New Pool Owner With High Iron Manually Removing Iron

[labdi01]

Another update!

Woke up this am to a clear pool! No exaggeration! It's clear!!! The quilt batting was FILTHY from running about 12 hrs. We have sediment on the bottom of the pool - some of the loose poly fil we started with in the homemade filter, a few rocks and brown sediment, which must be iron.

Took a water sample to the pool store:

CL/FC - 5
TA - 140
pH - 7.8
CYA - 0
CA - 70
and... drum roll please...
Iron - 0

We still have the homemade filter in the pool and there is still some staining on the batting - so we're going to run it all day again.

I think I am going to stick to a statement I made yesterday that the green/turquoise color some of us metal-heads are seeing when things start to clear is low-level iron. Because I have no green today and my CL level wasn't at shock level to kill any potential algae (does that make sense to the experts?).

Oh pool store said to try 4 more lbs of cya - because the 3 I added last Thu still aren't showing up (made sense to me - and I don't think I've seen a natural alternative (please advise if there is) - I also bought calcium (well, Balance) because of the same reason and mine is low (?) Again, please advise. And I'll add Muratic Acid for the pH and baking soda for the TA.

This is so crazy, guys - I can't believe it worked!!!

[mbar]

Yes, I agree that the greenish tint to the water is metals - think of it this way, when the metals are yellowish brown and the pool water is blue, yellow and blue make green I see this in my pool all the time, that's how I know to add more sequestering agent. When my pool is clear but not quite blue blue it is because something is going on As for the cya - sometime when using a lot of sequestering agent it uses up cya. I am not a chemist, and I don't know the reason, but I do know this from experience. It can also use up a lot of calcium too. Just as I said, every time you add something to the water it changes something else Once the water is balanced (and metal free) it is easy to keep it up, but sometimes getting there is a big pain. Everyone's water reacts differently, because what is in the water is different than anyone else. This is why when you learn to care for your own pool it makes it easier - because the pool store is giving out information on a all encompassing situation, as well as selling chemicals. Keep up the good work, and keep us informed - I love your idea!

[labdi01]

I can't believe my iron is 0.

Of course, with all the backwashing this weekend, I need to fill up again (from the iron-laden well), but I'm going to do it today while the homemade filter continues to run, and as an added precaution, my husband filled another bucket with quilt batting and I'm going to attach a prefilter to the hose and stick the filter into the batting bucket and hang that in the pool as it fills.

We did a test in a bucket on Fri where we double-filtered the fill water (hose prefilter and Slime Bag over that) and then added bleach to the filled bucket - turned brown.

I can't believe how cheap and easy the successful course of action was. A bucket and sump pump that we already had, $16 worth of quilt batting (no longer suggest the loose stuff - makes a mess) and 72 hours!

[labdi01]

Marie -

I have a question for you...

Now that we've removed all the iron from the pool using the makeshift filter, we were left with some liner/skimmer staining. I read the ascorbic/citric acid treatment sticky - but you suggest immediately following up with a sequestrant. Do you think I could run my sump pump/batting filter during the ascorbic acid treatment in order to trap and remove the metals rather than having to sequester them?

[CarlD]

Hi,

I just noticed something I've been wondering about: You said you were adding calcium and you said you have stains on your liner.

So..if you have a vinyl liner are you aware that you do NOT need calcium in your water? Calcium's only for concrete/gunite/plaster pools.

[labdi01]

POOLSTORED!! Didn't use it yet - I'll return it. Does Calcium contribute to staining (it is a metal).

My staining is light - but now that I'm clear - it's visible!

Think my jerry-rigged filter would work rather than a sequestrant to catch the metals as they come off the lining/fixtures?

[chem geek]

Your batting is catching fine particles of iron and rust (iron oxides). What kind of filter do you have? I suspect that a DE filter or a high-quality cartridge filter would be able to catch such particles as well, but perhaps not a sand filter.

There is a commercial product you can buy called The Slime Bag™ which filters down to around 1 micron so even finer than a DE filter. Sounds like you've found something homemade that works quite well, at least for metal particles.

Metal sequestrants hold metal ions suspended into solution. They don't do anything for fine particulate matter which is what you are filtering. No physical filtration will remove metal ions -- they are dissolved in solution just like salt dissolves in water. So even though you have removed most or all the particulate metal solids from your pool, you could still have metal ions and should have your water tested for iron. If it measures high (say, more than 0.3 ppm) then you should still use a metal sequestrant to prevent staining.

Some people have talked about intentionally shocking and raising the pH of iron-filled pool water in order to intentionally create rust that can then get caught in a filter, but such a process can also stain pool surfaces so it's not a foolproof method.

Richard

[labdi01]

Good Morning, Chem Geek.

I'm happy to hear from you.

I actually have a sand filter and I've been using DE in it throughout this process and it does capture a decent amount of iron. The makeshift filter and the sand filter usually produces the same level of staining when we clean/backwash them (like this am, the staining in both was a lighter yellow/orange after filtering for 12 hours with a visibly crystal clear pool).

Yesterday at the pool store, my iron registered 0 - but clearly there was still iron in there as we cleaned both filters twice since my store testing and they were stained both times, so I'm not sure what kind of range their "0-reading" has (if that makes sense).

Right now I'm doing an ascorbic acid treatment (in the circulation phase until tomorrow am), at which point I'll be adding DE to the sand filter and putting the makeshift filter in as I slowly add chlorine (bleach). I imagine if staining returns during that process (esp since I haven't quite figured out what 'bringing it up slowly' means), that will tell me if I need to continue with sequestrants. I think on any level, though I certainly reduced the amount I'd need - no? It's just nice to see bottom for more than a day!

[labdi01]

Chem Geek -

Forgot to mention, that we had been using the Slime Bag for a while early on. When we were using sequestrants and got the pool clear/green, then I tried to bring CL level up 'slowly' at that point and went right back to opaque brown.

I also used the Slime Bag to filter our fill water along with a hose pre filter (put Slime Bag over both), then filled a bucket and poured bleach in the bucket - turned brown.

[newpoolgirl]

did you try a metal out before using your shock or chlorine? if so did it still turn brown, b/c i just dumped my pool in hopes to refill w/ homemade hose filter. (coffee filters, fish tank filter and socks). then to apply metal out. Wait a couple days then start from scratch with chemicals?