Will this work?

[HOF-City]

Well, I'm convinced that I need to drain my pool and start over. The stains have come back. Not as bad as the first time, but enough to give my water a green tint again. My CuLator bag has been in for only 2 weeks and is now brown/tan in color. I'm guessing it did it's job based on the color change, but I cannot afford to drop $70 each month on a new one. I'm thinking of doing another AA treatment, then draining the thing once all the stains are sequestered. I'm just confused as to the source of the stains in the first place. I've never had to add fill water, and when we closed it last year it was clear, blue, and clean. The only thing I can think of is that there were 2 metal hook things left on each side of the pool that were used to attach a divider rope from shallow to deep end. I'm guessing the guys that closed the pool should have taken them off, but instead they were submerged from November until May. Anyway, I read somewhere that draining the entire pool is a bad idea because it could cause the liner to wrinkle. Any truth to that, or am I good to go if I decide to do it this year?

[aylad]

Draining a liner pool will almost certainly guarantee that you'll need to replace the liner. When there's no water to hold the liner down, it will float and will almost never stretch back out once it's refilled.

[Watermom]

I'm going to ask Ben to pop back into this thread ........

[PoolDoc]

Well, I'm convinced that I need to drain my pool and start over.

Do NOT do this. As you've been warned, you can lose your liner. A stained liner still holds water. A ripped one, does not.

I'm just confused as to the source of the stains in the first place. I've never had to add fill water, and when we closed it last year it was clear, blue, and clean. The only thing I can think of is that there were 2 metal hook things left on each side of the pool that were used to attach a divider rope from shallow to deep end.

This is the 2nd reason not to drain. Until you know how the iron is getting into the pool, you have ZERO assurance that refilling won't make it worse.

My CuLator bag has been in for only 2 weeks and is now brown/tan in color. I'm guessing it did it's job based on the color change, but I cannot afford to drop $70 each month on a new one.

The fact that it's brown, doesn't mean it's consumed. If you got the $70 model, you got the 4 ppm model. In that case EITHER it's not used up yet OR you had an ENORMOUS amount of iron in the pool . . . OR you are STILL putting iron in your pool, somehow or other.

The only thing I can think of is that there were 2 metal hook things left on each side of the pool that were used to attach a divider rope from shallow to deep end.

Given that these are made of either plastic or brass . . . they are NOT the source of iron in your pool.

You may need to add another dose of HEDP. The CuLator unit cannot help with iron that's staining, since it's already insoluble. It can only work on dissolved iron. You might even need to use Vitamin C again.

But, simply draining and refilling, when the most likely source of the iron is your FILL water, makes no sense at all.

I realize that this is frustrating, but if you are going to solve this, you have to approach it methodically.

[HOF-City]

Ok. Thanks. Apparently something I did yesterday turned the water from clear to cloudy again. Used acid in a sock to clean the stairs, and swept. Back to square one with a green, stained, cloudy pool. At least I got one week of a normal looking pool. Haha. I will do the AA again when I get stocked back up with KemTek.