All pools, including vinyl liner, fiberglass, concrete and marcite pools can develop stains. Occasionally, you may get a metal stain in your pool from a ladder or from the steps. When it comes to a vinyl liner pool, they can be a bit more challenging when it comes to removing stains as you do not want to have to drain the pool. When you drain a vinyl liner pool, you risk developing wrinkles. You will need to remove the metal stain without draining the pool. Metropolitan Pools will share more about metal or iron stains in a vinyl liner pool and how to properly clean your pool’s water.
What Does a Metal Stain in Pool Look Like?
When you hear the phrase “metal stain” you may think of a spot on your pool floor or side. However, metal or iron stains refers to the color of the pool’s water. Metal can stain the water, making it appear brown in color. There is something in your water that is causing the discoloration. There is a metal object that is producing tiny pieces of iron in the water, which in turn is causing the water to turn brown or orange. When the water does develop metal staining, you do not want to add chlorine to the water as it will only make the problem worse. Here is how you should clean your pool’s water.
How Do You Clean Metal Pool Stains?
Your very first step in cleaning your pool’s water, is to find what is causing the staining. You will need to look for metal in the pool, often it is corroding and producing the rusty iron particles in the pool. You will need to check the stairs, ladder, pool jets and the pool’s pumping system. It may also be coming from your pool cleaning tools and machines. You need to check everything for the source and remove and replace the corroding component. The next step is to clean your water. Again, you do not want to drain a vinyl pool or you may cause wrinkles. Instead you will want to put a food grade citric acid in your pool’s water. You will want to put 1 pound of the powder for every 10k gallons of water. While the citric acid is doing its work, monitor the chlorine levels. Make sure to keep the chlorine around 1ppm. Within 24 to 48 hours, the water color should begin to clear up. The water will appear a bit cloudy at this point. Your next step is to balance the water’s pH levels. You may need to add some bicarb to the pool water if the pH is too low.
How Do You Remove Metal Particles from Swimming Pool?
The tiny metal particles are still in the pool. One way to remove the metal particles is by using magnets. Put magnets into a sock and into the floating chlorine basket and into the skimmer. Use the pool vacuum to clean the particles that are on the floor of the pool. You may need to use a metal free and cellulose powder to help filter out the microns from the water. It can take time to remove all of the tiny metal particles from out of the pool. Because of this you may want to switch to a bromine product which helps keep the water clean and prevent the metals from oxidizing, as it turns the water a brown or orange color.
Vinyl Pool Installation, Repair, Maintenance & More in Sandusky, Lorain, Elyria, Medina, Parma, Mentor, Akron & Greater Cleveland, Ohio
If you find your pool has iron staining or you need help maintaining your pool, Metropolitan Pools provides a wide range of expert pool services. Call us today!