Brown stains spreading

[cmcq]

The stain treatment worked like a charm, but I have a follow up question.

I added the acid (1.5 lbs for a 22k pool) and sequestering agent on Sunday afternoon and let the filter run as described. I checked the ph last night (Monday) and it was steady at 7.2. I'm in Northern Virginia and it has been raining a couple of inches a day for a few few days so I'm not sure if the rain water helped raise the ph, but I did not have to add anything to raise it.

I checked the pool again this morning. The ph remained at 7.2 and the the chlorine was 0 (as expected), but the water is very cloudy and the pump pressure is very high (baseline is around 20 but pump is currently at 35). I couldn't backwash before work this a.m. and didn't want to run the pump all day with the pressure that high so I turned the pump off until I can backwash today after work. Is there anything about the stain treatment and sequestering agent that would affect the pressure in the filter that much? Also, with the cloudiness of the water, am I safe to re-start my SWG and to start raising the chorline level?

[mbar]

Yes, you can start your swg. The filter pressure is probably going up to filter out what the chlorine is breaking down - the citric acid. You can start to raise the chlorine level - keep your ph no higher than 7.2, and watch for stains - if you start to see them, bring your ph back down to 7 and add more sequestering agent. I usually try to raise my chlorine by 1 ppm at a time till I get it to where it needs to be according to cya. You will find it hard to keep chlorine in the pool till all the cloudiness is gone.

[cmcq]

Hopefully this is my final set of questions. The stains remain gone, but the water is cloudy. I've been running the pool 24 hours/day with the SWG running. I had a separate issue this week with pressure rising quickly in the pump so I had to backwash a couuple of times and clean the filter manually. I got that cleaned yesterday (Thurs) a.m., but ran w/o DE in the filter until last night b/c I ran out. Also yesterday a.m. I turned the SWG up b/c I wasn't getting any chlorine readings. I ran it at 100 all day, then checked again after about 10 hours but the chlorine still barely registered. I put the control on "boost" overnight, and the level raised slightly. I tested the water this a.m and got the following:

FC = .5
TC = 2
ph = 7.2 (I did add a little acid last night as it had crept up to just above 7.4)
alk = 70
cal = 180
cya = 27
temp = 80

We're having a small cookout tomorrow (6 kids, 4 adults) and a bigger party on Tuesday (6 kids, 9 adults) and I'd like to have the water cleared up ASAP. Do I just need to keep running the pump with the SWG on "boost" to raise the chlorine to clear the water? Can/should I add a chlorine stick in the skimmer to accelerate the process? Also, are CYA and Alk too low?

[mbar]

Yes, your water is still cloudy because there are things in the water that the chlorine is busy breaking down, that's why your pool is using up the chlorine so fast. You need more chorine. Take your chlorine up to about 5ppms. You can do this by adding bleach, and a puck in the skimmer. I also read on this site that you can add chlorine manually so that your swg doesn't have to work as hard to keep up with the bleach demand at times like these. Your alk is just a tad low - I wouldn't do anything with this, because I think it will rise on it's own - it gets low from the stain treatment. Just keep your eye out for stains starting when you raise your chlorine - if you see them add more sequesterant.

[cmcq]

I guess that wasn't my final set of questions. I added the stick and the chlorine started to come back, but I woke up this a.m. to light green water. I tested for chlorine and it was basically zero. We're going to be gone from 7 a.m until 1 pm and I didn't have any bleach, so I added shock to the pool to try to raise the chlorine level quickly. Should I add polyquat, or test and add bleach when I get home or ????? Ideally, we're having people over at 4 today so I want to clear this up of that is even possible.

[mbar]

Add the polyquat, and get your chlorine to hold - you will have to use a lot of chlorine to get it to break down all of the ascorbic acid that is left in the water and have it filter out. If you are starting on an algae bloom, you will have to shock the pool to kill the algae. Make sure you take your ph down to 7, add more sequesterant and take your water up to shock level according to the best guess chart. With the extra sequesterant and the low ph, hopefully you won't get any stains back, but shock it now so that you don't get an all out algae bloom. After doing the stain treatment it is very important to keep after the chlorine so that it stays consistant - because it is hard to keep enough in the water to break down the ascorbic acid.

[gerri]

Marie,

Is there any way you could do a sticky thread with step by step using asorbic acid to remove stains?

I have another question.. after the asorbic acid treatment I will start adding the chlorine back in.. you have said gradually - can you elaborate on that just a little bit?

How many gallons of bleach will it take and over what time period will I add the bleach?

I'm still waiting for my Asorbic Acid to arrive. I just want to get prepared and I don't want to add too much bleach too quickly and have the stains come right back.

My pool is 8500g IG fiberglass.

Thanks for all of your help!

Gerri