Help....cloudy pool with stains and algae

[mammatiger]

Thanks so much for the help.

I am not on well water, and I have no idea where the iron is coming from! We inherited this pool and it was closed for 8 years before we opened it! It had the stains on it then. It is an old pool, but has a new filter. There is no ladder or anything rusting that I can see.

Now I am probably going to sound stupid, but is the muriatic acid suppose to remove stains or adjust ph or both? I have a bunch of asorbic acid already so I did not know if I could use it for something? I also have Jack Magics pink stuff... I think that is the HEDP?

Do you think the water is cloudy because there is still some algae lurking?

[PoolDoc]

+ Jack's Magic Pink = HEDP

+ Ascorbic acid can remove iron; but you MUST have the polyquat to use it. Chlorine destroys ascorbic acid almost instantly, so you have to dechlorinate your pool to use it effectively.

+ Muriatic acid lowers pH, but low pH + HEDP *tends* to dissolve iron. However, ascorbic acid WILL dissolve iron stains, so since you have that, you can plan to use it.

+ Re: cloudy water -- test your filter with DE, per note #d above. Your filter may need service. If so, that needs to be fixed before you try to remove stains.

+ Re: iron source -- other possibilities include low grade pool salt, if you have added salt; OLD iron water distribution lines; iron lines in VERY old swimming pools (pre 70's). Do any of these apply to you?