Sand in my skimmer and scaling

[Mtpisgah]

My parents had pools at two different houses while I was growing up but I never had to do anything other than vacuum them. My dad always set it up and broke it down and did the chemicals. Now that I am all grown up and have a pool, I am getting to learn more than I ever cared to know.

I vacuumed the pool last night and when I removed the hose from the skimmer, there were a couple of teaspoons of course sand in the skimmer. Could I be getting sand from the filter in the skimmer when I back washed? It didn't do this last year when I vacuumed and I have not noticed it this season until last night. I had the skimmer drain valve open as always and left the main drain at 90% as I always do when vacuuming.

The second issue is apparent scaling on the sides and bottom. It was like this when we bought the house late 2014 but it seems to be getting worse. It is not a white calcium scaling like in pictures I have seen online. It is more of a marbled look.

Thanks

 

[pooldv]

I have some sand in my skimmer and I don't even have a sand filter. There is sand under the pool deck and under the expansion joint between the pool and deck. I think my sand came from some ants digging around in there.

Read this
Pool School - Calcium Scaling

and this
Diagnosing Pool Plaster Problems

and see if you still think it is calcium scale.