fiberglass, slight yellow whole pool stain/coating

[mbar]

Did you add any sequestering agent after putting in the stain treatment? You say that it is not a metal stain, but ascorbic acid removes metal stains - metal out is a sequestering agent, not a stain remover. Chlorine will remove organic stains only. The other thing is you should not shock the pool for at least 2 weeks after a stain treatment. You have to bring your chlorine up to the low end of your chart (the best guess chart sticky in the chlorine forum), starting 48 hours after the the treatment. You can put a maintainence dose of algaecide in since you have already put it in the water before you left on your trip. I like to use bleach and raise the chlorine slowly - you can also put a chlorine puck in the skimmer basket if you have a sand or DE filter. Keep your fliter running 24/7. You don't have to let your chlorine drop to 0 for 48 hours before the treatment. Just let it drop down to 1 or 2ppms. It will not hurt the ascorbic acid, it will just use up some of it faster. But just make sure you put the pump on circulate for about an hour or two or until all of the stain is lifted off and make sure there is enough sequestereing agent in the water. There are no stupid questions

[grangerhj]

Do you have a particular sequestering agent that you use? I just went out and look what I have is not Metal Out but Metal Magic I would think it is probably the same thing. I added it to the pool after I added the Haviland Stain Treatment last time. Any idea what causes this stain?

[mbar]

I have used metal magic by proteam. They are all bascially the same. Jack's Magic is good, Sequasol and Metal Free too. The one thing is not to shock the pool until all of the metal is sequestered. Most stain removal products say not to shock for at least 2 weeks. I usually put a little more sequestering agent in again in about 7 days after the treatment. The important thing is to keep your ph down at about 7 to 7.3 while you are adding chlorine, and add the chlorine slowly, a couple of ppms a day till you get it to shock if you need to get it to shock. If there is no combined chlorine, there is no reason to take it to shock. Just keep the chlorine at the low end of the "best guess chart" - but you must test frequently so that you don't let it get too low and get an algae bloom.

[daisy11]

Mbar is the metals expert here, and I'm not questioning what she is telling you at all. I just want to point out that sometimes you can eliminate the metal stains without the ascorbic acid treatment. I have iron in my fill water, and have had staining a several times. My stains have always lifted with the use of the metal sequestrant alone. It's worth trying the metal sequestrant alone first, making sure that you put enough of it in to keep all of the metal in solution. You will need the metal sequestrant anyway, even if you use the ascorbic acid for the stains.

My pool is vinyl, I'm not sure if that makes a difference. I suspect that the age of the stains plays a part too.....if they are relatively fresh, the sequestrant alone is more likely to do the job.

[mbar]

daisy11 is exactly right, you can often lift stains by lowering the ph to 7 and putting in the sequeterer. It does matter how long the stains are there, and a vinyl liner is easier to lift the stains from. Also if you have a fiberglass pool, they tend to stain much easier, and more often. Another thing that works with a fiberglass pool if you only have a few noticeable stains is to get a very fine sandpaper and sand the stain. If the whole pool is stained, you will need to do a treatment, either with the sequestering agent (you should try this first, because you need it in the water with the ascorbic acid), and if that doesn't work, then the ascorbic acid. The reason that metals fall out of solution is with a combination of high ph along with high chlorine. There are many ways to get metals into the water - fill source, and plumbing. and wind blown.

[jonnygib]

Thanks for your help. A couple more question...If I go ahead and purchase the Vitamin C, as so informed above, what Sequestrant should I purchase, how much, and from where? Thank god for smart people like all of you!!!!

[mbar]

Any sequestering agent is fine - Jack's Magic, Sequasol, Metal Free, Metal Magic, they are all basically the same. Metal Free has no phosphates. You can follow the directions on the bottle. What kind of pool do you have, and how many gallons does it hold? I can tell you amounts with the information.