Excessive Iron in Swimming Pool Water, page 4
Editor's summary: Readers are welcome to read this entire long thread, but dozens of users found themselves able to easily get from brown rusty water to a sparkling clear pool with simple home built filters ranging from a couple of white socks to a pair of 5-gallon buckets with a small sump pump in one and the stuffing from a couple of old pillows in the other.
June 22, 2009
I just had to write in and say Thank You all, oh-so-much! I know some of these posts are a couple of years old so many of the original posters of the filtering ideas may not be here, but if you ever check in... y'all are lifesavers!
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I stumbled across this forum yesterday morning and after reading all the responses promptly began filtering out the rust from my newly set-up 18' x 52" Intex metal frame pool (great pool by the way, just really sucky city water that apparently doesn't like high doses of chlorine). I tried a couple different things to start: A sock around the outgo thingie in the pool with a small towel in the skimmer basket. Well, the towel wasn't picking up much so I eventually ditched that. What I eventually settled on was a small sock stuffed in a 2-layered larger sock combo (the small sock was just a wad to catch more stuff) rubberbanded around the outgo thingie inside the pool with a white t-shirt tied onto the side and wrapped loosely around the sock to catch more. I check and/or change that one every hour to 2 hours. |
And during all of this, I'm keeping up on the balance of the water with the chlorine and pH (don't need any algae to top off my lovely water colors). I made the pool off-limits yesterday to concentrate on shocking it again to oxidize anything that wasn't already, and filter, filter, filter, but I can't imagine that I'll be able to keep the kids out of it today. It's just a bit of rust now and I'm the one that has to worry about the laundry -- so I just won't let them wear white suits ;-)
So again, thank you to all of you that had the filter plans! And to anyone else that stumbles across this forum, try it -- you won't regret it!
Erin
- Lafayette, Indiana, USA
June 22, 2009
I am about ready to give up! I have been reading all your posts and using many of them! We bought a new intex 18 x 48 ag pool, and also a intex salt water chlorinator. We filled our pool from well water, that I knew had some metals, but oh boy not as bad as I thought. Day one greenish brownish yuck, day two "poop soup" added rust and stain remover from the pool store, started filtering like mad, tried the towel trick, sorta helped, then built a 4000 gph filter system out of a submersible pump and a 5 gal bucket filled with towels and double wrapped with some 700 thread count pillowcases, we drilled a ton of holes and filtered for 1.5 days, crystal clear beautiful water. Day 4 "poop soup" pH is 7.2 to 7.4 ac3 , now we are filtering again, when will this end.......HELP
Nancy Bertch- Bismarck, North Dakota, USA
June 24, 2009
Instead of using the pillow cases, and towels, just use the stuffing, we tried the others too, but the stuffing works great alone. use almost two pillows worth of fluff and pack it in pretty good. have a previous post, and I promise, take the fluff out every couple hours hose it off until it runs clear, repack the bucket, and keep going. it will work. we still have great clean water, its awesome
Becca Sedenquist- Escanaba, Michigan, U.S.A.
June 24, 2009
Much to my surprise after sanitizing our freshly filled new above ground vinyl pool today (with city water!) I found myself dealing with the puzzling brown water issue. After doing some reading and discovering iron in the water as the culprit, I happened upon this site! YEAH! :-) I was prepared to rush out tomorrow for a miracle chemical to remedy the problem (though now it seems no such chemical exists). Instead I have just outfitted my pool with the sock/towel homemade filtering in hopes of waking to clearer water in the morning. Here is what I did:
-Placed a white sock over both the intake and output inside the pool.
-Stuffed 2 white wash cloths inside the center of the paper filter that came with the pump.
I am getting up early in the morning to see if I have any results. I've crossed my fingers in hopes that I don't fry the pump motor by make it work a little harder with this extra filtering. We'll see....
- Charleston, Arkansas, U.S.
June 24, 2009
Oxy Clear was suggested for clearing up brown pool water - what are the after affects by using this solution? It cleared up the brown water but was it safe to swim in afterwards? Every time you add the chlorine - do you add the oxy clear?
Thank you!
- Goodrich, Michigan
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Ed. note: I don't think anyone suggested "Oxy Clear" -- which is a chemical designed for clearing up cloudy water in ornamental fish ponds, Jennifer. What was suggested by several people (but a number of people also thought it was not a good idea) was OxiClean. You probably just made a typo, but we didn't want it to add confusion to a long and confusing thread. Thanks.
June 26, 2009
We filled our pool 2 days ago and the water was yellowish red right from the start. Added Chlorine, didn't help. I didn't want to go down the road of bringing in the water sample and have the pool company test it. All they ever do is guess and they send you home with more chemicals. Most times they don't work. They promise to help you get crystal clear water, but it will cost you money and time... and then fail to live up to their promise. So I thought I would try the sock on the discharge end of the pump. Well I'll be... it worked. I started at 1 pm today and now it's 6:30 pm and my pool is just about crystal clear a few more socks and filter changes and we should have the crystal clear water before bed! Thank you for this wonderful site and people that support it with tried and true advise. Bless you!
Toni Hoelzel- Kaukauna Wisconsin USA
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June 28, 2009
Brown water is gone in less than 24 hours. I read all of these posts and got some good ideas. I filled my intex 18 x 48 air ring pool (with model 635 pump, no salt system) with water and added chlorine. The next day it was dark green. I shocked it and then it was dark brown. I tried algae cleaner to no avail. I went to Cheswick Pools and they said Cheswick water is terrible with iron and to try Simplicity super metal control with Simplicity filter aide (a powder that makes your filter cartridge catch more dirt). I added half of the metal control at 1:00 PM and the other half at 10:00 PM. While this was circulating, I hung a towel in front of the inlet jet by cable tying it to the ladder. I also put an old cotton t-shirt in the skimmer basket. I put 1 cup of the filter aide in the skimmer at the beginning and every hour or two when I change the filter. I have 2 filters I rotated and hosed off each time. I woke up in the morning around 9:00 and the pool was a very slight tint of green, NO BROWN! I added 4 oz of algae cleaner and in a few hours it it blue. Thanks for all the helpful posts, I believe the only thing new here is the filter powder. It really makes the filter catch more of the iron. Richard Guy- Cheswick, Pennsylvania, United States |
June 28, 2009
We used well water to fill in our BRAND NEW NEVER BEEN SWAM IN 32 x 16 x 52 inches 2200.00 dollar pool! had it over a month and still no swimming, used super shock it didn't make it worst but didn't make the brown water better either.......... last night put in a whole bucket of OxyClean and NOTHING, it's the same, SOOOOOOO we put a white towel (3 total to alternate) and cut them all in half long-ways in front of the thing that pumps water into the pump ( the towel is disgustingly brown), AND the filter is NOT even close to as dirty as it was pre towel.....we also put our sons (age 6) white knee sock filled foot w/ old pillow stuffing and put on the spot water goes BACK IN the pool.....it turns brown but not much, because the towel part is working so WELL,From the looks of the white towel it IS WORKING, but since its only been about 3-4 hours we can't even come close to telling w/ just the pool water itself............. it's a HUGE pool so its going to take some days to see probably, we have a pool party Saturday so were gonna say a little prayer and hope for the best, hubby's friend has a plumbing store and in the morning were going to try this stuff called FIRE CLEAR, and see if it helps, if it does I'll post, if not we're gonna consider draining and refilling w/ city water.........
Brittney Shaw- Ratcliff, Arkansas
June 29, 2009
We followed advice from this column and used pillow stuffing in our input. We used a sock at the output. Now about 5 days later our brown, yukky, well water in our Intex pool is clear. You can see the bottom. We scrubbed the algae off the sides and continue with the filtering. At first you have to be dedicated because the filter clogs quickly. A slow but worthwhile process.
Saya Cranda- Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
July 2, 2009
I purchased an Easyset 18 x 48 pool this summer. As soon as I put in the chlorine, the water turned yellowish brown. I found this site and it was very helpful. I used a milk sock to filter out the iron. It is a long tube like filter that can be found in the farm area at Fleet Farm. I detached the hose from the valve that put the filtered water back into the pool. I put the hose over the top of the pool so it would hang in the water. I used duct tape to keep it from slipping. I attached the milk sock filter with a rubber band to the end of the hose and turned on the filter pump. The milk sock filter filled up with rust. I took a couple of days of cleaning the milk sock and the filter in the pump, I just rinsed them out with a hose. My water looks great. Have a great summer!
Kris Klug- Greenleaf, Wisconsin
July 3, 2009
I spent $200 on chemicals that did not work. I tried the pillow stuffing and towel in the skimmer with great results. It was working but slowly so I added a small submersible pump to the bottom of the pool and ran the water through a filter and back to the pool. took a couple of days (16x32x8) in-ground pool. I paid a local pool guy to add all of these chemicals with no result so the towel idea is a miracle.
Mike Burnett- Cape Girardeau, Missouri, USA
July 8, 2009
As a last ditch effort before our 4th of July pool party, I tried the OxiClean
trick...IT WORKS! We have a 12 X 24 oval 48" deep, which was rust brown from horrible well water. Put in 3 lbs of oxiclean and clarifier and pool turned clear in an hour. I would have spent a fortune had I not found this trick. THANKS!
OXICLEAN WORKS TO CLEAR WATER WITH HIGH IRON CONTENT!
- Beggs, Oklahoma, USA
July 12, 2009
To the person that used Oxiclean in the pool, did the water go back to its original state when you added chlorine? Also did anyone get any reactions from the Oxiclean? I want to try this as for all else has failed me and I am tired of spending money! They say not to use it but it may just be worth a try! Please let me know, "poop soup" pool owner.
Kelly Struck- Beavercreek, Ohio, USA
July 8, 2009
I have tried two summers, hundreds on chemicals, and pre-filtered the fill this year with a whole house charcoal filter, and it still turned brown. 18x4 foot intex. The stuff last year killed the pump, had to buy a new pump this year. Pool company said no iron in water, but vacuuming the settled stuff off bottom, it comes right back out of the inlet jet, gotta be iron. Trying the sock/cotton ball filter method, lets see what happens. This may just work, it's so simple, and doesn't cost a lot, if this works I will know what to do next year for sure. Can't wait to see clear water finally.
V R Gator- York, South Carolina
July 10, 2009
We had the same thing happen to us, shocked our pool (Intex 18x48) and it turned brown...long story short, we put a sock over the output thingy and changed the filter often (we rinsed and reused 2 filters during this process) and whew, 5 days of waiting and watching, it finally cleared up, NO chemicals, I'm glad we didn't have extra money at the time to spend on chemicals bc we did it with a little elbow grease! Yeah for reading others advice!
Randi McHenry- Stanton, Texas USA
July 10, 2009
I have a redneck way to fix this issue that is COST and chemical FREE!
We have very high iron levels in our water, to the point where we get iron stains in our drains in the house if we do not soften our water.
Filtration is the key, Here is what we did. First we took the skimmer off the pool, we put a screen in the bottom of it. We then cut open an old pillow open. we stuffed the skimmer full of the cotton (or what ever pillows are made of). we changed we had to empty the skimmer about 3 to 4 times a day, in 2 days it was clear enough to swim, today is the third day and it is Crystal clear.
One thing to watch for is when you change the cotton, be sure to unhook the hose and pull the skimmer from the water quickly as the water in the hose and the skimmer is full of iron. make sure you put a screen of some sort in the skimmer as well or it will just suck the cotton into the pump.
You will still need to add chemicals to keep your levels as they should be, but the fix itself is chemical free...
THIS DOES WORK!
Well, with that in mind I am going to go for a swim!
- Deerwood, Minnesota
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July 10, 2009
Hi, - Nova Scotia |
July 11, 2009
Well I have to say I'm really surprised. I have tried everything under the sun over the past year to remove the rust from my pool water. I took the ideas from this page and applied them to my 24' X 42" Intex pool. I used a white towel wrapped around my paper filter and a cotton sock on my inlet.....after about three day the water was crystal clear. Even after I added liquid chlorine to bring it to the level it needs to be. No discoloration, no brown tea looking water.
Thanks to all that posted ideas.
- North Branch, Minnesota, USA
July 13, 2009
We purchased the Intex 16' x 42" pool and filled it with our well water 2 days ago. Water looked a bit brown - figured it was the iron in our water and chemicals would fix. WRONG! Set-up conditioning, shock and stabilizer made it worse. I started reading info here. After a day of trail and error I learned that: 1. Coffee filters restrict water flow thru filtration system too much. Need good flow to obtain filtering 2. Pump filter sent with pool is inadequate to filter iron. However, replacement filters obtained at Wal-Mart (2 pack) are great. 3. Tube socks make great iron filters. What worked best? 1. A single tube sock over the filter pump's output basket, secured with rubber band. 2. Adding a submersible pump with 3 tube socks secured with a rubber band to the outlet end of the hose. 3. Rinsing/cleaning the pump filter and "tube sock filters" FREQUENTLY (every 30 minutes initially). We've not been running this system 24 hours yet and the water has turned from "iced tea" to nearly clear. We ran the "triple tube sock filter" overnight - vast improvement. Expect we will be done with filtering iron today and then I will be on to figuring out how to lower Total Alkalinity with pH and Free Chlorine perfect. Hmmmm... The info contained here was invaluable to helping!
Tamera Ragna- South Bend, Indiana
July 13, 2009
You have really helped me to understand what is going with my pool. I too experience discoloration after a shock treatment and was told that I still had "metals" in my water even though I treated it with a "stain and scale" chemical from a local pool dealer. We went away for the weekend only to return home to a green pool...UGH! I called the pool dealer and was told to shock the crap out of it and so I did...adding 2 lbs. of shock and noticed that the water once again got worse not better. Totally frustrating. So I begin researching and reading and found this site which I am so totally grateful for and learned of the "sock method". I have put a sock in the skimmer as well as a sock on the incoming water in the hopes that this will work. My only thing now is that I believe in addition to still having metal in my water, I now have algae (beginning stages). I am wondering if the shock treatment will help cure that problem? Any ideas? I also have put in an algae chemical to prevent and fix algae growth. Fingers crossed...:) If you have any ideas, please send them my way. I am so tired of buying chemicals and wasting money and not to keen on the idea of swimming with them either.
Thanks.
Iron and Algae
- Dover, Delaware, USA
July 18, 2009
We tried the sock in the filter and a towel hung over the pool - the results are amazing! We had light brownish green water because of high mineral content and with small children using our pool, I was hesitant to put in more chemicals than I really needed.
Instructions: Take a men's tube sock and cut off the leg part leaving only the foot. Place it over your filter for the pump and tuck in the toe part in the top hole of the filter. I used the leg part and just put it in the skimmer to collect more iron. It takes about 3 days total of rinsing the sock and filter and leg part in the skimmer regularly (three times a day) but my pool is now clear!
Hope it works for you too!
- Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
July 21, 2009
I have found that the "gallon jug filter" worked great for us! I used a milk jug at first, but stuffed it full of quilt batting that I cut in to 6 inch strips and stuffed in the jug with a wooden spoon handle. The neck of the milk jug wore out after about the third time I had to rinse the "filter" out. I found that a bleach bottle worked just as good if not better. I cut the milk jug open and rinsed out the quilt batting then stuffed it in to the bleach jug. I drilled about 15 holes in the bottom of the jug. I also attached a longer piece of hose so that the jug could get to the bottom of the pool. I ran this "filter" over night, and my pool went from "coffee brown" to crystal clear over night! Thanks Pete for sharing this great idea!
-Diane
- Ann Arbor, Michigan. USA
July 27, 2009
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. It has helped us a TON!
Here is what we have found so far:
We bought an INTEX 18X48 pool and filled it from our well, not even considering the high iron content (we bought a water softener when our toilet bowls stained after moving into our new home last Nov). We didn't want to run 6,000+ gallons through the softener, so we bypassed it when we filled the pool.
When the pool finished filling, it began to turn a very faint color of brown (almost yellowish), and by the next day, light brown. We added no chlorine yet.
We put a tube sock around the INTEX filter, and a double sock on the return. Within 3 days, the water was crystal clear, and we got excited. We thought we had all the iron removed, and when we added chlorine, it wouldn't turn brown. We thought wrong.
I ordered an INTEX salt water chlorine generator, but in the meantime before it arrived, I poured a jug of 6% sodium hypochlorite (household bleach) into the pool. Within an hour, the pool water was dark, and I mean DARK brown.
So, since Saturday (it's Monday today), we've used any combination of quadruple socks on the return from the pump/filter, socks stuffed with cotton balls, double socks on the paper INTEX/WalMart brand filters, towel draped over the return/socks. The water is clearing, S-L-O-W-L-Y, and when we wash out the socks, and towels, they are dark reddish brown (like dark colored paint).
We are hopeful that when it eventually clears up, we can hook up the salt water chlorine generator and have the pool water not turn brown, or at least not as brown. This process is slow, time-consuming, and labor intensive, but we hope to remove the iron without chemicals, if at all possible.
Bottom line, add chlorine before attempting to remove the iron. If you remove it before, obvious there is still a ton of it still in there that you can't see, which will really come out when chlorine is added.
Thanks again everyone for pointing us in the right direction!
- Gold Hill, North Carolina
August 3, 2009
Following up from my last post...
The pool was brown for a couple of days, and then after a HEAVY rain, it cleared up. We started the salt water chlorine generator system and the water turned brown again, though not as brown as before. We have been filtering with the sock/bath towel, and chlorinating for 6 hours/day. Anytime we're not chlorinating, we're filtering with socks on the return hose, and a sock around the filter. Now the water has cleared up beautifully, and we doubt we'll need to filter but for another couple days. We're chlorinating every day, so we don't need to fear the water turning brown again...hopefully! *fingers crossed*
Next year, we're going to fill the pool from the well with the garden hose filter someone else spoke of, and hope for the best. At the very worst, we know we can filter out iron with socks and a bath towel (although we'd rather not!).
Thanks again for the help everyone! If we hadn't of read the advice on this site, we may have drained the pool, and hired someone to bring water.
- Gold Hill, North Carolina
July 27, 2009
We are in the process of building a new pool and we have well water. I am so thankful for finding this site. We are ignorant when it comes to the workings of the pool, so please describe any advice clearly.
Because of finding this site, I think I should filter the water from the water hose as the pool fills the pool. Would the sock method be the best way to do this, by putting it on the end of the hose? What other of the methods described would you use if you were filling your pool for the first time?
Thank you!
- Nashville, Tennessee, USA
July 30, 2009
We also had the brown water problem. First time we filled up the pool without running through the house filtration system. Water turned Brown as soon as chlorine was added.
Drained pool and refilled by filtering through the house carbon filter. It still turned brown as soon as chlorine was added.
One of our neighbors had water that turned a bright yellow, so they added something from pool store. I believe it was called Backup. We tried this with the filter running all night and by morning the water was just slightly murky and two days later was crystal clear. We also replaced the filter with a larger sand filter at the same time we added the Backup. Water is still beautiful 3 weeks later.
- Claxton, Georgia
July 31, 2009
I shocked my pool and it turned brown... I was so sick of buying pool products so I tried the sock and it helped and I went to town and bought OxiClean a small container and in 15 minutes, my water was clear as the aces spades, I swear by it! Thanks for the person or people that offered this advice, It works!
Sincerely,
Heather
- cottonwood, Minnesota usa
August 2, 2009
I have an intex 24 x 52 above ground pool I also have well water. I put 8 bags of salt in and 24 hours later after running my pump I turned the salt chlorinator on around 9 pm. The next morning my water was dark brown. The pool people gave me a gal of acid some pool stabilizer and a bottle of metal out. At 1 am the next morning nothing has changed so I put 6 lbs of oxiclean in. When I got up this morning 8 hrs later the pool looked great. The towel and sock I used over the water out didn't really collect much iron it was mainly on the bottom of the pool. Even the filter looked good thanks to the OxiClean. I will write back in a couple of days to tell y'all if everything still looks good. Thanks so far.
- Dayton, Texas
August 12, 2009
This is a great forum. I am in the process of experimenting with several versions of the physical filter ideas in this thread. My problem is dead green algae which forms a fine dust on the bottom of the pool and then (for the most part) passes through the sand filter and back into the pool when vacuuming. I can vacuum to waste but this wastes a great deal of water. Has anyone on this forum had similar (similar to the rust stories) success with filtering dead algae? The sock and towel ideas (attached to the outflow fitting on the pool) certainly gather much algae but you can also see a green cloud of material that gets through the socks and sifts back to the pool bottom.
Terry Daniel- Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
August 15, 2009
We filled our Intex pool with well water, then added chlorine. The water turned a brownish-green color. Having been on this site, I was prepared. I added a pint of "Metal Free" and replaced the Intex filter with a filter made for my in-house filtration system (Whirlpool filter #WHKF-GD050), easily cut to fit. The water was crystal clear within a few hours! We were amazed! I ordered the "Metal Free" online from In The Swim. Next year I plan to filter the water through the Whirlpool filter when filling the pool!
Peggy Suggs- Front Royal, Virginia
August 16, 2009
Thanks to all contributing to this forum, it was all really helpful! I took the towel/socks filtering approach and after 24 hours of filtering the water is clear :-) It will take another 24 hours to get it to perfection but in the beginning the water looked REALLY bad, all brown, the bottom could not be seen. I used a rag wrapped around the filter cartridge with some towels in front of it. My rag is was miracle in filtering, catching all incoming rust and the (paper) filter itself remained almost clean. I have tried some rags just to pick up the best that both catches rust and does not block flow of water, which is very important. I would recommend people to put their towels/rag/socks in front of their filter, this way it would remain clear and you would just need to wash out rags/towels. Just check flow of water now and then and when it slows down considerably it means it's time to wash out towels. That's it! Effective, chemicals-free and final solution to brown water.
Maros Sandor- Prague, Czech Republic
December 2, 2009
Hallo
Brown stains in marbelite swimming pool. We had a swimming pool built but when we filled it with water certain areas stained brown. The staining did not occur near the place we let the water in and we did not add any chemicals to the water for at least two weeks. However the stains occurred almost immediately after the water has been put in
teacher - Rustenburg, South Africa
December 2, 2009
Hi, Lize. Sounds like the brown stain is from iron that was in the water. Chemicals on or in the construction material of the swimming pool probably raised the pH of the water enough to cause the dissolved iron to precipitate. The water should ideally have the iron removed before it is added to the pool.
Regards,
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 Ted Mooney, P.E. RET finishing.com Brick, New Jersey |
May 3, 2010
FYI:
We bought a garden hose "in-line type" filter (the white one, not the carbon one), and it DID NOT work.
We'll have to try the carbon one next year, but I'm not holding my breath that it will work.
Guess we'll be breaking out the socks and towels again this year. *sigh*
- Gold Hill, North Carolina
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May 27, 2010
Towel, sock, pillow, sound great. - Worcester, Massachusetts |
May 28, 2010
After all I gave up, yesterday I used OxyClean, that was a miracle, the water and the rust stain cleared in less than 15 min. Maybe Oxyclean is same stuff as Oxalic Acid you buy at the pool store. It looks and works alike. Even the name is very close, I think OxyClean Is Oxalic Acid. For me chlorine is more dangerous than OxyClean, Chlorine is highly corrosive so I have no problem to put OxyClean in the pool. Also I use the sock, Pillow stuff and towel to catch the metal in the pool. At last now I can see the bottom and I can vacuum the dirt. The next step will be to balance the pool. My pool is in=ground 18x36 vinyl liner.
Mike Amir- Worcester, Massachusetts
May 31, 2010
Has anyone tried a magnet to attract the excessive iron in the pool?
Ernie Sperling- Bradford, Ontario, Canada
May 2010
Hi, Ernie. Sorry but a magnet will not work. Magnets only work based on the crystal structure of a ferro-magnetic metal, and dissolved iron is not metal.
Regards,
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Ted Mooney, P.E. RET finishing.com Brick, New Jersey |
May 31, 2010
Just as a point of clarification for anyone wishing to use OxyClean in their pool. OxyClean is made of sodium percarbonate and hydrogen peroxide. Sodium percarbonate is used in swimming pool care products (Oxy-Pool is one) to dechlorinate and sanitize pool water. You can Google sodium percarbonate and swimming pools to get more information.
Chlorine shocking precipitates the iron out of the water and turns your water brown. It's not really feasible to filter unprecipitated iron out of water as you fill the pool, as many people have already discovered. The filter methods described here will remove it from the water.
Personally, I prefer the filter methods discussed here. We have a
16'x48" round Intex above ground and high iron content city water. Over the last four years we've gone through hundreds of dollars in chemicals to remedy the brown water problem. I don't care to use chemicals anymore (including OxyClean) -- but if it works for you and you're happy, it's none of my business.
- Houston, Texas USA
June 7, 2010
I have iron in my well.
The flocculent is the #1 answer. It also depends on how much iron you have. You can actually shock it and turn it all red but it will stain the sides of your pool. You need to scrub that off and let it settle out to the bottom and then vacuum to waste. Same with a flocculent. Get the filter running and the water circulating. Then shock it (if you have algae also) - then flocculate it (NOT A Clarifier!).. , then next day turn every bit of circulation off and let the water sit still for like a day(or two). you will see the water clear and a brown murky bottom. This is all the iron settling out. Now vacuum that to waste (the particles are too small - even with the flocculent(clumps particles together) to be filtered out)(try it if you don't believe me - start vacuuming and watch the return pipe pour out red cloudy water back into your clean pool)...
Only flaw in this plan is that you have to add more water back to the pool - this is the iron water that started the problem ! So I suggest you either use the metal out (which will tie up some of the iron in a soluble form(that means its colorless).. or make a pre-water tank - fill it - let it settle out and then pump the clean water off the top to fill your pool.. (i have 26,000 gallons so that don't work for me) (I can vacuum to waste the whole bottom in about
1500 gallons)
- Peoria, Illinois USA
June 9, 2010
Hello all.
I had the same problem, well water with iron and heavy metals.
My pool is 16x4.5 high .
Asked pool people at two locations, ANSWER , JUST KEEP CHANGING FILTER AND RINSE UNDER HOT WATER TAP.
HEY PRESTO Pool clear in there days.
SO PATIENCE,I ran the pump for 8 hours a day.
Cheap (only used 2 filters) no extra chemicals and no extra cost.
- Moncton Canada
June 15, 2010
Just to let others know I have finally solved my Intex brown water problem, and I wanted to share my experience with you all. I bought this Intex pool as a "first pool" with the idea of using it for a year just to make sure we enjoyed it before investing a few thousand on a permanent one.
It took us a couple days to get the ground level, and another day and a half to fill the pool. We were so excited to watch the water level rise and once it was full we were ready to swim! So that night I threw the Shock in and went to sleep having dreams of diving in the pool and relaxing with a beer in my crystal clear pool.
Well what a shock I had in the morning to find my water Brown as the Illinois River, and to be honest the river looks better then our pool did. I checked the filter and yes it was working and the filter was Chocolate color, so I took it out and rinsed it clean and put it back in.
I called the local pool company and he explained that it was the iron reacting to the chlorine, and he sold me a bottle of StainBan. Once I got the StainBan in I had to babysit this pool every two hours so I could clean the filter off. I even took the discharge hose off the pool and placed an old t-shirt old it, and that to was stained red within an hour. I fought with this pool for 2 weeks and the best I could get it was light brown, and that was not good enough for me. Once I realized that the filter was doing very little I knew I had two choices:
1. Take the pool back.
2. Or keep the pool but buy a better filter.
I did some looking and a lot of calling and decided a sand filter is what I needed for well water. I checked around and found out that a sand filter new is more then the whole pool, but used is a completely different story. I ended up getting a Pentair 1.5hp 200 lbs sand filter for $150.00 off of Craigslist, and it connected right to my Intex hoses all I needed was two hose clamps. It took me 5 minutes to get the Pentair Sand Filter hooked up, and with 10 hours my water was better then it has been in two weeks of constantly running my Intex pump. I am now of my 15th hour of the sand filter and my water is 95% crystal clear, and I would imagine by tomorrow it will be 100%.
So long story short, this Intex pool filter is not made for well water, and it can be totally frustrating dealing with all the hassles of brown water but there is hope out there. I have even posted a video on youtube to show the progress of my pool. Please forgive me for the quality of the video but you will be able to see the difference. I hope this post gives you some hope if you are dealing with the problem I had. Here is the link to the 1st video of my pool http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHL3rsyhdw4 and I will be taking video until it is crystal clear. Thanks!
- Lacon, Illinois
June 16, 2010
Chris, I checked out your video and am hopeful. I have a sand filter in storage. (had a pool at my previous home) Could you explain how you connected your new filter to the intex hoses?
Cathi Ste.Marie- North Troy Vermont
June 16, 2010
Cathi - Sure I would love to help. On the Pentair Sand Filter I bought the intake and discharge fittings are 1.5", and that so happens to be the exact size as the Intex lines. All you need to do is disconnect the Intex pump, and get two 2" hose clamps and attach your Intex hoses to the sand filter. It took me 2-3 minutes to have the sand filter up and running. Did you see my Part 5 video, because in a day and a half my water is CRYSTAL clear! Good Luck!
Chris Peterson- Lacon, Illinois
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June 23, 2010
Sand filter is the only way to go. Finally, blue water after 2 weeks and around $150.00 dollars on chemicals. Tried the sock trick and the OxyClean with little results. Not to mention all the chemicals from the local pool store. Finally I found a used sand filter as suggested in a previous posting and I had crystal clear water in 24 hrs. I guarantee you will easily spend as much money on chemicals to attempt to get your pool clean as you will by finding yourself a used sand pump. Where you will get results I promise. My filter came with a 100 lbs. of sand and a 1.5 horse power pump for $180.00 and this way I know I will have blue water for years to come. I have a 16 ft. round 48 inch depth Intex pool that we are finally enjoying. Thanks Chris for your posting and You Tube videos. Dawn BrooksStudent - New Berlin |
June 16, 2010
We tried about a 1/4 cup of super iron out along with the sock and towel method. When our 15 year old came down about 4 hrs later she could not believe the difference in the pool and neither could we. We have been changing the sock every couple of hours, but even if we go through a whole bag of socks, it is much cheaper than the $105 option that the pool place tried to sell us.
Susan Bolan- Morrice, Michigan, US
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June 16, 2010
I just got a intex above ground pool I have rust in my water before I put the chemicals in it should put something in to remove the rust thanks christine kernhomeowner - Pearl River Louisiana June 21, 2010 After reading some of the posts on here, I tried the sock method, although I was worried about burning up my pump, so I got a submersible pump. I double layered socks on the output of the pump. After an hour the socks needed changing. Strictly to prevent have to change the socks hourly, I got an industrial bag house filter. The change overnight was incredible. With nothing more than a pump and huge filter my water went from coffee to picture perfect, zero effort. I let my neighbor borrow it, he had similar results overnight. So I strongly suggest using the sock method or similar, with patience and a little elbow grease, it will pay off without the nasty effects of chemicals. Zero brown left in my pool, thanks to you all for the idea and suggestions. Jon Hansen- Monticello, Minnesota June 22, 2010 Okay so we used a ton of chemicals trying to fix this iron issue. We're going to get a metal control chemical this weekend but without it we have the water already changed from looking like dark tea to a lemonade color. I put two tube socks knotted 4 times each (it really bunches up the socks) inside the filter for the Intex pool (which I might add does NOT filter out the iron by itself well AT ALL) and that was about 3 hours ago. I just went out and the socks were both completely brown but the filter wasn't (for once, I've been rinsing it every 4 to 5 hours and changing it with another one rinsed the 4 to 5 hours prior to) so I rinsed the socks tied em back up and threw them back in...hopefully this works. This weekend I'm ordering the next size up for a filter-pump that Intex makes, we have the 1500 gph one and I'm going to get the 2500 gph off of Ebay because I have read that a better and stronger filter will help in the long run. Heather Hessert- Carmel, Maine, USA |
June 23, 2010
I wish I had found this site before I drained my pool last year. When we refill it, we will have municipal water trucked in, but we will top off after evaporation with well water. I am thinking that I'll set up a filter on the fill hose instead of worrying about it after the iron laden water is in the pool.
Karen Cook- Placerville, California, USA
June 24, 2010
I was cheap and bought a small air ring pool at Walmart this year
12 'x 33" 1600 gallons and filled it with my well water thinking like many before that there should be no problem. my water came clear out of the tap :)
When I added the chlorine to the pool right in front of my eyes I seen my pool turn from just a little cloudy to full fledged Brown. When I called the local pool store they told me that there was nothing I could do except pay them $500 to truck me over water to fill the pool cause of the iron in it.
This is what I did and I have seen a Drastic Improvement in only a few hours.
Took an empty 2 liter bottle of Coke Poked about 7 1/8" holes in the bottom a stuffed it full of polyfill(cut open one of my wife's teddy bears) and made sure it was packed full I then placed one of my Socks over top of the bottle to cover up the holes I made in the bottle. and secured it a couple zip ties. took an old garden hose that I cut a few feet off keeping the female end on the hose and stuck the cut end into the bottle and fastened it with electrical Tape(couldn't think of anything better here). I then took off the return hose from the pool after capping the inside and stuck the female end of the garden hose into the return hose and fastened it with a hose clamp. Threw my Makeshift filter into the pool and turned on the pump. Then I heavily chlorinated the pool, up to around 15 on the test strips to try and fully oxidize the pool.
Pool has went from a really Dark Brown to now a yellow/brown and my homemade filter is getting extremely dark in color. I made a second one I plan on attaching in the morning but believe it is solving the problem.
Cost:
Poly fill $8.00 for big bag at walmart and 2 liter bottle of soda
- Bristol, New York, USA
June 24, 2010
We live in a very rural area with no city water, no water delivery, and I was hesitant to fill my new Intex pool from the well. I used creek water. Now I have a pool full of very brown water. I have filtered, shocked, chlorinated--I am seeing no change. Please help.
Mona Thomasnew pool owner - Parrottsville, Tennessee
June 25, 2010
I have been facing the same problems just like the rest of you. This is my first time having a pool. I have a 12' x 33" and if I had known that well water was gonna do this to my pool I would have had the city to come and fill my pool for me. Soon as I added the chlorine tabs, my water had a greenish tint to it. And all the rust settles at the bottom of it and I have to either get in or take the edge of the net to get it to rise and then splash the water around and then it's off the bottom of the pool. The water is clear, just that yellowish green tint to it. I want it out of there. I am trying Clarifier right now but I have doubts that will do any good. I have heard of Proteam but I am not sure if that will even help it. I don't wanna waste money on chemicals that aren't gonna work. I don't wanna try Iron out, tempted to try OxyClean but first I am gonna try the towel solution since so many people have said it works. It's been such a hassle.
Kristy Jordan- Magnolia, North Carolina
June 27, 2010
after reviewing a few posts on brown pool water. I decided to try the towel trick. results almost immediately.
decided to try the fiber fill trick, went to Walmart's craft center,found fiber fill and (quilt batting)
the batting is awesome , it comes in a sheet, I cut it in 4 inch wide strips and wrapped it around the paper filter , about 4 times overlapping 1/2 every wrap till it was about as thick as the paper filter should be . it is working awesomely: I am running 2 paper filter pumps , 1 attached to pool; 1 with extra long hoses which I am running the return line into a basket double lined with towels a liner of the batting and fiber fill 1 bag inside above mentioned
The basket is about the same kind you would get at Walmart for a carry basket
it fits nicely on the top rungs of my ladder ( ladder is completely in pool) top rungs are about 1 inch above pool water which helps ( as my first try at cleaning my new filter system resulted in most of the red going back into pool now I can pull the hose out of the basket and let it drain before lifting it to clean it
Hope this helps
almost clear in less than 8 hrs
not sure what will happen when I hit pool with another shock treatment
but will post
- Meadville, Pennsylvania, USA
June 28, 2010
i don't believe every water problem should be solved with more chemicals. I've spent a lot of time trying to get my pool water clear, then one day I did it; since then my family and friends love too swim in my pool. NO CHEMICALS no more brown water or green. I patient it and every pool I have cleared stayed clear
neco caraballo- clearwater, Florida
June 29, 2010
I also have a inflatable ring pool SUMMER ESCAPES 16'X42". This is my third year having this type pool and the sock thing works! This is the fastest and best way by far. I've set a record of getting the pool clean in three days...The first year it took me 5 days (smaller pool INTEX, 12'X30"), last year I never really got the pool sparkling (INTEX?, 15'X36"), and had an algae bloom that I couldn't beat. Don't ever let that algae get ahead of you! You need to be diligent and I suggest you shock the pool, or rather over chlorinate as you know, to get all the iron to precipitate out of the water. Remember to balance your pH. Keep the pump running...it's cheaper than all the chemicals the pool people will try to sell you. Then just take a soft brush or broom and keep wiping the sides and bottom to keep stirring it up. I put a sock on the outtake, the intake (less often because it does cause drag on the motor), and a few times I stuck a sock on the outside of the cartridge. I rinsed and changed the sock every few hours on both day one and two. I changed the cartridge out for a rinsed/clean one every few hours the first day, three times the second, and by the thrid day it really is almost perfect. I think I will just rinse the cartridges twice. I say almost perfect because when I brush the bottom, I see just a little puffs of the iron moving around. Tomorrow I think I will be ready to just run the pump when necessary. One more thing, after all this work, make sure you have a pool cover to keep out debris and keep your chlorine in! Happy Splashing and Swimming!
This method works! Thank you everyone!
- Gibsonburg, Ohio, USA
July 1, 2010
Hi all -
We bought an Intex pool 15' x 42". We filled up with well water and it looked fine. First I put in Metal Free and let the pump run 24 hours. Then I added 1 of the 1" chlorinating tablets the next day. The water turned a nice shade of yellow/brown which I knew it would so no surprise. I had to lower the pH and Alkalinity so we added Dry Acid and finally got the pH at about 7.4 which it's stayed at. Last Saturday we started letting the filter run all the time to hopefully get out the metals. We cleaned the filter out every few hours, by Monday evening it looked soooo much clearer. It was still a light shade of yellow but you could see the bottom and all the mess that had settled to the bottom. So Monday night I added some Bleach about
1/4 gallon since the tablets weren't really getting any chlorine in the pool. After I added the bleach of course the pool turned more brown/yellow. On Tuesday evening we put a sock over the filter and threw a towel over the pool in front of the intake for the pump. This all does great to filter this stuff out but it's still in the pool. It settles to the bottom and we circulate it and let it filter but as soon as I add more bleach we go from semi-clear and yellow to yellow/brown. The pool is only 3,800 gallons of water so it seems that at this point there shouldn't be much metal left in the pool to oxidize when the bleach is added! Our goal is to have it swimmable by July 4th and keep it clear from then on. I'm getting discouraged because we can get it semi-clear but then can't add any bleach bc then we've got another 2 days of filtering on our hands. I know we have to have chlorine in to keep it sanitary, we cannot use shock bc it makes the water a DARK brown. So far no algae problems but I think I will switch back to using a chlorinating tablet every day in order to keep a minimal amount of chlorine in the pool without turning the water colors. Some people have posted what great results they've had with filtering with socks/towels and whatnot but no one is update as to what happens once you add back in chemicals, does you water stay clear or do you have the same problem happening and just have to filter all over again? I'll swim in a slightly yellow pool but would LOVE to have clear water, doesn't have to be "sparkling, blue" just clear of the yellow/brown junk.
Any help is VERY appreciated! Thanks!
- Greensboro, North Carolina, USA
July 4, 2010
This is for Emily, I'm sorry I didn't read your post until today. My pool is about the same in gallons as yours. You NEED to shock, or over chlorinate the pool and let it turn brown. This is oxidizing the iron into rust, making it filterable....if that is a word. I don't know what kind of tablets you are using, but keep in mind some of those pucks have CYA in them, if you get too much CYA in your pool you will need to shock even harder if you do get an algae bloom. Also the pucks can lower your ph, which you need to watch. Please refer to The Pool Forum (search it). I shocked mine to well over 10 ppm. I think it may have been around 12-15 ppm, but I just use the dip sticks, and they only show that it is over 10 ppm. Then you filter (changing, rinsing very often with your garden hose on hard stream spray, like every two hours when you can), brush with soft broom/brush often, and change the sock or towel very frequently as well. I did this, and once you get all the rust out, it's out until you have to add some water from water loss. If you follow these instructions, you will have a SPARKLING CLEAN POOL. Again please refer to the pool forum on other problems you might have. Don't get 'pool stored'.
Sabrina Kroeger (returning)- Gibsonburg, Ohio
July 6, 2010
I also have an Intex pool....last year I bought more chemicals than the pools cost...nothing worked. I also bought a pre-filter for over $60.00, two of them since it's only good for one fill. I have well water and had it tested by 3 different pool stores...all three tell me no Iron or copper in the water. I knew better because I can't use bleach when I wash my clothes!
After filling the pool it's beautiful for one week. Then the sides and bottom get slimy feeling and the water a little cloudy. Added a one inch tab of chlorine and within hours green water. I have tried almost everything on the market...and I'm thinking of trying the OxiClean.
Would someone explain some of what I read here to me?
I'd like to try the sock/towel thing but I'm not really understanding how to do this. There is a white plastic cap that shoots water back into the pool from the filter...do I place a sock over this? I did try it and it actually fits and doesn't shoot off. Took it off until I know for sure if it should go there. Don't know how I would hang a towel there since it isn't near steps.
The other part, I don't know what it's called but it has a white basket in it and it catches bugs and stuff...and I believe that's where the water leaves the pool and goes into the filter setting outside the pool. Do I just stuff a sock in the basket or take the basket out and put the sock right on the hose? Won't that prevent the water from going into the filter?
Thank you for any help or suggestions.
- Paw Paw West Virginia
July 8, 2010
Tina, putting it on the outake is fine...that is where the water is shooting back into the pool. You can fill the sock with batting for more filtration. The other thing you asked about is the skimmer basket, where the bugs/debris get caught. I don't have one, and someone correct me if I am wrong, but you could put batting/sock in the basket. You could also put batting/sock in the middle of the cartridge if you wanted (in my experience this wasn't as great as the outake). Or you can wrap batting around the filter (didn't try this), or you could put the toe part of a large sock in the middle of the cartridge, wrapping the leg part of the sock around the paper filter/cartridge. There are lots of ways to do it, you just need to find what works for you. I felt that putting it on the intake (where water gets sucked into the filter) seemed to really drag on the motor so when I did it I just cut the toe portion of the sock and laid it over the intake. The sucking power keeps it on, but like I said I could hear the motor didn't like that. Just remember to change batting/sock/cartridge filter very often no matter what method, or combination of, and keep your chlorine in there to keep your pool sanitized so you are not battling an algae bloom on top of everything else. And FYI- right after shocking your ph will jump sky high, and this is not accurate, so do pH before shocking or after the chlorine drops back down.
I your sides feel slimy, that is algae! You need to shock (over chlorinate) the pool, hard. Please refer to the pool forum to know how much. They have a handy dandy little pool calculator that you input your gallonage and it tells you about how much of anything to add to the pool. Then filter, filter, filter. I hope this helps.
Sabrina Kroeger- Gibsonburg, Ohio
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June 30, 2010
I am trying the towel method and is working but would like to also do the sock in the filter. Could someone explain where do I place the sock inside the filter cartridge? - Stafford, Virginia July 1, 2010 I can't believe how incredibly great putting the sock on the outport worked to pull the brown/green color out of my pool. Our water turned brown/green after a rain and we tried everything for over a week, took in water samples bought $100 in chemicals and still brown... I put the sock over the outport and within 24 hours my pool is clear! Thanks to this post! Angie H - Illinois, USA |
July 3, 2010
Thanks all! I entered the pool world for the first time this summer. I filled my Intex pool with my well, a well I know has a high iron count (although this did not concern me at the time). The water was an initial yellow color. In my ignorance I expected a clear pool after adding the first shock treatment. To my dismay my slightly yellow water went to a deep brown. This was indeed shocking.
Well, my next move was to the internet to find the magic chemical that would give me that clear water. After learning what my problem was I came across this thread. I determined my best solution would be to physically remove the rust. After 2 days of filtering I achieved that goal, much quicker than I thought possible.
I started by over-chlorinating the pool to oxidize as much iron as possible. I also made sure my pH was not low as this will also allow the iron to stay in the water. I ran the filter and I also used the sock over the outlet. I used a white cotton sock filled with pillow stuffing. I would make sure the stuffing was in contact with the outlet forcing the water to travel through the stuffing. I made 2 sock filters as these quickly became saturated with iron. Every 1-2 hours I cleaned the filter AND cleaned the inside of the filter housing as this was filled with iron as well. I changed socks and restarted the filter. I would clean the used sock thoroughly. I changed the stuffing several times. 2 days later (about 24 hours of filtering) the pool was clear.
Lessons I learned: Change the sock often. Be very gentle with the dirty sock to prevent iron from dislodging back into the pool. Clean the filter AND the housing often. Over chlorinate and make sure pH is up to oxidize the iron. Agitate the water to lift any settled iron to allow the filer to pick it up (I don't have a vacuum). Kids worked great for this (my chlorine was high but not out of the recommended zone for swimming; don't send the kids into water that is out of the safe range).
Chemicals need not be the only solution. I used under $10 of chemicals (shock and pH increaser) and never had the water outside any safe for swimming range.
- Southboro Massachusetts USA
July 7, 2010
After sending my gf to Walmart to start chemical warfare, I found this site. I put a sock over the Intex filter and could see a visible difference from the water inlet to the outlet.
Inlet is yellow, the output is crystal clear.
Needless to say I called her and told her to hold on to her money, we might of just solved it with a pair of holy socks.
- Muskegon, Michigan
July 9, 2010
My parents just bought a Intex 15' x 48" pool and after filling it I put a chlorine tablet in it the next morning it was a light green (but still swim-able) I shocked it and when I came home it was a dark brown color I freaked out and after trying to call HTH the chemical company, and a few friends I got on line and found this forum, I too have well water and after adding about a pound of OxyClean We decided to drive an hour away to buy the metal control by hth, I put two cups in last night and it was way lighter this morning, I added another cup when I got up and when I got home the water was a light green again and swim-able! we had to drive to Salem to get it because every where out here was sold out, probably because we live in farm land which means lots of people have well water and probably already knew about the problem but hey it works!
Valerie Heptinstall- Amity, Oregon
July 13, 2010
I have the same issue with my pool. When we filled it I knew there was going to be a problem with the well water. The only real solution is use your metal control with clarify and filter, filter, filter.... It takes a LOT of patience to filter but you want the Iron OUT OF THE WATER.... not just cover it with other chemicals.... We have been 3 days and still filtering, the chemicals are spot on so I let the kids swim. Some people took days to filter, others it takes weeks. I would rather my kids swim in a balanced pool and stir up those particles to help the filtering process then dump a bunch chemicals that were not designed for pool or human use. Next year, we will have the water brought in from a truck. I have no problem swimming in my tea colored pool while it's safe. It's all about swimming, not just having a crystal blue water. It will come in time, mean while, I'm enjoying the pool!
Pamela Snyder- Smithville, Ohio
July 16, 2010
I have an Intex 18X52 above ground metal frame pool. For the past month I have gone round and round with my pool in trying to vacuum the dirt that collects at the bottom. I used the vacuum that came with the pool and the suction was fine. The problem I was having is that the Type A filter that the pump uses wasn't catching the dirt and fine particles, and was instead going right through the filter and putting it right back in the water through the return hose.
My Solution...................
I hooked the vacuum up the way it's suppose to go on but before turning the pump back on, I disconnected the return hose and just laid it on the ground. All of the dirt I was vacuuming was still going through the filter but instead of it going right back in, it just went out of the return hose and onto the ground. Of course, there is water that is coming out also, but it was not gushing. All I had to do when I was done was put my water hose back in the pool for about an hour (depending on how long it takes you to vacuum all the dirt out) and the water level was right back where it was when I started, the dirt is gone and my pool is now finally crystal clear!
Hope this helps some of you with this problem!
- Rock Island, Texas USA
July 20, 2010
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! for this website and those who suggested the sock thing to catch the iron, Oh my goodness, I thought I was going to have a meltdown when we filled our new 12ft Intex pool with well water and shocked it a few days later at night before bed to wake up to the POOP SOUP and my kids saying ew what happened to the water. Well, my husband said "No problem, it's the iron in our horrible well water, we will just go to Lowe's and get the stuff to put in the pool for metals." Well, we thought it's going to clear it right up. WRONG! After trying and waiting all day, no change. I came inside and decided to do some research to see what the heck to do and came across your website. THANK THE LORD! I got so excited to read I wasn't the only one that the Poop Soup happened to and went right outside to put my husbands thick white sock over the output thing, went back out a couple hours later and WOW! that sock was black. After two days of rinsing the filter and doing the sock thing every so often the pool was actually almost clear. I don't know what we would have done if I didn't come across this website. THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Jessica- Indian Trail, North Carolina USA
August 2, 2010
Please do NOT mix Oxyclean with pool water. Chlorine and Oxyclean do not mix well. Oxyclean is made from Hydrogen Peroxide and either baking powder or soda (I don't remember). Do a search on the effects of mixing Chlorine and Hydrogen Peroxide before adding it to your pool.
Dave Gordon- Tyngsboro Massachusetts USA
August 4, 2010
How about Tang the orange drink powder. It works on iron stains as well as Iron Out and I'm sure its safe because a drink mix.
Dennis G- Dunbarton, New Hampshire, USA
August 4, 2010
We have a 15' X 48" Intex Pool with the Intex Salt Water System. Same problem, horrible brown water after running the boost function after filling the pool. We also (unfortunately) elected to fill the pool with well water rather than city water. Won't bore you with all the details and frustration.
Whomever came up with the towel/tube sock solution is a God send. I elected to use the tube sock method. Attached a men's tube sock to the filter outlet and fired up the pump. After less than 10 minutes the nasty brown particles started to collect in the tube sock! I changed out the tube sock every couple of hours as well as cleaning the paper filter in the pump at the same time. I also added about 200 gallons of "clean" city water hoping it would help to speed the cleansing process.
We had to go to Wal-mart anyway so I picked up a bottle of something called metal control (was with all the other pool chemicals). Added 16 ounces last night around 10:00 pm, changed the sock and cleaned the filter again and went to bed. I awoke to a pool that was somewhere in the light tea color as opposed to what was a chocolate shake the night before. I changed the sock, cleaned the filer and headed off to work.
My wife called me today @ 3:00 pm and said the kids were swimming in a "mostly clearish" pool....I was nothing short of shock. Got home around 5:00 pm and the pool is nearly as clear as it was when it was first filled. I've since removed the sock, cleaned the filter and with a bit of hesitation have started the Salt Water system on a normal cycle... Tomorrow morning will tell if we've successfully removed all the nasty metal particles but worst case, I know how to get the pool "mostly clear. As funny and simple as it may sound, the tube sock/white towel system works! Thank you to everyone who has posted, your suggestions and advice saved the day!
- Wichita, Kansas
August 7, 2010
My 21,000 gallon pool was brown when it was filled. I put in Metal Magic from the pool store, did the socks, washed out the filter and it started to get better, but not much. I added iron myte and it still was slowly getting better. I am talking almost a week. Added iron myte again, still a little better. I shocked it because the pool store said I could since it was over 12 hours since I added more iron myte. The pool was almost completely clear. I had vacuumed every day also. Had a big pool party with tons of people and before the people even got out of the pool, it turned brown like the first day! I have not added any new water at all. Please help me. Should I get more metal magic, shock it, shoot it?
Richell Sandonato- Wheatfield, Indiana USA
August 8, 2010
The lady from Delaware is so correct. We put the towel on our pool and it took the iron deposits out of the pool. Thanks, that was awesome advice :)
Doug Hatt- Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
January 7, 2011
Folks - - Read the ingredients in the "Ph Lower" pool chemicals. It's the same ingredients as Iron Out. Thus, it is safe to add Iron Out to the pool or spa water. Every time I refill our hot tub, I add two (2) cups of Iron Out, due to our extremely rusty well water. We have suffered no ill effects, itchiness or residue. Just crystal clear water!
Chris Smith- La Porte Indiana USA
February 12, 2011
Best way to avoid iron problems in pool water is to hire a tanker truck and bring in good water to start with. That's what we did based on a friend's experience. Second full year with the water and no problems at all. Probably cheaper in the long run than fooling around with all the chemicals.
Bruce Tellardin- Placerville, California USA
March 10, 2011
Well I originally jumped on this site to see about cleaning my hot tub of the iron problem I have, but instead found that a lot of people were talking about the Intex pools, and I don't know if I just got lucky or if what I did was the best solution...first with my pool I filled it and let the water settle pool uncovered without the pump on for one day...then I took a very cheap sponge mop and started very slowly mopping the inside bottom of my pool and rinsing the mop every so often...after I finished I again let the pool settle for about 8 hours and went back and did the same thing over with the mop...after that I let the pool sit again for about 8 hours and then did all of my pH levels...my water was so clean that you couldn't even tell there was water in the pool...I also kept my pool covered every night and when not in use, and did my chemical checks and adds at least 2 hours before entering my pool. Like I said I may have just gotten lucky that summer, having so much iron in my water that I could actually mop it out of my pool, but I had not one more problem the rest of the summer as long as I did that procedure even when I had to add a lot of water because of kids and spillage, I would just re-mop it again. may seem like a lot of work, but it is cheap and you aren't dumping pounds or gallons of who knows what in the pool you and or your kids are going to swim in. This is just my solution and my opinion, but thanks for reading, and good luck!
Mary Paul- Spring Hill, Florida, USA
April 26, 2011
This is our third year to fill a 16' x 42" Intex pool with our irony well water. We learned our lesson after the first year: trying chemical warfare, inline hose filters and milk jugs and towels. The past two years we have used what we discovered worked for iron and acquired crystal-clear water in 3 days, in 3 steps:
FILL the pool
SHOCK the pool (and get what we call Poop-Soup)
Let it settle 2 days, and then VACUUM the iron out when it settles to the bottom, with a shop vac. We vacuum the sediment on Day 2 and again on Day 3 and our water is perfect for the remainder of the season!
We could not even see the bottom of our pool after shocking it on Day 1, so this is a remarkable result!
(Granted, filling & emptying our little 5 gallon shop vac 20-30 times ain't fun, but this really works.) Next year, we plan to use a submersible pump to vacuum the sediment, or we will bore a hole & attach a garden hose & shut-off valve in the vac to empty it. The vac is the secret for us!
- Waldron, Arkansas, U.S.A.
May 10, 2011
Like most everyone else in this discussion I have well water. I recently assembled a Intex 16" x 48' pool in my back yard. I have a real issue with Iron in my water. I have a whole house filter but the hose comes right out of the well.
I ran across this website and read that some people were hanging towels in front of the filter discharge. This ultra frame pool came with a skimmer assembly,so, I disconnected the skimmer assembly and used the hose from the skimmer and attached it directly to the discharge of the filter. I then took two old socks and zip tied them to the end of the hose. About 20 min later the socks were BROWN! I rinsed the socks out with the hose and reinstalled. This way may take a few days but I'm sure I will see an improvement! I will keep you up to date!!
- Rio, Illinois, United States
May 31, 2011
Well my answer would be filter the water while filling the pool. Attach the towel to the hose then your water is filtered and your pool won't be brown. Have not tried but I will.
Lisa Mills- Old Town, Florida
May 31, 2011
Hi, Lisa.
I think the issue is that the iron is dissolved at the somewhat lower pH as you fill the pool, so it cannot be filtered out; but when you raise the pH through shock treatment or normal chlorination, the iron no longer stays dissolved, and precipitates out as a rust color colloid. If you filter it while it is at this higher pH you can remove the iron; if you deal with the rust color by re-lowering the pH and redissolving the iron, you keep dealing with the problem over and over whenever you chlorinate or raise the pH.
Regards,
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Ted Mooney, P.E. RET finishing.com Brick, New Jersey |
June 6, 2011
LOVE THE SOCK TRICK!!! I can see it working in minutes! Thanks soooooo much. Don't waste money on anything else. Grab a pair of old socks and put one on the intake, one on the output. Our intex will be clear by tomorrow.
Cheryl Gahan- Stoughton, Wisconsin, USA
June 7, 2011
Hi, I have a 5000 gal Intex pool. Last year we had a horrible time with iron. Long story short. Added so much iron out chemicals to the pool that I ended up with a fine white powder in the water that could not be filtered out even with sand filter (and the water kept going back to brown). Got rid of the cartridge filter that came with the pool and bought a sand filter made for those pools (made by company called GAME). Tried socks and everything else to help filter the water and had no luck. You have to keep your pH on the lower side of normal (it's a must). Shock the water real good until it turns brown. Added a flock and waited per directions on bottle to let it settle. Vacuumed all to waste. Was able to top off pool with my well water after that and had no problem because the sand filter was able to keep up. Wasted almost 2 months on dealing with brown water last year and not doing it again this time. Also, all I use is borax and bleach. There is a calculation web site called "the pool calculator". Hope this helps.
Kristy D- Hunlock Creek, Pennsylvania, USA
June 8, 2011
We purchased a 16x48 Intex pool. We also have well water with a lot of Iron. Went to the pool store and bought Iron Out. The iron did sink to the bottom but when we tried to vacuum it out it just went back into the pool. We tried the suggestion of wrapping a towel around the filter for the pump. It did get a lot of the iron out but still not enough to clear the water up.
Back to the pool store with a water sample and bought more Iron Out but this time we purchased a sock for the pump filter and one for the skimmer. We put the towel and 2 socks (one sock from each end)to completely cover the pump filter. Today the water is clear but still had some iron settled on the bottom. We put a sock over the vacuum filter and got all of it out.
It's been a lot of work but hopefully when we take our water sample back to the pool store we will get an all clear so we can attach our Salt water pump.
Hope this can help someone.
PS: Just a thought if you can't find anywhere to purchase the socks I bet compression knee-hi socks you wear after leg/knee surgery or for blood clots would work. You can buy them at any drug store or Walmart.
- Tyler, Texas
| June 10, 2011
I bought a pop-up pool (4000 gal.) from Wal-Mart last week. We used city water to fill it up. As soon as the shock was added, the pool water turned bright green immediately and then finally brown. I read that this could be the cause of having iron in the pool. We used the sock method in the filter, but this did not work fast enough for me considering the brown color only took seconds to show up and I was ready to SWIM!! My wheels started turning back to General Chemistry. - Wilson, Arkansas |
June 12, 2011
I so appreciate all the knowledge and advice I've gained on this thread. Here's my version of the home-made filter, when I found that the sock-on-the-intake-and-outflow was just too slow:
Bought a .25 horsepower submersible sump pump (cost $100, could have rented it for about $20 per day). Its intake is on the bottom, about 6.5" in diameter.
Made a 5" hole in the bottom of a 5 gallon paint bucket, inverted the bucket and mounted the sump pump over the hole with screws and washers, winding plastic twine around it for extra security (zip ties would work too)
stuffed the bucket with cotton towels wrapped around a pillow, socks, anything absorbent.
turned a plastic milk crate upside down, and affixed the upside-down paint bucket (stuffed with towels, with the sump pump on top) to the inverted crate with zip ties. You can attach two of the zip ties to the bucket handle; two other zip ties will require small holes drilled into the rim of the bucket.
I bought a small plastic adapter to enlarge the pump's "output," and attached a sock over that with a rubber band. This caught any extra rust that wasn't filtered out.
The beauty of this setup is that with the milk crate on the bottom, plenty of water flows into the pump through the bucket and you don't need to drill any holes in the sides of the bucket -- it's just a conduit from the milk crate to the pump.
Also, the milk crate raises the pump up high enough so that you don't need to climb into the pool to get it out -- the pump is just under the surface of a 48" pool!
Quick, easy, and it works. My 18-foot pool went from dark tea to nearly clear (still working on it) in 24 hours.
- Okemos, Michigan, USA
P.S.: Wow, Jenna. That tops them all! I wish I'd known some chemistry! Still, I'm happy with the way my system works -- pool is now crystal clear. I'll get some vitamin C for the next shocking-- just in case
July 31, 2011
Our well had high iron when tested in 2001 so we added just a Sear's high capacity water softener with "Red Out" salt pellets. For regular household use, the softener cycles once every four calendar days. First we filled our Intek pool from the well directly. After shocking, it had the red brown sediment in the bottom that the filter would not collect. So we emptied the pool and began filling it again from the cold water outlet to the washing machine in the laundry room. The softener will pump water for at least one hour before the recharge tonight signal comes on. Then you have to let the softener recharge for two hours. Thus in an 8 hour day, we can only pump for 2 to 3 hours. It takes three to four days to fill our 15 foot x 42 inch Intek pool. 3800 gallons. Most other pool owners in our area who do not have indoor water softeners have added sand filters to their pool systems.
We gave an 11 year old friend a pool for the summer. We did not know that his grandmother's outside faucets have rusty water. When we shocked the pool, it turned red brown. After reading all the four pages in this discussion thread, we did the following. We removed the filter from the 1600 gph. We run it with no filter. We took a wire hanging plant basket and attached it to the inside of the pool just under the water return pipe. Then we placed a regular common cotton dish towel in the wire basket. The dish towel is catching the rust. It will take a while to clear the whole pool, but it is working. The 11 year old boy can change and clean out the dish towel as needed. The Intek pump cannot over heat or get clogged up this way.
Once the pool is clean, we will return the skimmer and smaller 1000 gph pump with filter to replace the 1600 gph pump. Intek pumps do not filter out algae particles very well so we add Super Blue agent that makes them stick together so the Intek pumps can capture them in the filter. All the ideas for socks with pillow stuffing, sounds like it works well. We needed a system that an 11 year old boy could handle on his own. We could not make something that is a pain to wash out. So far the wire basket/cotton dish towel system is working. It will take time, but that is good for the 11 year old. He will learn patience.
Joanne Schifini- Sprague River, Oregon
June 19, 2011
My 13 x 13 x 39 inch Intex pool turned dark brown after shocking. We have terrible well water here, and the pump supplied with the pool is awful. It took a day of work (cleaning the filter, rinsing out the socks, and vacuuming) but this technique worked wonders! The next day the water was crystal clear. Great idea!!!!! One more vacuuming and the kids will be swimming. Thanks for the info!
Sean O'Malley- Hopatcong, New Jersey
June 24, 2011
Ding Ding Ding the tube socks are the winner to our rust in the water problem. We purchased the portable 10'x30" pool and filled with our well water not knowing any better. Within hours our pool turned a golden rust color. We made the same mistakes adding chlorine and metal remover, which seems to just neutralize each other. So we removed the chlorine, added my husbands old tube socks inside the filter and on the water return from the filter. Oh my the rust it caught. We kept cleaning everything (filter & socks) every couple hours and 3 days later our pool is crystal clear. Our filter is so small I'm sure that is why it took so long to recycle the water but the socks worked. Thanks for the great idea!! Got my floatie, where's the sun :)
Reenie Kaye- Lemont, Illinois
June 26, 2011
OMG FINALLY!!!! So before breaking the pool down and setting it on fire then jumping off the closest pier I decide to try forum trolling ONE LAST TIME!!!
The initial person who came up with the sock towel trick should get a NOBEL PRIZE seriously! We have a 16 x 48 round above ground Ultra Frame Pool..well water...185.00 chemicals x 3 dumps and refills x maddening hours of pump running and vacuuming x two kids pouting that they can't swim...summer was off to a glorious start and life was joyous as you can well imagine!
We just tried the sock trick it's been four hours and seriously no kidding we have gone from lemon lipton tea to old lemonade..still not perfect but we have high hopes!
THANK YOU!
- Mills River North Carolina USA
June 30, 2011
Follow up - Okay so it took four days but we are in swim mode FINALLY! I wanted to come back and post exactly what we did so anyone with our type and size pool could use this. I think time varies based on pool size/type, pump size/type. I also think the sock works great but for smaller pools as we found after about 8 hrs it wasn't pulling a large amount of metals.
We have an Intex Ultra Frame above ground 16 x 48 round (5,100 gallons of filled well water) with the upgrade pump of 2500 gph and a floater for chlorine tabs. We have a Hayward Dive Dave water bug vacuum. As I said before the water was AWFUL and we were literally desperate. Here's how we did it.
First remove your chlorine tablets from the pool. Your gonna raise your chlorine levels and don't need to make it dangerously high. Remember chlorine burns off in heat and sun so doing it this way will add one day to your time to use pool so levels can lower out! Do this in the sun and heat because that helps burn the chemicals off while still knocking iron and copper out! (Normally you don't do it in the heat and sun because you WANT to keep your chemicals useful but if your on this board looking for help then normally doesn't apply to you now does it?). Next vacuum your pool (1 hr. should be fine for starters)and rinse all pool hoses and backflush your pump.
Any dollar store sells white cotton hand towels for like $3 a 5 pack. Unless you have good cotton towels you can sacrifice go buy a pack. Get yourself (3) 1 lb. bags of shock DON'T USE superstore generics because most of these discount stores shock have fillers. You need a minimum of 45% so check your bag! Get some PH Up - I recommend Pro Team. (Chances are you have all of this from doing like we did and trying every chemical combination known to man to fix your problem.)Get a few of your husbands tube socks for sacrificing he can thank you later :)
Stretch a tube sock over your skimmer basket and place into the skimmer holder with the toe part tucked down. Change this out and rinse daily. It won't pull much junk but it helps.
Take a filter and cut all the paper off, wrap a white cotton towel around the plastic core and squeeze the top and bottom (blue plastic) parts back to the tube they will be loose - that's ok! Place this homemade filter back into your pump making sure the "core hole" is not blocked with the towel so you have good water flow. Refill your pump with water like you normally would after backflushing. Add 1/2 lb shock (basically for whatever size pool add HALF the normal dosage!) This is going to turn the water terrible colors but it is knocking those metals out of suspension. Run your pump non stop.
Every 4 hours or so turn off your pump and rinse the towel. If the water in the pump is brown flush your pump briefly to allow that discolored water to NOT circulate back into your pool. At night we just made sure a clean towel was inserted for overnight. I would have several towels handy because if yours pulls the crud mine did the towel is good for about 2 uses. After a full 24 hrs add another 1/2 dosage of shock. Again this will knock more metals into your pool make the water ugly and your going to think OMG what have I done it's still dark water...don't panic! Vacuum for 4-6 hours this helps pull water from the bottom of your pool and helps with circulating the junk. Do this for days 1 and 2.
On the third day NO SHOCK but do add PH up until your PH Level is 7.2 -7.6 add in directed dosages in 4 hour increments. Your water may look like its taken a step backwards...again its okay! Keep in mind anything you add to a pool raises chlorine and ph levels. Keep using your towels in the filter through all of this. DO NOT ADD METAL MAGIC! (Metal Magic is designed to crystallize the metals making the water clear but the Intex Pumps ARE NOT designed to filtrate this so you get clear water then back to brown when you use the pool.)
Day four use your towel as a filter but add NOTHING by now your water should be almost clear, (Ours had a very faint yellowish to it) your ph level should be good and your chlorine should be high. Run the pump on the last day 24 hours letting chlorine burn off. Rinsing the towel as needed.
Day five throw away the skimmer basket sock put your skimmer back together like normal. Vacuum for 4 hours again not just to clean but to circulate. Wipe and hose down (DO NOT USE SOAPS OR CLEANERS!) your pump and all of your hoses so metal does not stain or settle into them INCLUDING your vacuum hoses and skimmer basket. Re-introduce your chlorine tablet, set your pump to a normal timer of between 2 and 4 hrs., add your normal paper filter (Type B for us), get your floats and enjoy!
Five days seems like a lot when your fed up but I have to say it did a fantastic job, was super cheap and while we are late into the season for enjoying our pool it certainly was better than the alternative of tearing it down.
For next year we are buying a Metal Filter Trap that attaches to the hose. This came highly recommend. However from what we learned from our pool store be sure if you do that get one that filters down to 1 micron some say 5 microns which WILL NOT get out tiny iron particles. We found them online for 100.00 and when you figure it eliminates the use of a lot of chemicals and frustration we felt it was worth it for the future.
Finally I would like to once again say THANK YOU to the person who started this thread with the most ingenious and cost effective idea I have ever seen!
- Mills River, North Carolina, USA
June 26, 2011
We have an Intex easy set 15' round pool. When we first bought it we didn't have any problems with the color or cleaning. Then we moved closer to the beach and our ground water is closer with more metals and sulfur in the well. Two years ago we set up the pool for the kids and the water upon filling started turning green. It stayed that way although all the tests done said it was safe. Eventually we got frustrated algae started becoming a major problem and it seemed no matter what we did it just got worse. So we drained it cleaned the pool and put it away. This year the kids (teenagers) said they wanted it back up. Of course within minutes of being full it was green. I don't know if it was the chemicals or what. Like everyone else on the board we have a major metal problem. So last night I went searching for a solution online and found this site. You all are awesome. this am we started changing the filter out and put socks in the intake and out-take. After 1/2 hour my husband checked the intake sock and it was brown so he cleaned it and put it back. Whoever thought of that is a God send. I hate the condition of our well water and we have a water system for the house. Wish the water outlet for the pool was part of it, lol. Thank you all for your suggestions, will let you know what happens. Have a great weekend.
Debby Hampton- Milford, Delaware, USA
July 1, 2011
I am also having a lot of issues with rust/iron in my water, I have an INTEX 18 X 48 pop-up pool. I am currently using the socks and towel method it is catching a lot of iron/rust but still not 100 percent just yet. Also a great absorbent thing I tried on my INTEX paper cartridge filter is a white baby diaper cloth very absorbent! I have the low end vacuum that came with the pool but my problem with this is that it attaches to my garden hose, so in return I am putting more well water/iron water right back in the pool!!! is there another way to use that vacuum ?? Also my water is more green today and less brown now what do I put in it to help clear it up more chlorine? any ideas? Thanks!! :)
Robin AnsleyHomeOwner - Belle Center, Ohio, United States
July 2, 2011
We have a pool at our weekend place that we visit every other weekend. It's a 15 x 48 Intex pool. When we arrived back yesterday, all the rust settled to the bottom and the pool water was clear. We brought up an old DE filter that we had stored in our shed from our pool (that we don't use anymore) at our primary home; we hooked it up to the Intex pool. Before we turned it on we brushed the bottom of the pool to loosen up all the rust from the bottom. We then ran the filter for about 4 hours, until we went to bed. This a.m. the rust again settled to the bottom, but 3/4 of it was gone. We repeated the process again this a.m. and have the filter running presently. The water is now nearly 100% clear, just slightly cloudy, you can see to the bottom. I know not everyone has this option, but just thought I'd share what we did. This was my hubby's idea. The DE powder/filter obviously did the job. Once all the rust has been eliminated we will reconnect the filter that came with the pool. I wonder if there's a manufacturer that makes a smaller DE filter, for the smaller Intex pools; there should be should, the need is definitely there. Good luck.
Sue Carol- Marshalls Creek, Pennsylvania, USA
July 9, 2011
I was having the same issue as all of you. The sock/towel thing was working, but not very fast, so I started taking 5 gallon buckets of water out and testing other solutions. For those of you who like instant gratification the way I do, here is the solution. Iron Out. Originally, I was skeptical like many of you because of the chemicals involved. Then, I came across the post about the chemicals being the same as in the PH lowering chemical. I'll be darned, he's right. So, I tested it in the bucket. Clear water in 30 seconds. I put about 3 lbs into my 2000 gallon pool (12' x 30''). Within 5 minutes, the water was crystal clear!! As an added bonus, my PH and alkalinity are also now dead on, both were high before the Iron Out. I swam in the pool with my girls (1 and 6) just minutes after adding the iron out, and no ill effects. Iron Out is now a permanent part of my suite of pool chemicals. I hope this helps someone who is considering using but is skeptical like I was.
James Ravnikar- Bemidji, Minnesota, USA
July 18, 2011
Thank you all so much for this forum.
I'm a first time pool user. My hubby and son bought me an above ground pool for my Birthday in June. I didn't get to swim in my pool on my Birthday because of my pool looking like chocolate milk. So in desperation I googled my pool problems and I found this site. And thank goodness I did otherwise I'd be bald from pulling all my hair out in frustration!!!
I did the white sock thing, and the pillow stuffing thing and they worked perfectly. We ended up using about 2 pillows, 4 socks, and a body pillow. But by doing so, the pool (12 ft X 36 ins) ended up beautifully clear in just a few days.
So because of the excellent help and advice I got from this site, I thought I'd pay in kind and tell you what I found works beautifully for the pool filters. We were going through about 3 a week, so after about 3 weeks I soaked them in a bucket overnight. I rinsed them off and they were as good as new.
The product I used is a toilet cleaner called "The Works". I buy about 4 bottles at a time from 'The Dollar Tree' for only a $1 each. The smell is nasty, so don`t get too close to the soaking bucket!!!
After I rinse them off and reuse them, I pour the water I've soaked the filters in down the toilet. It keeps it sparkling clean. A word of advice, don't pour the bucket of the chemicals down into a stainless steel sink - it will take the finish off.
I have even put the pool filters in the dishwasher after I rinsed the chemicals off, and they come out practically like new.
I love my pool, I use it almost every day weather permitting. I've lost about 15 pounds in weight already and have a fantastic tan from sunbathing on my rubber raft in the pool. And living in WV, the views are magnificent from my pool. It's nature at its most perfect.
Thanks again for the help and advice.
Wendy, West Virginia.
- Oak Hill, West Virginia USA
July 19, 2011
Hi, Wendy. Thanks for "paying in kind" by sharing your tips.
But I think what everybody would most like to hear from you is how to lose 15 pounds by lying on a raft sunbathing :-)
Regards,
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Ted Mooney, P.E. RET finishing.com Brick, New Jersey |
July 19, 2011
Hi Ted. I lost the 15 pounds by lots of swimming. I know a 12 ft X 36 in pool isn`t all that large to swim in, but I got creative. I'm only 5 ft tall, so the pool seemed large to me lol.
I spend a lot of time in the pool. Mostly sunbathing on my raft in the afternoons reading a book. In the early mornings and evenings I would swim moving my arms and legs constantly. Another benefit of that is that my insomnia is nearly gone now. Plus being in the pool so long I'm not in the fridge/pantry looking for snacks lol.
I also lost weight by picking blackberries on my property, and on my neighbor's driveway walking quite a distance every day. So what I've lost in body weight, I've made up for in blackberries. There are over 15 pounds of blackberries in my freezer right now lol.
- Oak Hill, West Virginia USA
July 19, 2011
Heres what worked for me. Try at your own risk.
I took a five gallon bucket that had a pour spout in the lid. I Removed the pour spout cap off the lid so I could pull up the spout hidden below. I then removed the entire lid from the bucket being careful not to damage it.
The spout is flexible and and I needed to clamp my output hose to the spout so I placed a plastic fitting that was nearly the same outside diameter as the inside diameter of the pour spout. Any fitting that fits tight into the spout should work. I then put about 10-15 holes 3/4" around the bottom sides and bottom of the bucket.
I then placed took a pillow and removed the pillow covering exposing the polyfill that was inside. I then stuffed the polyfill into the bottom of bucket.
Now I placed the lid on the bucket and snapped it into place. Then took my output hose and slid over my bucket lid spout and clamped into place. This is where the fitting comes in that I placed inside the spout. It gives a hard surface to clamp the hose and spout together with.
I then hung the bucket over the side of my pool and turned in my pump. Mine is 8,800 gallons and in 8 hours it was very clear and I swam in it. Prior to swimming in it we made sure the water was pH and chemically balanced. We also got in and vacuumed it well.
Later that day I removed the bucket carefully avoiding tipping the bucket from how it was laying in the water. By the way while laying in the pool mine kinda laid a little tilted. Never straight up. It had a good amount of water in it but never full submerged mire than 2/3.
After removing the bucket I removed lid and changed out the polyfill with fresh material. I then put the lid back in and out it back in the pool.
I Always clean the skimmer filter every few hours and watched my bucket closely to make sure the lid wasn't bulging from pressure. Monitor your water pH and chlorine levels.
My pool water was crystal clear in 24 hours.
- Oden, Arkansas, USA
July 21, 2011
We had the same problem..brown yukky water ...this forum is full of great advice & very helpful information....we did the sock thing over the water exiting the skimmer in the pool and we did the sump pump thing...we got the kind that you just hook a hose to ...we hooked one end of the hose to the sump pump and the other end to a garden hose (pre)filter it just screws right on the other end of the hose.....tossed it all in the water & hoped it worked...I can see the bottom of the pool now ! we removed the hose pre filter and cleaned it out....lots & lots of yuk...hooked it back up to do another cycle...best 25 bucks I ever spent! found the pre filter at the local pool/spa store.....the sump pump is doing all the work...sucks the water in one end and out the other threw the prefilter....still cleaning and changing filter but not as often...and it's speeding up the process ...
Tina McCap- Akron, Ohio
July 23, 2011
A HUGE thank you to everyone who has posted on this site! We tried everything for our brown water, eventually making our own filter like suggested. We had to modify it some, we did not have a 5 gallon bucket so used a 5 gallon tote. When we first tried it, I only put it in the pool for a few hours at a time. I now realize you NEED to leave the pump and homemade filter in the pool! We have left it going pretty much nonstop for 3 days (you have to rinse it out periodically, which is a huge pain). 3 days ago I could see about 5 inches deep in our 48 in pool. I can now see the bottom and the water is almost clear!!! I have not seen the bottom of our pool since we put it up(about a month!).
Nina E.- Waverly, Minnesota
July 25, 2011
Update: Back in June 2009 I posted to this site about my home made pillow stuffing and socks filter to clear up my Intex pool. Well, last year we decided to buy a sand filter from a pool supplies catalog - based in Chicago, I think. We've never looked back. Pool cleared up within 24 hours and this year works like a charm. Clear,inviting water. We need to backwash the filter about once a week else it starts sending back the dirty water. But we love, love love the sand filter. We also got some solar heating and the pool is mega mega fun for all.
Saya Cranda- Minneapolis Minnesota USA
July 27, 2011
I will try the sock method for my small "pop-up" pool filled with well water. I plan on removing the (apparently) worthless filter from the pump and attaching a sock/polyfill filter on the outlet. This way, the cheap pump will at least keep from running dry due to a blinded filter. If that seems too slow, I will rig a sump pump/bucket like others have mentioned. The best thing about this method, in my unprofessional (but educated)opinion, is that the kids can use the pool even if it looks like weak tea as long as pH and chlorine are in spec. I am pretty sure that a little bit of iron never hurt anybody. Mechanical methods seem the best way to go here. Chemical methods don't really do anything with the iron other than to keep it in a clear solution. Best case with chemicals is a long-term battle keeping the iron in the preferred oxidation state along with proper pH and chlorine levels. Mechanical methods allow you to actually remove the iron. Anybody have a nice, safe flocculant to help things along? Adjusting my well water for pH and chlorine resulted in a VERY fine iron particle size that will be difficult to filter.
Eric Neal- Wichita, Kansas, USA
July 31, 2011
Our well had high iron when tested in 2001 so we added just a Sear's high capacity water softener with "Red Out" salt pellets. For regular household use, the softener cycles once every four calendar days. First we filled our Intek pool from the well directly. After shocking, it had the red brown sediment in the bottom that the filter would not collect. So we emptied the pool and began filling it again from the cold water outlet to the washing machine in the laundry room. The softener will pump water for at least one hour before the recharge tonight signal comes on. Then you have to let the softener recharge for two hours. Thus in an 8 hour day, we can only pump for 2 to 3 hours. It takes three to four days to fill our 15 foot x 42 inch Intek pool. 3800 gallons. Most other pool owners in our area who do not have indoor water softeners have added sand filters to their pool systems.
We gave an 11 year old friend a pool for the summer. We did not know that his grandmother's outside faucets have rusty water. When we shocked the pool, it turned red brown. After reading all the four pages in this discussion thread, we did the following. We removed the filter from the 1600 gph. We run it with no filter. We took a wire hanging plant basket and attached it to the inside of the pool just under the water return pipe. Then we placed a regular common cotton dish towel in the wire basket. The dish towel is catching the rust. It will take a while to clear the whole pool, but it is working. The 11 year old boy can change and clean out the dish towel as needed. The Intek pump cannot over heat or get clogged up this way.
Once the pool is clean, we will return the skimmer and smaller 1000 gph pump with filter to replace the 1600 gph pump. Intek pumps do not filter out algae particles very well so we add Super Blue agent that makes them stick together so the Intek pumps can capture them in the filter. All the ideas for socks with pillow stuffing, sounds like it works well. We needed a system that an 11 year old boy could handle on his own. We could not make something that is a pain to wash out. So far the wire basket/cotton dish towel system is working. It will take time, but that is good for the 11 year old. He will learn patience.
Joanne Schifini- Sprague River, Oregon
August 2, 2011
I looked on here for answers to my brown water problem and found the answer....I used the sock method to get all the iron out...It took me 6 days to to get the water clear...Thanks for all the advice.....
Joe G- Lebanon, Indiana
September 21, 2011
TOWEL FILTER WORKS GREAT !!!
We have a 12'x30' in-ground pool using well water that is full of ferrite(iron). For 1 year we had beautiful crystal clear blue water and didn't even know that we had a problem until one day I inadvertently increased the Alkalinity and the iron came out of solution. ARRRRRGG help !! Every time after that I added chlorine or pool shock (which are both very alkaline) the pool "rust" got WORSE! After reading this forum and getting filter ideas, I simply stuffed a towel into the basket in the secondary skimmer right before the pump. After brushing all the "rust" down to the drains at the bottom of the pool and waiting several hours , the pool began to clear. The white towel had turned brown ! In 1 day the pool was almost blue and in 2 days it was crystal clear blue again !
From now on I will filter the well water before it goes in the pool and keep the alkalinity low. I would advise DO NOT use chemicals to get rid of the rust as it will only hide the problem...... THANK YOU FORUM !!
- Cape Coral , Florida
March 16, 2012
I had the same problem for starting my pool. It is a 24 x 52 aboveground. After 2 years of clarifying and vacuuming all the time, I found out that if I use hydrogen peroxide (98 cents a bottle), I would use 3 bags of shock and then use 3 bottles of peroxide and water would be clear in less than an hour usually. You can find out more by looking up peroxide anywhere on the internet
Butch Roberts- Lubbock, Texas, USA
April 24, 2012
We bought an Intex 16' x 48" metal frame pool for the kids for my daughters birthday. Filled with well water and added shock, the water was browner than the bayou. I managed to get it crystal clear in 5 days. This is what I did. First I raised the pH and added more chlorine. It made it worse but that was my intention. Then I placed a sock around the skimmer basket. I took another sock and stuffed it with teddy bear stuffing and placed another sock over that one, I placed that sock over the water output inside the pool. I took two more socks and cut the foot off I placed both of those over the cartridge filter. I ran the pump continuously. Cleaning the socks every few hours. I vacuumed the pool with the hose attached to the pump. I then took about 25 vitamin C tablets and threw them into the pool and placed about 25 more in the skimmer basket. I continued to clean the socks every few hours, on day four I added some more vitamin c tablets. On day 5 the water was sparkling blue. I vacuumed sediment off the bottom. Shocked it again with socks still in place and put in algae remover. It's been two weeks and the water is still perfect, I vacuum once a week run the pump every 4 hours and balance the pH and chlorine as needed. No more rust or brown water. When I have to add water I stick the hose inside a sock filled with teddy bear stuffing before putting it into the pool. No need for harsh and expensive metal out chemical just socks, your regular pool chlorine, vitamin C and a little work and you have a beautiful pool to enjoy all summer. I didn't even buy a bigger pump just the cheap one that came with the pool, although I will be getting a sand filter cause it filters the smaller particles better. Hope this helps.
Laura Collins- New Iberia, Louisiana, USA
May 7, 2012
I have a post above, in 2009.
The last few years we used city water; this year we're back to well water. We put 2 carbon filters on the water hose before it went into the pool. We don't have the brown dark tea water as before. It's yellow with bits of floating iron and a floating oily substance. It's just about half full and not high enough to pump and filter yet so I'm still waiting for the chemicals to sink and vacuum. Hopefully, I keep it updated.
- ratcliff arksnsas
May 9, 2012
Q. I have this same problem with the iron. My pool slowly would get iron tinged the last few years when I upped my alk, ph and chlorine upon opening. It would eventually bleach out and I could see the iron in the backwash. This year has been awful. I used the stain out product but it didn't stay in suspension and redeposited in my liner and stairs. I have a lined 16.6 X 35.5 grecian pool. The second treatment I added a chemical to keep it in suspension and added DE to my sand filter to catch the suspended iron. The pool cleared up and looked great. As soon as I upped the ph and chlorine again, it started turning. I have put the white towels in my skimmer and stuffed white socks over my jets and they are catching some iron, I am having my sand replaced later this week, I noticed my backwash shows no signs of iron and my sand is 11 years old. It has worked great until recently. Backwash would be brown with iron in the past.
My question, should I keep cranking the chlorine and balance my pool and try to oxidize this stuff and catch it with rags and new sand, or should I get the chlorine back to zero and retreat the water, get it in suspension and drain it? Or will the new sand adequately filter it out?
Thank you.
- Scottsboro, Alabama USA
May 14, 2012
Q. I have an in ground pool and I have well water. About 40,000 gallons. the pool has stainless steel sides and concrete(?) bottom. The well water has discolored the sides, rust stains, near the water tap. Also, the lights are calcified or scaled. Can I use Iron Out or Oxiclean with steel? I cleaned the steel with white vinegar and they turned a bit white. The rust stains are still there and in the returns. What can I use to get the iron out of my pool which is now empty, getting the bottom painted?
kari izu- bloomfield hills, Michigan
May 29, 2012
A. I am going to try and post some pictures to help everyone understand what's going and how it works. We have well water which is VERY high in iron and manganese, smells like crap and when its used to fill a pool, looks like it smells. I have fought this for three years with my INTEX 18x52" 6200 gallon pool and want to tell everyone the basics of what to do and what not to do. 1.Super chlorinate the pool so your FREE chlorine is in the mid to high range. This takes a lot more than the instructions will say, but it is necessary to oxidize the iron into rust so you can filter. Your pH and alkalinity may be high, ours always is, so you will need a pH- to get it into the "OK" range. It has been my experience that it takes 3-5 x's the amount of super shock to get a free chlorine level at initial filling.
2.Use a sock filled with batting material like pillow stuffing,(crew socks work best, white) and attach to the outflow valve with a rubber band if necessary. 3. Wrap some white washcloths around your filter and secure the washcloths with three rubber bands. one on each end and one in the middle. it will take two washcloths end to end with some overlap to reach around the filter. 4.place some washcloths in the strainer basket loosely or some batting material. Washcloths are easier to rinse clean though. Clean these off at least 3 times a day if you can, the rust will rinse of very easy. 5. In about 3 days you should be able to swim in it, it will be an aqua-green instead of murky brown-green, and in 5 days it should be totally clear. Don't loose hope, and don't spend a bunch of money on "clarifier's" and "rust cleaners" they don't do anything but create a polymer crap that leaves a Grey blue film on your filter that wont rinse out. Plus its a lot of money for nothing. I will see if I can get some pics of the setup for everyone to see. This will work. Use all three points of attack on this rust and it speeds up the process greatly.
- Dike, Iowa
June 5, 2012
A. I have iron-bearing well water at my home. I purchased a 16' x 32' Intex Ultra Frame pool. The pool came with a sand filter and I am using a saltwater chlorine generator. When I first filled the pool, the water was clear; but after running the chlorine generator for 1 cycle the water had a yellow tint which caused the blue bottom of the pool to appear green. I am happy to say that the Intex sand filter does a great job of removing the precipitated iron from the pool. After running the filter for a day, I had to backwash it because it was clogged up with so much iron. The backwash water that came out of the filter was so brown it looked like root beer. Within 3 days the water was clean enough for swimming.
I can't believe all of the responses that I read with people adding chemicals to the water to get rid of the visible iron. In my opinion the only way to get rid of iron from a swimming pool is to chlorinate the water and filter out the iron particles. If you live on iron-bearing water and don't have a sand filter, go buy one. They cost less than $200 and it might end up saving you money in the long haul. The filtration sand is supposed to last at least five years and a 50 lb bag is around $5 per bag, but those paper filters only last a few weeks before needing to be changed and they each cost about $5.
- Belleville, Wisconsin, USA
June 11, 2012
A. I have the worst iron water in the country! Forget buying all the extra chemicals. What you need is a sand filter ... period. The little paper filters that come with the Intex pools just are not made for water with iron in it. You need to spend the extra $400 dollars to get a sand filter ... trust me!
Overnight your water will clear up! Yes, using a flocculant for clumping the metal will help but only if you have a sand filter.
I have a 13'x 48" Intex above ground pool and it uses the sand filter ... beautiful water!
- Dayton, Minnesota, USA
June 11, 2012
! Just wanted to say thanks for the sock idea. I put a sock over the filter inside the pump and a sock over the out take(where the clean water pumps into the pool). I changed the socks 3 times and in 24 hours my pool is almost Crystal clear. Used a rubber band to hold in place.
Janet Stockman- Merrill, Wisconsin
! First off, I want to give a sincere, big Thank-You to all of you who contributed to the "poop soup green/brown" colored water in your pool after being filled with well water. If it weren't for all of you, I probably would have taken my quick set 15' by 3 1/2 ' deep ring pool down and said the heck with it. This is what I did and it only took 9 days of faithful homemade filter and T-shirt sleeve covered cartridge changes to get my water crystal clear! :D I took a 2 liter pop bottle and drilled 15-1/4" holes in the bottom of that bottle. I then stuffed it with stuffing from a pillow, (I no longer was using) up to the bottom of the bottle neck. Then I cut a foot and half section of garden hose from the female end. (you want the female end to use) I put the cut end inside the bottle and used Gorilla Tape (better than duct tape) to keep the hose from coming out of the bottle. I then took the female end of the hose and put it into the clean water return. The bottle will sink to the bottom of the pool and that's o.k. The filter cartridge that came with the pool isn't very good at keeping the iron/rust from re-entering the pool, so what I did was cut the sleeve off from a white T-shirt, slid that over the filter cartridge and put a rubber band at the top, middle, and bottom to keep the sleeve on the cartridge. The first 4 days, I changed the pop bottle filter and the cartridge every 2 hours. The next 5 days, I changed the cartridge & pop bottle filter 3 times a day. When I changed them, I rinsed the sleeve, cartridge and pop bottle right away. Run water into the pop bottle until it runs clear, then it's good to go for the next filtering round. It's nice to have an extra filter cartridge, extra t-shirt sleeve and stuffed pop bottle ready to go. Don't forget to keep the balance of the water in check. The water in my pool was VERY bad, but patience, determination, and 9 days later, my pool is 100% crystal clear!! and ready!! Pool & Tiki bar is open, come on over for a dip! Good-Luck to all who are in the same situation I and many of us had been in. Hope this works for any of you suffering with nasty water situation.
Sharon Stambaugh- Pittsford, Michigan, USA
! Love living in the country but a pool filled with orange well water is quite the turn off to the kids. Read the suggestions and wanted to go chemical free to start. Tried the white towel trick, which worked, but the best solution...was to run the pump 24/7 and change the filter frequently (every couple of hours if able). In just 3 1/2 days we now have "see the bottom of the pool" clear water with no chemicals. Couldn't believe it. Patience is key.
Karen Moore- Columbia City, Indiana, USA
! HI!
I stumbled across this forum via a Google search of how to fix the brown rusty water in our brand new 15' above-ground Intex pool. I nearly wept with joy when I found these responses and I wanted to send out a HUGE THANK YOU to Karen Snyder - Canton, Ohio (and her husband) for their brilliant idea of the sump pump pillow filter! We've been running it for 24 hours now and our murky brown water (compliments of high iron from our well that we filled the pool with, plus this newbie's addition of chlorine shock) has turned crystal clear blue - with NO CHEMICALS! So THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!
I am posting pictures -- we documented the process!
At start (9 PM), and changing the filter next morning
About 15 hours later, 18 hours later, and 24 hours & 3 pillow filters later
Thank you all for all your feedback! It gave me hope when I was despairing (and my husband was ready to throw the pool away!)
What we did:
two five gallon buckets, both with 1 1/2 inch holes drilled in the bottom of both sides
Put a working sump pump in one and drill a hole in the top of the bucket for the hose
Put a pillow in the other and drill a hole for the other end of the hose to go thru (we had to rig up a way for the floater to stay up in the sump pump bucket so it would continuously run, but a few zip ties did the trick) Plugged the sump pump in and 24 hours later, we have a clean pool!
Thank you again!!
- Alvada, Ohio
! Just want to thank those with the sock/towel solution to the rust. It truly works, started the process just over two hours ago and already the pool is clearing up and I have rinsed out the socks twice. Wow! Love a cheap and easy solution. thanks again.
Amy Dough- Outer Banks, North Carolina, USA
June 30, 2012
Q. I want to know where I can buy these chemicals "iron out" and "super quest" and others please?
Ahmed sami- Cairo, Egypt
! This thread has saved another pool - albeit a tiny, cheap pool... Several years ago I bought a 14'x42" pop-up pool on clearance at Big 5. It sat in the garage until a few days ago when we finally leveled a spot for it. It took 7 hours to fill from my well (We have no other choice, as we are in rural farmland with no pool services less than an hour away.)
Got the infamous "POOP SOUP" as soon as I chlorinated. So glad I found this site before I tried chemical warfare. Despite what everyone has said here, I was skeptical that socks and batting could cure a problem as bad as mine. Our water softener guy told us we had the highest iron content he had EVER seen. We have to set it at 50-60 grains to make it drinkable in the house. Even the guy at the independent testing lab raised an eyebrow.
Well, after 24 hours it's now a clear green and I can see the bottom of my pool again. Since I only spent $200 on the pool and filter, and because we have a painfully short pool season, there was no way I could justify spending more money on a new filter or accessories to help the process. (We were seriously thinking of just draining it and throwing it away.) But, I did it all with stuff I already had around the house.
I found that my puny little pump couldn't keep up with a washcloth on the intake + t-shirt around the filter + sock over the outflow. I also found it difficult and time consuming to attach the sock around the outflow (It's deeper in the pool than it should be). I ended up just taking the filter out all together, using the washcloth over the intake, and a sock filled with pillow fluff over the outflow.
For the outflow: I found a vacuum cleaner accessory extension tube from my old Oreck minivac, stuffed the batting-filled sock on the end and zip tied it in tightly in place. (The battling had to be packed tightly enough so the tube didn't slide through it.) The other end of the tube slid snugly right into the outflow hole from the inside of the pool! So much easier to prep and insert. Overnight I stuffed an old pillowcase full of batting and zip tied it around the tube because the smaller sock filled up with rust too quickly and I didn't want to get up every few hours to prevent the excess rust from spewing back into the pool. (Gather up all the loose bits of fabric and make sure the batting is balled tight so that the tube doesn't slide right through the batting...)
(The whole time I made sure my pH was in balance and my chlorine was normal to high - to keep the rust out of solution and thereby filterable.)
Total cost? A couple of old pillows, several old white washcloths, a bunch of old white tube socks, two old white pillowcases, and a packet of zip ties. I could see drilling holes in the vacuum cleaner tube to make it filter more efficiently through the batting, but I wanted to still be able to use them with the vacuum later :)
- Deary, Idaho, USA
July 14, 2012
Q. I need HELP!! We filled our above ground pool and the water was green. We put metal out in and waited two hrs. We then put in chlorine tabs in along with the algicide and the shock. Our water turned brown we were told to put in a whole bottle of metal out and it would help. It's NOT!! I would really like to know what to do PLEASE!!
Crystal Wingert- Buhler, Kansas United States
September 11, 2012
Q. CLEANED MY 16-32 FOOT POOL. BY ACCIDENT I USED MULTIPURPOSE OXIDIZER -- NOW THE WATER IS SOUPY BROWN. SHOCKED IT SEVERAL TIMES AND STILL THE SAME, HELP ME.
Silvia- VAN BUREN, Arkansas
A. Hi Crystal. Hi Silvia
The basic thrust of this thread is that you have to filter the brown rust out of the water, and that it isn't expensive or difficult, but may take a couple of days.
Regards,
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Ted Mooney, P.E. RET finishing.com Brick, New Jersey |
July 17, 2012
The little home made pump with the fiber is awesome. We spent over $50.00 just on Metal Out and some other stuff. I found this homemade filter system on line and in two days we could see the bottom of the pool, third day completely clear.
This is a must try, also I added white socks to water inlet; it helped also.
- burgaw North Carolina
August 16, 2012
A. After two years of battling iron from my well in my pool, I have come to the conclusion that it is best to allow the iron to oxidize (turn red) and then remove by filtering. Trying to keep the iron in solution can be done, but it requires adding and replenishing goop into the pool all summer, causing balance/SWG issues. I now only add salt (SWG system), HCl (pH down), Bleach (as shock), filtration, and a bit of patience to my pool. Clarifiers/flocculants/metal sequestering agents present problems for both my pool and my pocketbook. My rust-red pool runs clear after about 3-5 days of filtering and is crystal clean after 7-10 days. As long as my pool is in balance and free chlorine is stable, I allow my kids to swim. Iron is not hazardous to health as far as I can tell, so there is no reason why the kiddos need to wait two weeks while our pool clears from weak iced-tea to crystal clear. Socks/towels certainly speed the iron removal process, but don't expect results overnight. As long as my pool does not "eat" chlorine, I feel comfortable that green/red water is safe to use for swimming.
Eric Neal- Wichita, Kansas, USA
May 21, 2013
A. I have well water that has a high iron level and when we filled our pool the water was very yellow so I added 1 bag of Morton water softener salt to the pool and ran the filter for 24 hours straight cleaning the filter every 4 hours and we have crystal clear water now. I did have to vacuum the bottom of the pool for a small amour of iron that had settled. This is the easiest way with no gadget.
Jenn Holley.- Newark, Ohio, USA
