC: 8
• CYA: Less than 30
• PH: 7.2
• Alkalinity in range
Have completely realized the color is due to stain on the fiberglass sides and concrete bottom. Got ascorbic acid to test. Amazing!!!!! Color comes right off the fiberglass. Have not tried the concrete.
Followed Ben’s advice all day yesterday with chlorine, though most likely our chlorine is fine. It’s been very high and holding since Saturday. Ordered the Taylor test kit. Since our chlorine is high, I’m going to wait the two days to get the Taylor kit and not spend the extra $20 on the HTH kit.

Total of 12 cups of Pool Brand dichlor added today.
• Free and Total Chlorine is higher than test strips will measure
• CYA: probably still under 30
• PH: 7.6
• Alkalinity in range.

July 10th: I will get the test kit tomorrow or Thursday, and provide accurate measurements. Until then, I think we will sit on it. Water is clearer this morning, and chlorine is still higher than can be discerned using test strips. I think our real problem with water color and clarity is the metal stain on all surfaces. Would like to use Ascorbic acid to clean it all off. I printed off the Sticky forum post instructions for doing that.
1. What brand of sequestering agent do you recommend to keep the metal from restaining the surfaces?
2. Is there any product or process that will actually get the metal out? I saw an entry on the forum at one point, but can’t find it again. Can you point me there?

[PoolDoc]

1. I hope you got the K-2006 FAS-DPD (listed at $85 for the K-2006A) and not the K-2005 (listed at $70 for the K2005A). If not, you'll need to order the K-1515.

2. The HTH is a re-labeled Taylor, with an OTO / phenol red block. Unlike the DPD color match in the K2005, OTO provides a reliable and inexpensive way to QUICKLY test the water. So, it's helpful to have both.

3. The complete metal stain removal process is here: http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?7923
Please note that NONE of the steps are optional, so far as we know. Also, the process MUST proceed in the order described; do it out of order and you are likely to waste both your time and your money. Order links for the products needed are present on that page. If you choose NOT to use those order links, you must be VERY careful, particularly with the HEDP. Other liquid stain and scale product have different ingredients, and are NOT adequate substitutes.

4. I'm not going to put much effort into working out your test results, till you have some version of the Taylor. We see too many bogus 'guess-strip' results to be willing to trust them. The pH test is usually not too bad, and the chlorine test is about as accurate as OTO testing, but with a narrower range. CH and TA testing can be pretty bad, and CYA results are often random.

But it looks like things are generally moving in a positive direction, and that your high TA is responding to keeping the pH low.

[Debits26]

Got my Taylor K2006 and tested everything, though I'm not exactly sure what 2 "dippers" are?

FC: 15.0
TC: .5
CYA: <30
Ph: 7.0 (5 drops to get to 7.4)
TA: 165
Hardness: 350
Saturation index: .15

Water is clear, any color is the reflection from the stain. But I think the stain is lightening each day probably due to the metal out I put in over the weekend.

I know I need to get more CYA in, and probably raise the pH. Do I need to lower the chlorine, or just let the sun do the work?

Thanks again for holding my hand through this!!

[Debits26]

Correction: saturation index is -.15

Also, what is the PF: 2.7 in my signature line?

[PoolDoc]

Do NOT raise the pH; your TA needs to drop, and you'll also tend to restain. Hold the pH at 7.0 - 7.2 until your TA is around 100.

Consider buying some CuLater units:
The CuLator product is a special patented plastic material, contained in a bag that goes into the skimmer, that can slowly take metals OUT of your pool water. We think it works, and have some evidence that it does, but not proof yet. (Not likely to be available locally.)

1 ppm Culator @ Amazon
1.5 ppm Culator sold by Amazon, shipped from Periodic
4 ppm Culator sold by Amazon, shipped from Periodic
Poolmaster 16242 Poolmaster Skimmer Basket Liner @ Amazon (to protect CuLator from being damaged by scum)

Remember, any metal lifted by the Metal Out is STILL in the pool water. Since you have a sand filter, you can remove metals by chlorinating with cal hypo in a somewhat tricky way -- but the CuLator units are much less tricky and seem to work.

Dichlor is a VERY easy way to chlorinate in your situation -- it adds chlorine (good), adds CYA (good for now) and tends to lower the pH (also, good for now!) The trick is getting dichlor that hasn't been diluted with goop that useless or worse (and I mean that literally, not figuratively!). If you have access, Sams Club is the cheapest source, but the Kem-Tek at Amazon is not bad:

24 lbs PoolBrand bagged shock @ Sams Club
Kem-Tek Dichlor 22 lbs @ Amazon

[Debits26]

The pool has been looking pretty good for the last few days. Here's my primary question at this point:

In my large pool, how much of the different chlorine sources will add 1ppm to the overall pool?
Dichlor
Bleach
Trichlor pucks

Once I have those numbers stuck in my head, I'll be able to maintain the right FC levels. Last night we were still at 11ppm. I'll test again when I get home in about an hour.

This weekend, I will be adding another quart of metal out to the pool and getting in with a sock filled with ascorbic acid to wipe the iron stain off the fiberglass walls. Wish me luck!!

[PoolDoc]

• Dichlor (from the sources I recommended) is 55% avail Cl2
• Trichlor (from Sams Club) is 90% available Cl2
• 6% bleach is approximately 0.5 lbs Cl2 per gallon
• Your PF is 2.7

So

1 lb dichlor => 0.55 x 2.7 = ~1.5ppm
1 lb trichlor => 0.90 x 2.7 = ~2.4 ppm
1 gal 6% bleach => 0.5 x 2.7 = ~1.4 ppm

[Debits26]

PoolDoc,
Thanks for all your help earlier this month! My pool has been looking good. I did the ascorbic acid treatment last weekend and most of the stains are gone. Thank you all for that great trick! My pool has really never looked better. The only problem is that while the acid was working, I had the filter on Recirculate, and lost about 5 inches of water depth. I had to add a lot of water the next day (adding some more metal into the mix).

Since then, I've been adding about 1 lb. of dichlor a day over the last week and now the water is white cloudy. We are unable to see the main drain through the water and I fear I'm on the verge of an algae bloom. After the acid treatment, I put 64 oz. sequestrant, and the filter has been running 24/7.
Here are my numbers today:
FC: 0
TC: .5
pH: 7.4
TA: 125
CH: 300
CYA: 35
Obviously, I need to get the chlorine levels up. I have added 5 bags of dichlor this week, and I added 85 oz. of polyquat. I'm planning to bring the chlorine up to shock level tonight (15ppm). If there's anything else I should do, or if any of this sounds off, please let me know.

Thanks again for all your help.

[Watermom]

When you shock the pool, you may get staining again. Whenever you have metal-contaminated water, it is critical that you never let your chlorine level get lower than the minimum advised in the Best Guess Chlorine Chart. That way, you won't have to shock for an impending algae bloom. Otherwise, you just have a repeating cycle. If you have algae, you have to get the chlorine level up enough to kill it and then, if you have staining, you'll have to do another ascorbic acid treatment.