ascorbic acid treatment for my pool?

[masspool]

Hello

I have read the stickies and many of the posts, but just want to post my particulars before starting the ascorbic acid treatment, to see if anybody has any advice or pointers.

I have an orangy-brown stain around the liner of my pool.
My pool is a 20,00 inground with a vinyl liner. It is filled with municipal water and rain water and I am located in Massachusettes.

When I rub the stain with a sock full of vitamin C tablets it does clean-up.

My numbers (via Taylor test kit) are:

PH 7.6
FC 1.0
CC 0.5
Alk 90
CYA zero
Calcium Hardness 270

Should I begin the ascorbic acid treatment as outlined on the stickey? I did just add a little dry acid to try to drop the PH a bit (it is now 7.6 and I want to get it down a little before doing the ascorbic acid treatment)

Thanks - This forum is a GREAT resource!!!!!!!!!!!

[mbar]

You don't need to take the ph down before the ascorbic acid treatment - the treatment will lower the ph on it's own. You do however have to let the chlorine get low - or you will just need more ascorbic acid, because the chlorine eats up the ascorbic acid. Make sure you use a sequestering agent too, so that the metals that lift off the surface of the pool will bind with the sequestering agent to keep the metals in solution, or they will fall out again when the ph and chlorine get high. Good luck, and let us know how you do

[masspool]

Okay - so far so good

I added some Polyquat 60....

about 90 minutes ago, I added the ascorbic acid with the filter on "recirculate"

stains are gone - looks great - liner looks blues again !! Instead of brownish-greenish

30 minutes later I added the Metal Free. Put the filter back on "filter".

BIG question from my son and family:

"When can we swim - we want to swim today"?????

Can I add a little chlorine to bring it up to 1.0, so we can swim in a couple of hours? I'll check the PH and make sure it is around 7.1 -7.2 (no higher and no lower)

[smallpooldad]

Hi Marie,

Its been a long time. Hope you are well.

As you know I think you the Queen of Metal Removing.

One point on which we vary is on what to do after the Vitamin C has removed the water.

My feeling has always been if your water is cheap, you can easily drain it, and you have no pool popping out of the ground issues is to put the Vitamin C in overnight and drain in the early morning, preferably before dawn. Then just refill and balance. That way you simplify the whole procedure and guarantee that there is no more metal and one does not have to start all over again.

I noticed nobody ever mentions this anymore but it sure can make life simple.

I still use your method once a year but I drain.

Aloha

[mbar]

It really is a great idea, if all of the ducks fall in a row - no money for water, no pool popping out - and not being refilled by a well. So while it would work for some, it may not for others. Sometimes I wonder where the metals come from too - if you are not sure, then you may still have problems even if you drain and add new water. However if you have a lot of staining - then it may be worth while to get rid of all of the metal (like draining and refilling) then start with no metal and only have to control the metals that are being reintroduced. I am glad it works for you. I think I am going to try it next year - on opening - this way I can check if the problem is less than usual, and I can post on how it works with well water. One benefit would be that I won't have to spend a lot to clean up the water that was in over the winter This is how we all learn, from posts of what works for different people! Thanks for a great post!

masspool, sorry I didn't get to answer your post, it is ok to swim now. I would wait till 24 hours after the ascorbic acid treatment to start to add any chlorine and borax, and I wouldn't want to swim without chlorine in the water and low ph. So after raising the ph to 7.0 - 7.2, you can start to raise the chlorine up to the low level of your "best guess chart".

[masspool]

Thanks for the good advice, mbar !!

My Pool looks great!

The PH is 7.2 and am slowly adding bleach ... it sure seems to be eating the bleach because I am not getting a reading yet (FC is still < 0.5). I will keep adding bleach, a little at a time, until chlorine gets to an acceptable level.

I was running my pool at a fairly high PH (7.6-7.7) level and high chlorine level for awhile so I think that this may have caused the metal staining to increase. I am also told (by the local Pool store) that the town water does this to local pools.

Anyway, it is nice that this treatment works on the problem. I wonder if I should use Metal Free regularly to prevent this? The stuff is expensive ($20 a liter).

Draining is not an option here - ground water level could pop the pool and we are in water coneservation mode.

Thanks Again - This website is very valuable to pool owners!!

[mbar]

Yes, you can use Metal Free on a regular basis, also there are Sequasol, Jack's Magic and Metal Magic sequestering agents that are very good. You can add this whenever you add a lot of water to the pool. My advice is to keep an eye on the pool, and when you see stain start to form, take the ph back to 7.0 and add sequestering agent. This should lift any new stains. Keep in mind that sequestering agents get eaten up over time too.

Glad to hear your pool is stain free - enjoy. Just remember you can always add a small amount of ascorbic acid if you see a lot of stain starting and put the filter on recirculate. Wait till all of the stain is gone, add sequestering agent, and then put it back on filter. This will get rid of the stains without using a lot of ascorbic, so it is easier to rebalance the water. Keep us posted