CuLator Ultra 4.0

I added the CuLator Ultra 4.0 to my pool setup along with Orenda SC-1000 during a fresh pool fill and startup, and the combination worked extremely well. Since I had just invested heavily in a pool refinish, I wanted to do everything possible to prevent metal staining, discoloration, or scaling issues from the beginning. Using these two products together gave me a lot of confidence in the water quality. What I like about the CuLator is that it is incredibly simple to use. I placed it in the skimmer basket and basically let it do its job while the circulation system ran normally. Unlike some products that only suspend metals in the water temporarily, the CuLator is designed to actually remove metals from the system over time, which I think is a huge advantage. My fill water was a concern because metals can quickly ruin a fresh plaster or pebble finish if they are not controlled properly. After startup, the water stayed crystal clear with no staining, discoloration, or strange tinting. Combined with the Orenda SC-1000, the pool water looked polished and stable almost immediately. Another thing I appreciate is that it works in both saltwater and traditional chlorine pools, so it is versatile for different setups. It also requires almost no maintenance once installed. If you are filling a new pool, doing a plaster startup, dealing with well water, or simply trying to avoid costly metal stains, I strongly recommend using this alongside a good chelating product like Orenda SC-1000. For me, the combination has been an excellent preventative approach and well worth the investment to protect the pool finish and equipment long term.

Too soon to know if it's working or not, but all of the reviews that I've read state that it will over time.

I think the reason people either love this product or hate it based on if they correctly identified the issue to which this culator serves as a solution. I started to use copper ionizer last season. I totally ignored directions to periodically track copper levels. When I opened pool this year it had algae so I balanced the water and shocked it with liquid chlorine. Water remained green. Well, I shocked it gain. Chemistry was balanced, everything seemed to be good but water though seemed transparent it was still green ... this is when I finally dug deeper and found out my copper .4 ppm (twice the ideal limit). So what happened when I shocked the pool it oxidized the copper making it green. I bought the culator ultra 4.0 as I wasn't sure if smaller pack for take longer to work and might not take all the cooper out. And I tell you you can see water clearing me next day with continuous pump running with culator in the skimmer basket and in two days it was totally clear. So if your pool water is transparent green and you know it's not algae .... test your metals and if they high this product definitely work at getting metals out of the water. I highly recommend it if it is what you need.

Great for well water, my pool is clear and beautiful now. Put it in and run pump and in 24 hours brown green gone. I've had trouble for years, worked good for a friend to that has iron water

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.

Had several ppm of dissolved iron in my pool as well as iron oxide stains on liner. Adjusted pool pH to 7.2 and chlorine to 1 ppm. Placed CULator PowerPak inside GatorEgg cage and placed in pump filter basket for maximum access to water per directions. Ran pump for 24 hours. Did nothing to reduce iron ppm. Added Metal Magic sequestering agent as per directions that say it works with all sequestering agents and stain removers. Still no drop in iron ppm or yellow discoloration of the PowerPak to show it was catching iron. Waste of $55. Discarded GatorEgg. Did some more intensive research and came up with alternative plan that actually worked very well. 1. Make sure filter (preferably sand) is clean/backwashed. Set valves so that all water is running through the filter (no bypass) and run pump continuously. 2. Adjust pH to 7.2 to 7.8. Add some poly-based (non-metal) algaecide as steps below will neutralize all chlorine. Never use metal-based algaecides again as these add metal to the pool and contribute to the problem. 3. Carefully dissolve a half-teaspoon of potassium permanganate (PotPerm) powder into full bucket of pool water, then pour slowy into the skimmer. This powder is purple like squid ink and will stain if not handled carefully. Mix and add more buckets as necessary until pool water turns noticeably yellow green from oxidizing free iron and iron chloride ions. May get a browner or bluer color depending on if the problem metal is manganese or copper, respectively. Will temporarily get increased liner staining from iron fully oxidizing the metal ions clinging to the liner. Water may become cloudy as dissolved metals begin to precipitate out as tiny solid grains. 4. Sprinkle ascorbic acid (vitamin C) powder into pool water in step area and around perimeter of pool to dissolve oxidized surface metal on the liner back into the water where the PotPerm can precipitate it out as grains. Ascorbic acid will remove iron stains from walls like magic (looks like an Oxi-Clean infomercial). Ascorbic acid will also quickly neutralize your chlorine. Brush pool wall and bottom to help distribute the ascorbic acid and push any metal dust accumulating on the bottom toward the bottom drains. 5. Once the stains have disappeared from the liner, add FerriTabs to the skimmer basket (1 tablet per each 3,000-gal of pool capacity per the directions). These tablets are a flocculating agent that help tiny suspended solid particles to flock together into particles large enough to settle to the bottom and get caught by the filter. As these tablets dissolve and do their work, the cloudiness will gradually clear. This may take up to 12 hours. 6. Once pool water is clear, vacuum the pool to collect all the metal dust into the filter. Then backwash or clean out the filter. Don't wait more than 24 hours or the metals might begin to go back into solution. If operation was effective, should see oxidized metal color in the filter discharge water (brown for iron, black for manganese, blue-green for copper). 7. Adjust pH and add chlorine to 3 ppm. If there is still any residual metal in the water, may get some staining as the chlorine oxidizes it. That would be a cue to repeat the process. 8. As metal accumulates in the filter, it will increase the back pressure. Depending on the amount of metal and the strength of the pump, it may be necessary to backwash or clean the filter before the water fully cleans up.

It worked like a charm@

Not certain if this is working or if the metal out has done the job. I bought this device after trying to brighten the pool plaster with an ascorbic acid treatment. The vitamin C did the trick but light brown plaster staining came back a bit even after adding both a metal out sequestering agent and this culater. The culater is in the skimmer and has swolen up but is bright white in color. Pool testing comes back with zero metal. Maybe the stain is just dirt? My advice is to test your pool water for metals BEFORE buying this product and then test again after using the product without a sequestering agent to see if it really works.

Works great and dissolved all metals

Très très efficace

My pool water has always been high in copper. After a few weeks, the bag was very blue, indicating copper bonding. Balance is back in range.

It’s one week working in pool skimmer, picks up debris. Works good, pool is clearer

Good