Is this algae, scale, or a combination of both

[cferraro85]

This is my first post on the site, but I do want to thank everyone for their input to the forums. You really have helped this first time pool owner greatly.

I bought this house last yr and the previous owner had a pool service that had the inline chlorine feeder maxed out year round. MY CYA was over 120 when I bought the house and Calcium was through the roof. I have since then got the chemistry inline and have been working on clearing pool surface stains since then. I use the chlorinator minmally and I chlorate with liquid chlorine (mostly) and powdered shock occasionally. My chemistry is below.

PH 7.4
FC 4
TA 100
CH 220
CYA 60
Current Temp 88

20K gallon pool with spa and spillover. I run the pump 8-10 hrs in the florida summer. I replaced the propane Hayward heater last year after the flame tubes rotted out.


The pool water is clear however I do battle with algae and high phosphates regularly. I feel like weekly I am brushing green algae off the bottom of the pool with a SS brush. If i brush hard enough I can get some of the brown streaks/scale to come off of the black pearl pebbletec finish. I have used Jacks Magic iron and cobalt remover per instructions with no success. I have tried the vitamin C tablet trick but did not notice much difference. Finally i dried sprinkling some dry acid on one of the pool steps and it seemed to take some of the brown away. I left it on there for only 5 minutes before brushing it off.

My question: Is this calcium scale or some kind of hard algae that is causing these streaks in my pool? Is an acid wash or Jacks magic Copper and Scale stuff recommended? Any other recommendations?

Attached are some pictures of my situation.

 

[kimkats]

You need to SLAM your pool! If you are brushing algae any at all you need to SLAM. Here is a link.

Pool School - SLAM - Shock Level And Maintain

THE more important part is the M=maintain as maintain the FC at the SLAM level for your pool CYA.

Once you have SLAMed and passed the three "tests" we can work on the other stuff.

Kim

- - - Updated - - -

OH and HI and welcome to TFP! Glad to see another Florida person one here.

I love your plaster color.

You did not say what test kit you have. How are you testing your water?

Can you please add what kind of filter you have----sand, de, cart. THANKS!

Kim

 

[Casey]

If your calcium was very high, it could very well be scaling. An acid wash maybe in your future. If you have algae or plums of algae when you brush, you should start the SLAM process.

 

[cferraro85]

The previous owner did not care for the pool properly. When i bought the house, the calcium and CYA levels were through the roof. I have been trying to restore the pool ever since. When I brush really hard with the wire brush some brown does come off but its extremely difficult. I do not want to erode the finish with constant heavy scrubbing with the SS brush, not to mention it would take months to scrub the whole pool that way.

When you say acid wash, are you talking about drain, wash, and refill or using a treatment that does not require draining?

I have a cartridge filter and I used a K2006 test kit for chemistry