Effective Methods to Treat and Prevent Pool Stains

Stains are a great annoyance for owners of swimming pools, as they will attest to. Stains can make your swimming pool look dirty, unsightly, and horrid. A dirty swimming pool will often be seen as a reflection of its owner, even if it is not true. You may be the most hygienic person in the world, but if your swimming pool is stained, that is not what your guests will think. There are, however, a few ways you can treat and prevent swimming pool stains from occurring, and that is what we here, on this page, will hope to help you with.

With the help of this page, we will offer you a few effective methods to treat and prevent stains in your swimming pool. You mustn’t fear stains, for every stain has a solution. You can perform these stain-removal jobs yourself – but if you are uncertain, you can of course hire a professional to do it for you. If you are sheepish around chemicals and do not like touching them, as many are, then a professional may be the best option for you.

Here are some effective methods to treat and prevent stains in your swimming pool.

Cause of Stain

It is important to determine the cause of the stains in your swimming pool so that they do not reoccur. There are many different causes and types of pool stains. The most common causes are as follows:

  • Organic compounds and materials, like leaves, oils, worms, algae, which can turn water odd colors, or dirt;
  • Rust breaking through the wall of your pool, floor, or through fittings and air ducts;
  • Minerals and metals in your swimming pool coming out of your swimming pool solution.

One of the best ways to identify a metallic stain [which are the most common] in your swimming pool is by its color. Here is a chart of colors and their causes:

Metal                       Sources                                        Colours

Calcium             Plaster, grout, chlorine shock            White crystals

Cobalt                Fiberglass shelling                            Red, grey, blue

Copper              Copper algaecides or corrosion        Blue, teal, black

Iron                   Corrosion of iron pipes                     Red, brown, grey

Manganese       Well water                                         Pink, black, red

Identification

So that you can treat your stains properly, it is important to identify the stains, as well as the cause. It is very common for swimming pool owners to think they have a stain when it is just algae, which is very, very frequent, and quite treatable. Algae, according to the swimming pool specialists of thepoolstainremovers.com.au, cannot be treated by quickly emptying out your pool [which many try to do], for it lives in your ducts, pipes, and filters. This means, once you drain your pool and wash the spots with acid, once you fill it back up, the algae will reoccur. If it is not algae, then it is likely a mineral stain. You can test whether or not it is algae or a mineral stain with testing kits, which can be found in virtually every swimming pool supply store or on every swimming pool supply website throughout the world.

Solutions

We will now move onto what solutions are best for what stains:

How to Remove Metal Pool Stains

Pool with railing near hose and fence in hotel yard image

Many pool owners might be concerned that metal stains would stay in their luxurious pools permanently. Fortunately, people can get rid of stubborn smudges by doing the following:

1. Lower water’s chlorine levels

Chlorine might make your stain issues worse even if it is good at getting rid of algae. You should reduce the chlorine level in your pool to 0 parts per million since chlorine oxidizes certain sections, like the bottom. You can accomplish this by draining the pool in part and adding fresh water. To swiftly lower the chlorine levels, you can also buy a chlorine neutralizer.

2. Add algaecide

Algaecide destroys algae, as you’ve probably already figured. Despite being a great algaecide, algae can grow in the presence of less chlorine. Algaecide will keep any unpleasant algae from growing in your pool’s water throughout this operation. The directions are printed on the bottle of algaecide, which is easily accessible for purchase at your neighborhood pool store or online.

3. Apply vitamin C on the Stain

Due to its high levels of acidity, vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, is a component that fights stains. Vitamin C tablets applied to stains assist with their removal.

4. Add ascorbic acid for larger stains

If you have larger metal pool stains that will take more time and effort to remove by hand, consider evenly distributing ascorbic acid over the pool’s surface. Every 10,000 gallons of water in your pool needs a half pound of ascorbic acid.

5. Circulate your water

The next step is to start the pool pump and let the filters spread the stain-removal components throughout the pool. The Shoreline Pools professionals advise letting the filters run for around 30 minutes.

6. Check for residual stains

It’s finally time to determine whether your efforts were successful. Simply repeat steps 3-5 until the metal pool stains are gone if they are still visible after running your filter for thirty minutes!

How to Remove Organic Pool Stains

Swimming pool with water and blue bottom image

Organic stains are quite easy to get rid of and don’t seriously damage the quality of your luxurious pool. Since these smudges are the result of natural occurrences, you can follow the instructions below to remove any unattractive organic pool stains.

1. Remove leaves and debris from the pool’s surface

Remove extra leaves and exterior debris that is on top of or inside your pool using a pool net.

2. Test the water’s level

Next, reduce your chlorine levels to 1.0 parts per million or fewer. You can either use chlorine neutralizer for this purpose or refrain from applying sanitizer for a few days.

3. Shock the pool

When you add chemicals to your pool to dissolve up “combined chlorine,” you cause “shocking,” which raises the chlorine levels in the water. A granular oxidizer, shock is a powdered version of chlorine. You want to eliminate any germs and other organic substances that are infiltrating your luxurious pool with organic pool stains. Therefore, increasing the chlorine level will effectively remove any bacteria and enable soiled patches to disappear more quickly.

When determining the precise quantity required, refer to the instructions and measurements on the product’s guide. More importantly, because shock is highly reactive, always put it in your pool directly and never combine it with anything other than water. Pro tip: To help the chlorine clean the water, shock your pool at night. The UV rays from the sun will dissolve the chlorine if you shock during the day.

4. Brush the stains until they disappear

After shocking the water in your pool, you must now brush away any specific stains on the wall or floor of your pool that you want to get rid of.

5. Run your pool’s pump

It’s time to turn on your pool pump so it can remove the contaminated water. For best effectiveness, our pool cleaning specialists advise operating your pool pump for at least eight hours.

6. Brush the stains again

There is always a possibility that some difficult stains will remain. As a result, you might need to scrub again to make sure they go entirely.

7. Check to see if the stains disappeared

Check to see if the effort paid off after doing all the preceding stages. If not, simply carry out the complete procedure once more to get rid of all stains.

Post-Stain Removal: Preventing Future Stains

Pool stains aren’t necessarily the result of insufficient or inconsistent pool maintenance. In fact, it occurs in every pool! Even though clearing pool stains takes a lot of effort, you should keep in mind that you can take steps to stop them from developing. Add some commercial enzymes to your pool after following the steps in removing metal stains to stop them from happening again. These enzymes help keep your pool clean by lifting debris from the bottom. In general, maintaining a correctly balanced pool’s water is essential to preventing any excessive staining.

Conclusion

Pool stains can be treated and prevented using a variety of efficient techniques. Regular maintenance and ideal water chemistry can assist in preventing stains from developing in the first place. Prevention is important. If staining nevertheless happens, there are a number of treatment alternatives, including the use of stain removers.