it's been a little since i've had to jump on. one thing to note... EACH time i've come to you guys, there's been an easier most cost effective solution. THANKS!!! searched the forum regarding this issue and found a few threads but each seem to deal with new plaster pools. this pool was replastered 5 years ago. bear with... going to data dump before getting to the root of this note in case any of the info will help with your answers.
been battling the high calcium in our area especially since we've gotten pretty near ZERO rainwater and are now dealing with drought restrictions because of it. last year it was calcium nodules: Calcium Nodules in Pools. couldn't get the epoxy to work so have just been manually scrapping the deposits off. unfortunately, there's discoloration that remains on the surface even with the manual scrapping, but knowing the cause helped us not go crazy with thinking it was because we were doing something wrong.
this year we started noticing actual scaling throughout the pool and most recently little white flakes settling on the pool floor.
first, replaced our SWG cell because it was at its end of life and not able to hold a high enough salt reading to stay on and generate chlorine even with cleaning it weekly and resetting the system after each cleaning. thanks again to the forum for being able to search for guidance on resetting the system. even with weekly cleaning, there was enough scale on it to be surprising based on the past cleaning history.
next, had a new valve added to the system which prevented back washing into the pool each time the pump turned off. this was originally done to battle the flakes on the pool floor thinking they were coming from the DE filter due to uncontrolled back washing. the valve installer stated the flakes were actually coming from the old SWG cell and its calcium self cleaning properties.
have been cleaning the pool with our dolphin which luckily collects ALOT of the flakes that then get dumped out instead of recirculated. because of the drought restrictions, have also been dumping our shower water into the pool which passes through our tankless water heater's descaler.
the new cell is AMAZING so much so that i have been performing basic readings on a regular basis to get an idea of how low a % the system should be set at. as of yesterday, it's at 40% which is unheard of for us during the summer months. the calcium flakes have also reduced drastically.
this weekend performed a more thorough water testing and found that the TA was at 100. decided to pull out my new "detachable fountain" to lower PH and TA and aerate just to get everything in perfect sync...
2.5 gallons of 14.5% muratic acid and 2 days later and i haven't been able to get the PH lower than 7.5. it was originally at 7.8. yesterday, each time i tested 2 hours after adding a portion of acid (2g total), the tests all came back 7.5.
here are the numbers as of this morning's water collection:
FC 5
PH 7.5
TA 90
salt 4000
CYA 70
borates 30
CH off the charts... i literally get tired of counting drops.
have the right steps been taken? is it harming anything if i keep on dumping acid in to try to get the PH down to 7.2 and begin aerating?
on my way to homie D to pick up more acid and have water collected just to see what leslie's #s end up being just in case my tests are way off.
on a related note... haven't searched yet, is there a need for us to go as far as doing an acid wash to clean up the scaling and nodules? is it easy enough to do one without having to drain the pool?
sorry for the novel. figure it might help somebody else tho with all the facts.
been battling the high calcium in our area especially since we've gotten pretty near ZERO rainwater and are now dealing with drought restrictions because of it. last year it was calcium nodules: Calcium Nodules in Pools. couldn't get the epoxy to work so have just been manually scrapping the deposits off. unfortunately, there's discoloration that remains on the surface even with the manual scrapping, but knowing the cause helped us not go crazy with thinking it was because we were doing something wrong.
this year we started noticing actual scaling throughout the pool and most recently little white flakes settling on the pool floor.
first, replaced our SWG cell because it was at its end of life and not able to hold a high enough salt reading to stay on and generate chlorine even with cleaning it weekly and resetting the system after each cleaning. thanks again to the forum for being able to search for guidance on resetting the system. even with weekly cleaning, there was enough scale on it to be surprising based on the past cleaning history.
next, had a new valve added to the system which prevented back washing into the pool each time the pump turned off. this was originally done to battle the flakes on the pool floor thinking they were coming from the DE filter due to uncontrolled back washing. the valve installer stated the flakes were actually coming from the old SWG cell and its calcium self cleaning properties.
have been cleaning the pool with our dolphin which luckily collects ALOT of the flakes that then get dumped out instead of recirculated. because of the drought restrictions, have also been dumping our shower water into the pool which passes through our tankless water heater's descaler.
the new cell is AMAZING so much so that i have been performing basic readings on a regular basis to get an idea of how low a % the system should be set at. as of yesterday, it's at 40% which is unheard of for us during the summer months. the calcium flakes have also reduced drastically.
this weekend performed a more thorough water testing and found that the TA was at 100. decided to pull out my new "detachable fountain" to lower PH and TA and aerate just to get everything in perfect sync...
2.5 gallons of 14.5% muratic acid and 2 days later and i haven't been able to get the PH lower than 7.5. it was originally at 7.8. yesterday, each time i tested 2 hours after adding a portion of acid (2g total), the tests all came back 7.5.
here are the numbers as of this morning's water collection:
FC 5
PH 7.5
TA 90
salt 4000
CYA 70
borates 30
CH off the charts... i literally get tired of counting drops.
have the right steps been taken? is it harming anything if i keep on dumping acid in to try to get the PH down to 7.2 and begin aerating?
on my way to homie D to pick up more acid and have water collected just to see what leslie's #s end up being just in case my tests are way off.
on a related note... haven't searched yet, is there a need for us to go as far as doing an acid wash to clean up the scaling and nodules? is it easy enough to do one without having to drain the pool?
sorry for the novel. figure it might help somebody else tho with all the facts.