help with adjusting please

[waterbear]

The BioGuard Pool Magnet Plus product you are using is a phosphonate which means that though it will sequester the metals in your pool, it will also make for great algae food. There are better metal sequestering products on the market that are not phosphonates such as Pool Stain Treat (by the way, Jack's Magic Pink Stuff has the same phosphonate main ingredient as Pool Magnet Plus as does Jack's Magic The Blue Stuff and The Vinyl Liner Blue Stuff). At any rate, you've already used the Pool Magnet so don't worry about that. It's not a big problem; just a less than optimal solution.



Richard

Richard, Richard, Richard!!!!
I hope you are not buying into the phosphate thing! Using a phosphonic acid based seqesterant will not promote an algae bloom if chlorine levels are proper! Removing phosphates will not eliminate algae unless PHOSPHATES ARE THE LIMITING FACTOR! (relatively rare) Most pools have nitrate nitrogen in them and that is also algae food but we don't test for nitrates or nitrites in pools! My own pool has an orthophosphate reading of between 2000 and 3000 ppb and it has never had an algae bloom! (and this was way before I added borates to the watar!) My own personal experiences with staining in my fiberglass pool is that the phosphonic acid based seqesterants work much better at keeping the stains from returning then the EDTA based chelating agents.

Edit: Much of what I know of algae blooms also comes from 30+years experience in keeping marine and reef aquariums also!

[chem geek]

You are right and I apologize. I do agree that phosphates are the last thing to worry about. It was more of a knee-jerk reaction to actually adding more phosphates to the pool, but many pools have lots of phosphates and with chlorine you don't get algae. Sorry. Lost my head there for a moment.

Richard

[waterbear]

Poolhelp 101, you say you have brown stains. First thing to do is find out if they are metal or organic. Hold a vitamin C tablet on the stain and see if it disappears. If it does then you probably have iron staining and ascorbic acid will remove it. If you read through the Stains and Metal matters section of the forum you will find a lot of info on how to use ascorbic acid. Look for posts by Mbar (Marie), she is the forum's resident stain expert!

[CarlD]

Even Chem_Geek loses his head from time to time!

Waterbear is ABSOLUTELY correct: Phosphates can be/should be ignored UNLESS all corrective measures for algae-killing fail. 99 out of 100 pool store guys will sell you a phosphate-remover (expensive) that you don't need, but Evan won't.

I'm a super-minimalist: I don't like adding anything that's not needed. Only Polyquat 60%.

[poolhelp101]

thanks to everyone for responding.
i do still have some brown stains and i will get the vitamin c and try that as soon as i can. also the pool is not cloudy to the point i can't see the bottom, it's more a hazy look.
this evening we have had a hard rain, cl 5.0, ph 6.8, ta 150, cya 50 and i cannot get a reading for the hardness. i do have a sand filter, vinyl liner.
i'm a little confused, so please help me, i'm not sure what you are telling me to do..
1. i do have ph increaser, do i add that and how much or do i need to go buy borax? if i am to add any, how much
2. do i add any more bleach and how much?
3. and no more pool magnet plus, is that correct?
4. anything else i should do.
you guys are great in helping, i'm sorry i'm confused and need to ask more questions. but i certainly appreciate your guiding me again and helping me. Thanks!

[Watermom]

Marie (mbar) popped back in to the forum today. She had been AWOL during the winter like many people. She knows a lot about staining and metals. I'm gonna ask her to look at your thread and see if she has any advice for you.

[poolhelp101]

thank you so much for doing that
but in the meantime, do i need to go ahead and increase the ph?
if so is it okay to us ph increaser? i haven't added anything for the ph yet. or do i aerate as one instructed. this is probably dumb question, but how do i aerate it? i was waiting for you all to advise on that. thanks!