Periodic Products CuLator Ultra 4.0

This product works on a lot of different metals. My pool is constantly collecting aluminum and copper. I put it in the skimmer right before the pump and it does a full job and continues for over three months. I strongly suggest you try it, but please make sure your pH is in the correct range The entire time for this to truly work if your pH is in the correct range this product works.

I had metals in my water. Through the use of this product, I was able to remove the metal from the pool. I had to use multiple pouches due to high metals, but it did work and pull was back to normal!

If you see bad reviews for this product, either it's not being used correctly, or the person is trying to fix a problem that this product is not capable of fixing.Before I started using this, I used to use the sequestering agents all the time, and then half way through the season when it got really hot and I had to use more chlorine every day, all the metals would start collecting all over the plaster (anywhere there is metal or re-barr under the surface). Then I'd have to use Muricatic acid to remove penny sized stains in about 10 different places in my pool.When I use this product at the start of the pool season, I don't have to use any sequestering agents AT ALL. One of their Powerpack 4.0 units lasts me an entire season (May - September) for my 26,000 gallon cement/plastered pool. I get ZERO STAINS of any kind when I use this product.The ONLY chemicals I use in my pool are Sodium Hypochlorite (12.5%), PH-down, PH-up, and the powerpack 4.0. I need this product because we have a heater. If I don't use this product, I get iron stains EVERYWHERE half way though the season.If they every decide to stop selling this product, I'm going to buy 20 of them and hope that they never go bad :)This product is NOT FOR REMOVING STAINS, it's for preventing you from getting stains in the first place. If you have stains, use some dry acid in a sock or buy one of the muricatic acid PVC tools that goes on the end of a pole. Don't use this product in conjunction with a liquid sequestering agent, use it instead of adding a liquid sequestering agent.

UPDATE: 29 MARCH 2016. My original review is below. I'm going to go ahead and up this to 4 stars. The reason is that after about 90 days, I saw no more metal stains in my pool. So, my verdict is that this thing works, but very very slowly. I left it in my pump basket all year. I don't know if it was "full" of metals or not as there is no visual cue, but like I said, metal stains eventually stayed away, despite plenty rains, leaves and other things getting in my pool. So, a few weeks ago, I went ahead and bought another one for this next year. I again, dumped ascorbic acid (vitamin C powder), but only about 3 lbs, and it almost instantly cleared all stains. I didn't even use a sequestering agent as the stains weren't that bad in the first place (compared to last year). Anyway, this works, but it takes a LONG time to notice it working. Plan on it being a yearly maintenance things.ORIGINAL REVIEW BELOW.I guess I'll write one of the dissenting opinions, as I cannot recommend this product. It is simply way too expensive for its ability (or lack thereof) to remove metals from water. I can't confirm or not that this thing does in fact remove metals, as I have not tested the device in any scientific way, but I can say that I had a lot of brown metal stains on my pool liner in my 30,000gallon 20x40 pool. I dumped 10lbs of ascorbic acid (vitamin c powder) and overnight, the stains were gone. I dumped a bottle of a sequestering agent (amount recommended by the pool store) and kept my chlorine levels at near 0 for two weeks--even though my pool started turning green. During the two weeks, this culinator power pak was in my pool pump basket as instructed—and my pool pump ran 24/7. The alkalinity was low and the PH was about 6.0-6.5 (low). Anyway, after the two weeks, I slowly brought up my chlorine levels to a "low normal" level. At the one month mark, I shocked the pool. I saw no stains in my pool, till last week (2months later). I see brown streaking starting to form around the water-line at my steps. It has rained a lot recently, but I have been careful to remove leaves the same day, and I bought a pool robot cleaner to keep my pool clean. Despite that, metal stains are reforming--and well, at $60bucks a pop, I just refuse to buy another one of these things and "hope" it finally pulls out enough metal to prevent the stains. It says it pulls out up to 4ppm total, and I don't know if that is a lot of metal or not, but I can tell you that if you have a lot of stains in your vinyl lined 20x40 pool, this product is not "powerful" enough to bond enough metals to keep the stains out (once your remove them with acid). I probably will just have to dump 10lbs of ascorbic acid at the start of each season and dump about $30-$40 bucks worth of a sequestering agent throughout the season to keep the pool stain free. Too bad, I love new products, and at $30 for the powerpack, I'd buy one or two more to try out, but not at their current price. My verdict--snake oil for pools.

Great product for patient pool owners. Have had our in ground fiberglass pool for about 18 years. Finally breaking the cycle of adding one product to fix a problem then adding a second product to fix the problem the first product caused then adding a third and so on. Three years ago we started replacing water lost through evaporation and back washing by running water from the hose through a Metal Trap and leaving a CuLator packet in the skimmer basket. Our main metal problem was brown staining that appears after pool opening when the pool was shocked. Checked web blogs and tested the stains with vitamin c tablets. Brushing the tablets over the stains caused them to disappear so I assumed they were caused by metals. Although the manufacturer states these packets won't clear the staining if you can ignore the staining I have found that it resolves in a couple of weeks and does not reappear for the rest of the season. A couple of times several years ago I cleared the staining instantly by adding a bottle of metal chelator and a jar of citric acid stuff. Worked great but cost almost 100 dollars and I needed to either keep using the liquid chelator or keep using the CuLator packet. So I figured it's fewer chemicals, less money and less hassle to just use the CuLator. Pool setup- fiberglass in ground, huge sand filter, variable speed pump, flow meter, UV sterilizer, bromine, gas heater. Looking at solar heaters for next year.