Results of Ascorbic Acid Treatment for Stains

[PoolDoc]

I have also used Jack's Magic Pink Stuff - dosage is same as KemTek.

That's very puzzling to me. None of the products actually list the % HEDP, but the Pink Stuff has a specific gravity that corresponds to 60% HEDP, and the KemTek product has a specific gravity that corresponds to 20% HEDP. I'm going to need to do some testing of those directly, but I'll wait till next spring, since they can change formulation without notice.

I can try this, but will have to find the chorine powder. Get this as Pool Store?

Also been thinking about opening up the 1.0 PPM Culator that has been in skimmer for a month to see if ball color will indicate what metal it may be picking up. Still have the 4.5 in there from a couple of weeks ago. These don't seem to be doing much for me.

Don't open them; you can see color through the bag when they are wet. If they aren't doing anything, and you are circulating 24/7, that pretty definitively indicates there are not metals in the water.

Of course the trick is to get the stains dissolved and INTO the water, where the CuLator can grab the metal. It sounds like in your case, the stains may have dissolved, but never migrated into the water. That's not an outcome I'd have expected.

It would be possible to try using ascorbic acid, muriatic acid, and STMP (a phosphate detergent), to lower the pH, dissolve the metals and get them INTO the pool water. But, you'd end up with some ferocious phosphate levels later, and I'm not sure how much that would increase your pool's tendency to get algae. PLUS, I'm not sure how well it would work.

You could try it on a spot basis.

Another possibility, especially since the stains are on your steps, would be to actually scrub a spot on the steps with a wash rag saturated in an AA solution. It's possible that that approach would actually end up with the metals IN the pool water.

. . . As you can tell, I don't know!

Changing direction a bit, I don't know if you are in the market for a waterproof sport camera, but if you are, I'd love it if you got one, took pictures, and posted them. I've got this camera on order:

Pentax Optio WG-2

but haven't tested it myself yet. However it's supposed to do especially well with macro photos, since it has a built in LED ring light. Here are some reviews:
2012: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-6501_7-57428068-95/
2011: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/Q311...mpactgrouptest

So . . . if you think you might be getting a camera like that anytime soon, I love to encourage you to get it before you close your pool, and take pictures.