Help! Red staining caused by Stain Free (After 3/4 Drain)

[TexasRaised]

Help!
Houston, Tx. (FULL SUN FROM 11am to sunset) 25k gallons, Altima Plaster blend. Spa/pool 3.5 years old. Jandy system.
Last summer started noticing mustard and black Algae. Hired a Pool guy who cleared up the mustard, but not the black. After 2 months of no improvement I went to Leslie's and they recommended a copper based algaecide and told me to put a cul-lator pack in my skimmer. Boom, Black algae was gone! Over the next few months the walls were stained turquoise then the dark staining began (mostly on the spa walls and the pool steps/seats) . Fast forward to last week. Current pool guy used Natural Chemistry Stain free extra strength followed by NC Metal Free... no change.
I took a water sample to Leslie's and my Copper was 1.5 ... drain pool recommend. We drained 3/4 as we have had rain and I've heard stories of pools lifting out of the ground. Re filled pool and done by 11am this morning. Ran the filter for an hour and took sample back up to Leslie's. Copper now at .5
Recommendation was once again Stain Free, then 1 hour later metal free and run for 24 hours. Then clean filters and begin to add chemicals and stabilize.
1st pic water test after refill
2nd pic - spa before treatment (you can see slight metal staining, and debree)
**dumped the Stain free around spa and perimeter of pool.
Minutes after adding Stain free ledges, seats, stairs turned a red rust color!?
Called Leslie's immediately, guy said he's never heard of it before, but just give it time...
Then after an hour (and several times brushing) it turned dark, almost black
Now 2 hours post Stain free... metal stains (had mostly in spa) haven't budged and the staining from the Stain free powder is still there, just looks lighter but more grey.
**Is this normal?? Do I need to follow with the METAL FREE now or do something else.

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

Are you done with Leslie yet?

Natural Chemistry Stain Free is an all-natural stain remover that contains a blend of industrial strength citric acid. Quickly removes metal staining without adding unwanted phosphates to your pool water. Less expensive alternative to ascorbic acid.

Citric acid is a fine stain remover for iron stains. Citric acid will turn copper stains black. It was totally inappropriate to recommend that to you. But the folks at Leslie understand little about actual water chemistry or the difference between iron stains and copper stains..

Metal Free is a sequestrant. It will not lift stains off the surface. It can keep metals in the water from depositing on the surface. And there are better sequestrants then Metal Free.

Sulfamic acid will lift copper stains off the surface. Then the best thing is to drain the pool and replace with copper free water. If you use a sequestrant and don't drain then you will have to continuously add seqestrant as it degrades to keep the copper from redepositing.

Read ...

Stains in Your Pool

The stained pool is beyond embarrassing. Our in-depth Guide to remove stains in your pool will help you to remove the stains and prevent them in the future.

www.troublefreepool.com

Copper in Pool Water - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

And think about learning TFPC Methods and staying away from Leslies.

Pool Care Basics Archives

Your one-stop shop for all things TFP to include: ABCs of Water Chemistry, Recommended Chemicals/Levels, Test Kits, Troubleshooting, and much more!

www.troublefreepool.com

@JoyfulNoise may have some advice.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Can’t say much more other than Leslie’s simply doesn’t understand how to handle water chemistry. These are people with no background in even the most basic ideas of chemistry. They simply parrot whatever their chemical suppliers tell them and rely on computer print outs to drive their actions. And this is exactly the results you can expect.

You’re going to have to pay a lot of money for Jacks Magic copper removal chemicals. Check the Jacks website but I believe their sulfamic acid is Jacks #2. As @ajw22 said, you will add that to the water at the prescribed dosing rate and then let it redissolve the copper. Then you need to completely drain all of that water including whatever is in your plumbing lines. You need to drain safely so you don’t lift the pool out of the ground. Not sure what ground water is like in your area as your location isn’t specified but if you have a hydrostatic control valve in your main drain, that can be opened to allow ground water to equalize. If not then you will have to do an exchange drain of the water. Whatever you do, you have to get rid of the copper laden water and replace it with fresh water.

 

[TexasRaised]

Welcome to TFP.

Are you done with Leslie yet?

Natural Chemistry Stain Free is an all-natural stain remover that contains a blend of industrial strength citric acid. Quickly removes metal staining without adding unwanted phosphates to your pool water. Less expensive alternative to ascorbic acid.

Citric acid is a fine stain remover for iron stains. Citric acid will turn copper stains black. It was totally inappropriate to recommend that to you. But the folks at Leslie understand little about actual water chemistry or the difference between iron stains and copper stains..

Metal Free is a sequestrant. It will not lift stains off the surface. It can keep metals in the water from depositing on the surface. And there are better sequestrants then Metal Free.

Sulfamic acid will lift copper stains off the surface. Then the best thing is to drain the pool and replace with copper free water. If you use a sequestrant and don't drain then you will have to continuously add seqestrant as it degrades to keep the copper from redepositing.

Read ...

Stains in Your Pool

The stained pool is beyond embarrassing. Our in-depth Guide to remove stains in your pool will help you to remove the stains and prevent them in the future.

www.troublefreepool.com

Copper in Pool Water - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

And think about learning TFPC Methods and staying away from Leslies.

Pool Care Basics Archives

Your one-stop shop for all things TFP to include: ABCs of Water Chemistry, Recommended Chemicals/Levels, Test Kits, Troubleshooting, and much more!

www.troublefreepool.com

@JoyfulNoise may have some advice.

Thank you for the clarification and offering the additional resources. Ill definitely check those out and yes I'm done with Leslie's. I try to not use them outside of a water test, but the pool guys that Id hired and depended on their knowledge, werent proving any better. Its been a frustrating process to say the least. I appreciate your help!

 

[TexasRaised]

Can’t say much more other than Leslie’s simply doesn’t understand how to handle water chemistry. These are people with no background in even the most basic ideas of chemistry. They simply parrot whatever their chemical suppliers tell them and rely on computer print outs to drive their actions. And this is exactly the results you can expect.

You’re going to have to pay a lot of money for Jacks Magic copper removal chemicals. Check the Jacks website but I believe their sulfamic acid is Jacks #2. As @ajw22 said, you will add that to the water at the prescribed dosing rate and then let it redissolve the copper. Then you need to completely drain all of that water including whatever is in your plumbing lines. You need to drain safely so you don’t lift the pool out of the ground. Not sure what ground water is like in your area as your location isn’t specified but if you have a hydrostatic control valve in your main drain, that can be opened to allow ground water to equalize. If not then you will have to do an exchange drain of the water. Whatever you do, you have to get rid of the copper laden water and replace it with fresh water.

Thanks for your advice. I have heard so much negative about Leslie's, ofcourse I should have kown better. Im in Houston, Tx (I thought that I added that info-sorry) and the clay ground isn't forgiving with water. I'll contact Jack's about the proper products and get on it. Appreciate your input, wish that I had found y'all first!