Stains on Pool Finish

[Badag98]

Quick Question, we live in the Houston, TX area and tons of Pine Trees. I am skimming daily and brushing weekly to keep stuff maintained.

Problem I have is pieces of the pine cones sink to the bottom and sit for a few hours before i get home to get them out. This is mainly in the spa and on the tanning ledge, we have a pebble sheen finish and when they sit it leaves a brown spot that is very hard to remove with just a nylon brush. What is the best way to remove these spots?

Thanks in advance

 

[pabeader]

Since they are organic based, bleach(chlorine) should make them go away fairly quickly. In my pool they go away on their own in a day or two. Quicker if I manually add in a little extra bleach. Just 2 extra FC seems to do the trick for me.

 

[Badag98]

They have not gone away by themselfs yet, is it safe to use a wire brush on a pebble sheen finish? I have brushed with the nylon brush to make them fade but you can still see them.

 

[Agent99]

I have the same problem with oak tree debris. Oaks have tannins and so I'll get a brown spot developing around the debris and so far, they've ALWAYS been oxidized by the chlorine. My pebble sheen is new since mid-July (refinish) and the first time I saw this I freaked and dived in with a nylon brush and scrubbed and scrubbed all the while cursing that I didn't get a darker finish. The scrubbing did little but 24 hours later, the stain had 'magically' disappeared.

What is the age of your finish? The wire brush will simply remove more of your finish than a softer nylon brush. I would say try it on a hidden spot but I doubt there is one in your pool...maybe at the skimmer channel...that is kinda hidden.

 

[Badag98]

My pool was built in Apirl of this year, and i will just keep an eye out and see if they go away. Because it is a new pool i am hawkish when stuff hits the water or i see a spot!
The next one i see i will just let it be for a few days and see what happens.

Thansk

 

[pabeader]

I wonder of there is a way to provide bleach directly on the offending spots?

Do you have any, (cough, cough) pucks, (cough cough)?

 

[Badag98]

Actually i do, i just ordred my TF-100 Kit and it came in yesterday so i will be making the switch here soon. I tried my hand at running my number yesterday but need to try agian today. I think they were right but want to check just to make sure. Below is what i got:

FC- 8.5ppm
CC- 0
TC- 8.5 ppm
PH- 7.7
TA-90
CYA-90-95 (this is the one i want to retry)
CH- 350

 

[pabeader]

Good for you! Looks like you did them okay. Looks like you are using the 10ml sample size for FC, that's good.

pH is just a number, no need for ppm. I think CH is in ppb, but I'm not 100% positive.

With CYA you want to make sure the lighting is correct. Best results seem to be from sunlight at back, tube held near waist. Slowly drip mixture into tube.
Two things to note with the CYA test: It is recommended not to shake the mixture but to more like swirl or mix gently. No bubbles is the suggestion. You can pour the mixture back into the little bottle and try again. As many times as you want until you get a number that stays about the same.

And finally, CYA is usually reported rounded up to the next number. The scale isn't linear and it's just easier to do the rounding thing.