One of the hard parts of pool ownership is when you go
out to your pool and notice some type of stain on the bottom. It is pretty discouraging
to see your beautiful pool surface marred by a large rust stain. But don’t panic just yet, it might not be as
bad as it looks. I will cover some remedies for both rust stains and organic
stains that you will find in your pool as well as how to tell them apart.
I will cover more metal staining in another article
but for now I will focus on those little rust stains that you may find in your
pool. The rust stains usually comes from an object that is dropped in your
pool. It can be a screw in a toy that junior left in the pool all week.
Recently I found two nerf guns on the bottom of a pool and when I moved one of
them, sure enough there was a nice sized rust mark on the plaster. The screw in
the gun was the source of the staining. It can be from toy cars with metal rods
in the wheel or any other toy with metal parts. I highly suggest only allowing
pool toys in your pool, toys made specifically for to be in water.
I’ve also seen batteries explode in the pool. I
suppose it is from the water pressure, but when that happens it leaves a very
nasty stain on the pool bottom. You will have a dark center portion and then a
rust stain explosion from the center point. I have even had kids playing with a
10 lbs. weight in a pool and leaving it in there all week. It left a huge stain
in a circular pattern. Bobby Pins and Clothes
Pins are also a big source of rust staining. I find a few every year in a pool
or spa and they leave nice thin stain all over the bottom. Fertilizer pellets are another source and, on
the bag,, it states not to get them in your driveway because of the staining it
can create. When they are carelessly dropped into your pool they sit on the
pool bottom and leave BB type stains all over the pool floor.
To remove these stains, you can rub the spot with a
vitamin C tablet or apply Ascorbic Acid in powder form to the affected area.
The stain will usually simple lift off after a few minutes or with your
scrubbing. In a fiberglass pool Ascorbic Acid is very effective in removing stains
that cover the entire surface. If you
can reach the stain with a Vitamin C tablet you can usually rub it off without
any issues. For the areas you might not be able to reach you can put some
crushed Vitamin C tablets in a thin sock and set it over the stain. Another
good option is the Stain Eraser which is a tool that connects to a standard
pool pole and can be used to rub off a stain. You can find videos on all these
methods on my YouTube Channel.
Something that looks a lot like a rust stain or metal
stain is an organic stain. This is caused by organic debris like a leaf and
sometimes dirt that will temporally stain the pool surface. It is usually a
dark brown or black stain on the pool surface. Once you remove the debris from
the pool bottom you will see the staining. Usually the pool will have very low
or no chlorine present in the water. To remove organic staining, you can raise
the chlorine level up to shock levels and circulate the pool water. A good way
to test if the stain is organic is to rub a 3” chlorine tablet on top of it. If
the stain lifts immediately it was an organic stain.
Since I am talking about the 3” chlorine tablets, make
sure one of these never falls into the pool and remains on the surface. These
tablets also contain acid in the form of Cyanuric Acid and they will stain your
pool surface very quickly. You will see a burn mark in the plaster in the shape
of the tablet and these stains are hard to remove. So be very careful when you
put the 3” Tablets into a floater and set it in your pool.
So rust stains and organic stains look similar, but they
are caused by very different things. Both types of stains are easy to remove,
and you will have a good outcome if you follow the steps outlined here.
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