Hi NewPoolGirl;
I'm going to answer several of your questions, with slightly different answers than what you've received. I'll try to explain why.
- If your pool is green, and it's not algae, you can safely swim if your chlorine is OK. BUT, it may stain suits and such. (Unlike copper, iron does not, as far as I know, ever stain hair.)
- Sequestrants and chelants NEVER, EVER remove metals from your pool.
- The ONLY way to actually remove metals from your pool is to remove them physically, usually by filtration.
Lemme go through these each a bit.
Safety: As long as you can maintain a stable chlorine residual AND are sure the green is iron, not algae, the water is chemically safe to swim in. Remember, iron in the water doesn't hurt people: if it did, they couldn't drink it. It it's too cloudy to see the bottom, that's another kind of hazard of course, but it has nothing to do with sanitation.
Sequestration and chelation are chemical terms for processes that keep metals dissolved in water. In some cases, they can help RE-dissolve metals that have formed fresh stains. But, they NEVER remove anything. Chelated iron is STILL in your pool. *Sometimes*, chelation can 'hold' the iron in the pool, so it can be gradually filtered out (as the chelant breaks down) and filtered out.
Again, chelation and sequestration are always and only a band-aid. Sometimes it's good to have a band-aid, though, while the injury heals.
The ONLY way to remove metals from water is to do so physically, which means the metal has be converted to a form that will no longer dissolve in the water. So . . . when you stain your pool, you ARE removing metals from your pool water (though not from your pool!). When you stain your pipes, same deal.
But, when you stain your DE or the debris in your sand filter, or when you collect iron 'fluff' (precipitate) and then backwash it or clean it way . . . you have actually removed the metal from your water.
Filtration is ALWAYS part of any iron removal process. Unfortunately, the filters on Intex pools are seriously undersized and not well suited for this purpose. The 'pool pillow' idea is a good work around -- but see CAUTIONS below -- but all that's really being done is supplementing an inadequate filter. If you had an adequate DE filter, you could do the same job or better, with the pool filter. Unfortunately, "aboveground" filters are always undersized, and filters packaged with mini-pools like the Intex are the worst.
************* CAUTION!!****************
IT is NEVER safe to swim in a pool if a plugged in submersible pump is present!
************* CAUTION!!****************
Given the money you're spending on sequestrants, you may want to think about a different idea.
If you have the room, you might want to purchase a SECOND Intex pool (it can be smaller than the first) and use it to pre-treat your fill water. You can dump well water in it, circulate it, add chlorine (cal hypo OR bleach + baking soda) and raise the pH, wait, and then turn it off. If you keep the chlorine high (or dose it at night) you'll almost always force the iron into an insoluble form. If you turn the pump off, the iron will almost always settle out. Then, you can pump -- carefully -- the clear and metal free water into your swimming pool, while being careful not to disturb the mess on the bottom.
But, till you have that the pool pillow idea may help a lot. Just don't swim with a submerged pump.
PoolDoc
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