Yellow stain - not mustard Algae

Stains on the pool surfaces, pool equipment
or on the swimmers, or off-color swimming pool
water. Discolored but clear pool water.
newskate9
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Yellow stain - not mustard Algae

Postby newskate9 » Fri 23 May, 2008 23:38

Hi all, new here, hope someone can help.

Pool is in third year this summer. Vinyl, in ground CU ion / CL system, cartridge filter, gas heater............ I love this pool. We have steps in the shallow end, and a bench in the deep end. The bench reaches 1 foot under water, and then makes up the wall to the ledge that surrounds the deep end.

End of summer of first year, start developing yellow stain right under the bench and right under the steps. The stain is on the liner underwater of course - but NOT where there is tape / blocking over the bolt holes of the steps / bench, and NOT where the label is on the front of the bench (under the liner of course.). I cannot remove it. The water is checked daily by me, and weekly I take a sample in - it's just about perfect all the time.

Eventually after trying every chemical they can sell me, it's still there, but not on the table / label spots. The owner (nice guy) comes out and spends 4 hours or so on the stain, standing in the water. He uses stain remover (the granular stuff) and muriatic acid sent down a PVC pipe directly on the stain. 4 hours of that and rubbing and the stain is gone. He does the same to the stain below the steps.

Fast forward to year two. Near the end of the year, my chlorinator plugs and I get an algae problem. I get that fixed and all is well - but shortly thereafter, the yellow appears again. I try just scrubbing it - but no help. I close the pool and decide to deal with it this year.

I opened the pool, the stain is still there of course on both units. The water is just about perfect and as soon as I warm it up a bit, I'll jump in and try to scrub it.

So the questions:

1. What is it?
2. Why only where the labels aren't? Does this mean the stairs / bench were not cleaned before installation and something is leaching throught?
3. What is this cleaning doing to my liner?
4. Anything I should try that could clean it without lots of time, lots of scrubbing and without damaging liner?
5. Other input?

Thanks for reading and any help!!


newskate9
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Postby newskate9 » Sat 31 May, 2008 07:24

Bump.

Come on you experts!!! :lol: :lol:
steve767300

yellow stains

Postby steve767300 » Fri 11 Jul, 2008 12:42

Hi, we had the same problem and got rid of it by keeping the chlorine level higher(3ppm). After about a month of higher chlorine level, all stains disappeared.Hope this helps!
Cheers
Steve
Shdak

Yellow stain - not mustard Algae

Postby Shdak » Wed 01 Jul, 2009 17:53

NOTE: some algaecide's can cause yellow staining, not sure what the trigger is that sets this off, but I have seen this happen with my own pool when chlorine level fell below 2.

I recommend keeping chlorine levels between 2 and 4 to help prevent this from happening.
Door
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Yellow stain - not mustard Algae

Postby Door » Tue 28 Jul, 2009 23:00

I have a yellow stain as well and I know what caused it. I used an algaecide and the next day there was a yellow stain on the wall from my return line all the way around to my skimmer. I also forgot to switch the pump from auto to manual. So it only ran for 3 or 4 hours, which may have helped to cause the problem.

I am stuck with two issues. Due to all the rain we have been getting, my water was way too high when I put the algaecide in The water was above the skimmer and the skimmer couldn't skim (only pull in water).

So now I am stuck with yellow both above and below the water line. Any idea how I get rid of the yellow stain that was caused by the algaecide? And if it is a water treatment, what do I do about the stain that is above the water line? All the stain treatments talk about removing mineral stains. None of them mention anything about stains from algaecide. So I'm at a loss as how to correct the problem.
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mr_clean
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Yellow stain - not mustard Algae

Postby mr_clean » Wed 29 Jul, 2009 18:09

if its just a yellow algae stain keeping your chlorine level high and scrubbing will remove it.
if it's from metals in water you can use a sequestering agent/metal remover that come in qt bottles. If metal level is real high more than one may be needed with some scrubbing.
suebhaven

Yellow stain - not mustard Algae

Postby suebhaven » Thu 29 Jul, 2010 10:21

I have the same problem. I cannot remove those d....ed yellow stains for anything. They are mostly around the side of one side of my pool and also on the bottom in spots. I tried dumping a container of oxalic acid in per the pool guy's suggestion, but it didn't work. I bought a smaller quantity and scrubbed a small section and it did work, but a week later, the stain came back. It doesn't matter how high or low I keep the chlorine, they just won't budge. I have had my pool for 13 years and have never had this problem before.

Any help would be appreciated
chem geek
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Yellow stain - not mustard Algae

Postby chem geek » Thu 29 Jul, 2010 22:29

It may be iron stains. I had some mounts to stainless steel bars just below the waterline rust when a Trichlor floating feeder parked itself too close 7 years ago and I'm still paying the price from the rust and iron in the water. When the pH gets too high (above around 7.8 or so) the plaster can turn yellow in some areas. Lowering the pH helped clear it up as did using a metal sequestrant. Ascorbic acid also helps, but the stains can still come back unless metal sequestrant is regularly added so instead I just make sure the pH doesn't get too high. Read Metals in the Water and Metal Stains.
phoys
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Yellow stain - not mustard Algae

Postby phoys » Sat 14 Aug, 2010 13:33

HI,
I have the same on my pool - but mainly above the water line, Although sometimes I get the odd stain on the pool in certain places.
It seems to be Bromine related and its quite a greasy yellow deposit. I'm not sure if its the Bromine sticking to suncreams that our family use - But its not easy to clean - and doesnt totally clean off.
The deposits seem to increase if the cover is left on for a couple of days.

Pete
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Yellow stain - not mustard Algae

Postby swimfit » Thu 25 Nov, 2010 02:55

mr_clean wrote:if its just a yellow algae stain keeping your chlorine level high and scrubbing will remove it.
if it's from metals in water you can use a sequestering agent/metal remover that come in qt bottles. If metal level is real high more than one may be needed with some scrubbing.


This one just said it. Please try this advise.
robren

Yellow stain - not mustard Algae

Postby robren » Sat 07 May, 2011 10:46

We thought our yellow stain around the pool just above the water level was due to guests using sun cream but now are not so so sure. We think it more likely to be the result of pollen from nearby fir trees. Shall increase chlorine as recommended. Can someone please give the trade name of the "sequestering agent/metal remover" . Thanks in anticipation -
chem geek
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Yellow stain - not mustard Algae

Postby chem geek » Sat 07 May, 2011 12:18

If the pollen is on the surface of the water as well, then you can use a skimmer sock to catch a lot of it.

As for a metal sequestrant, the most powerful are HEDP based as they are also chlorine-resistant so won't break down so quickly. See Metals in the Water and Metal Stains for more info.
KittyCalais

Yellow stain - not mustard Algae

Postby KittyCalais » Tue 13 Sep, 2011 10:22

I found there is not magic chemical to remove any yellowing, I find most times it is just plan old dirt and scum, because the pool hasn't been brushed enough. We are all guilty of letting our automatic pool cleaners do more work then we do and lets face it, non of them work all that well. My suggestion and the only thing that I ever found that really works.....is good old fashion elbow grease. Go to the store buy about 20 Mr Clean Magic Erasers, recruit the whole family, put on your swimsuits and start scrubbing. Then put "Creepy" in the pool shed and dust off that old pool hose, vacuum and pole and start scrubbing your pool with that once a week. I know its the answer you are all dreading to here but you know its the truth....Happy scrubbing!!!! :thumbup:

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