Regarding the commission, I can see what people buy, but not who buys what (for good reasons -- it would be pretty much of a privacy violation to see WHO bought something), and people have been buying HEDP & ascorbic acid, so one of those could have been you.

Adding the HEDP before or during addition of Vitamin C would NOT hurt; nothing failed on that account.

So, I don't know why the stain removal process failed. There are several possibilities:

1. If there was still chlorine present (even combined chlorine) when you added the ascorbic acid, that would have destroyed ascorbic acid.

2. If there was metal present IN the water, you have not added enough HEDP to carry both the metal present AND the metal you re-dissolved. That, in turn, could result in the re-staining.

3. I've been going through the old Dequest literature that I have from Monsanta (HEDP was sold as Dequest 2010), and calcium can interfere. If you have high calcium in your pool, you would need a LOT more HEDP than otherwise . . . but then you risk a calcium phosphonate colloidal cloud (ie, your pool turns to milk that you can't filter out!).

Until this season, I pretty much thought that high CH / TA water was always low metals water, unless someone added a lot of copper. Apparently, that's not the case.

The balls you feel are inert; they are present to break up any lumps that may form in the granular CuLator material.

If you have any left, add another dose of HEDP; lower your pH to 7.0, run your filter 24/7, and keep the CuLator in the skimmer.

Also, can you give me a complete set of test results, and tell me how you are testing?

I think I may need to revise the process like this:

1. Submit complete K2006 readings with pH, TA, & CH.
2. If TA & CH are very high, consider doing lime softening to lower CH.
3. Otherwise, add HEDP and CuLator. Wait 2(?) weeks, to allow removal of any metals already in the water. During this time, lower TA to 100 or less.
4. After 2 weeks, add polyquat and then sodium thiosulate till an OTO 3 minute zero is achieved.
5. Adjust pH to 7.0 -- if pH needs to be raised, use only borax.
6. Add a double dose of HEDP, with adjustments for calcium.
7. Add ascorbic acid -- brush stains. Add a 2nd dose if stains are not lifted after 4 hours. (Add a 3rd dose? if stains are not lifted after 4 more hours)
8. Place 2nd CuLator in skimmer or in front of return.
9. After 24 hours, re-chlorinate slowly. During this time, add an additional dose of HEDP.
10. Continue to add polyquat every 3 days. Keep chlorine & pH low. Run filter 24/7.
11. Add additional doses of HEDP at first sign of re-appearing stains.