Worst scaling ever

cloud · Mar 31, 2016

[UPDATE]

So, an update. I did get my kit in the mail. The CH is a whopping 750-800. Now, we moved into this house last year and judging by the condition of other things around here the previous owner was not the most thorough guy. Here's what I think happen - and I am hoping someone here can chime in and confirm my suspicion. The pool deck is some kind of a natural stone, and there's no coping as you can see in one of the pictures. I think the previous owner stopped applying sealant to it a long time ago. It is severely deteriorated, it literally flakes off. I see pieces of it in the pool all the time. I think this is why the CH is so high, its this rock in the water. Is this plausible? I did purchase a sealant and a sprayer and I am planning on applying it tomorrow.

Other than that - the CH and the CYA is through the roof. It's a drain-refill situation and I dont think I can do it this year. I am not sure what to do. Things will probably remain the way they this season and we will scope out what it would take to re-do the pool _and_ the pool deck.

I guess I will give the reverse osmosis guys a call Monday and see what the typical pricing is like. Might be worth it.

Hello all. First of all - I've been browsing for a few days and all I can say is that this is an amazing community. Learned a lot. Now, to my question. I bought a house last year with an in ground pool plus in ground spa. The spa has always been a lot darker than the pool. And really abrasive. Like, road rash abrasive. It is presently empty. So I tried pumice stone in one area. Twenty minutes and half the stone later I was able to rub off the scale. See pic. Does anyone have a suggestion here? Short of robbing a quarry or planting a lemon Orchard and cancelling the gym membership? Pics attached. Thank you.

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cowboycasey · Mar 31, 2016

welcome to TFP, it looks like you have an issue

well, I tend to look at things a different way than many people.. A pumice stone is basically a wet sander

just manual labor type, so there are 2 ways to look at this..

1. you could try to do an acid wash or have a pool company come in and do it. This would "eat" the scale off after some amount of time. This is the normal way pool companies usually do it. I have not heard of many owners doing this, it can do damage in a hurry. t

2. wet sanding I think might work, this can do damage in a hurry also.. there are many ways to do this, what is the correct way, I do not know..

I do not know how much these would cost but most pool owners call a pool company do an acid wash. I hope this helps and I am sure more people will be along to help out

gwegan · Mar 31, 2016

Could you post test results for your pool? You pool got this way because of high amounts of calcium in the water and improper Managment of it. Unless that is remedied it will just come back.

What is the calcium content of you fill water?

I would suggest an acid wash. You can do an acid wash yourself there are posts on here that describe the process. There are probably YouTube videos.

pooldv · Mar 31, 2016

Welcome to TFP!

Poolmath will give you a CSI score after you enter your test results. CSI is managed by tweaking PH, TA and CH, in that order. Acid wash is a solution if you want to use a pro. Or you can keep your CSI -0.3 to -0.4 and brush as often as you can stand to. This will reduce the scale over a period of weeks to months.

More here from Pool School,
Pool School - Calcium Scaling
Langelier and Calcite Saturation Indices (LSI and CSI)

here are some inspiration posts
Progress on scale

lasvegaspools · Mar 31, 2016

Wet sanding / polishing should work fine on scale. You can do a test with 120 grit wet dry sand paper on the top step, if you like the results call around and find a contractor who will do the entire pool and spa. You can also do yourself with a diamond sanding pad and an air powered angle grinder. Make sure water is flowing over surface as you are working.

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Richard320 · Mar 31, 2016

My scale is unsightly, but not abrasive enough to give road rash. Running a negative CSI to dissolve it would likely take decades. Since it's just the spa and it's already sitting empty...Blasting limescale off my pool walls - DONE REPORT POSTED

cloud · Mar 31, 2016

gwegan said:
Could you post test results for your pool? You pool got this way because of high amounts of calcium in the water and improper Managment of it. Unless that is remedied it will just come back.

What is the calcium content of you fill water?

I would suggest an acid wash. You can do an acid wash yourself there are posts on here that describe the process. There are probably YouTube videos.

I will, as soon as I get the kit in the mail. It was shipped this morning. Generally speaking, we have hard water here. Just today the missus ordered a water filter thing to be installed on the main water supply. I think this will help matters. But yeah, I see where you're going with this, and I think you're right.

- - - Updated - - -

Richard320 said:
My scale is unsightly, but not abrasive enough to give road rash. Running a negative CSI to dissolve it would likely take decades. Since it's just the spa and it's already sitting empty...Blasting limescale off my pool walls - DONE REPORT POSTED

Thank you, this is very interesting.

- - - Updated - - -

lasvegaspools said:
Wet sanding / polishing should work fine on scale. You can do a test with 120 grit wet dry sand paper on the top step, if you like the results call around and find a contractor who will do the entire pool and spa. You can also do yourself with a diamond sanding pad and an air powered angle grinder. Make sure water is flowing over surface as you are working.

Sent from my SGP561 using Tapatalk

I have all of the hardware you mention in your suggestion and I will give it a go - hopefully this weekend.

- - - Updated - - -

pooldv said:
Welcome to TFP!

Poolmath will give you a CSI score after you enter your test results. CSI is managed by tweaking PH, TA and CH, in that order. Acid wash is a solution if you want to use a pro. Or you can keep your CSI -0.3 to -0.4 and brush as often as you can stand to. This will reduce the scale over a period of weeks to months.

More here from Pool School,
Pool School - Calcium Scaling
Langelier and Calcite Saturation Indices (LSI and CSI)

here are some inspiration posts
Progress on scale

Thank you! I will head over to poolmath as soon as my test kit arrives and I get some readings from the water.