Is it normal for diamond brite to have whitish patches?

[Aquatica]

seems every pool with diamond brite finish I see has whitish patches and discoloration when sun is in but when sun is out they dissapear.

Is this normal? or maybe a diamond brite mixing problem?

Thanks.

 

[JasonLion]

There are two possibilities. First, Diamond Brite requires an acid wash to expose the quartz. Often enough that acid wash is not well done, leave patches where the quartz is not fully exposed. Second, any calcium scaling after the acid wash will cover up the quartz.

 

[Aquatica]

There are two possibilities. First, Diamond Brite requires an acid wash to expose the quartz. Often enough that acid wash is not well done, leave patches where the quartz is not fully exposed. Second, any calcium scaling after the acid wash will cover up the quartz.

Thanks Jason. I've read an acid start up is best and not a acid wash. also I guess the mix water is important as well and having good fill water?

seen a midnight blue. looked great for like one month then the whitish patches started appearing so I told owner I can balance the pool but it might not get rid or stop the whitish patches. His CH was only 80ppm so I've raised it to 300ppm and I'm in process of final balancing.

I know water used to mix the midnight blue was not very good and they opted to fill the pool with purified trucked in water as fill water was so bad. but thats what they mixed with!

 

[susa]

my diamond brite with spectraquartz has zero white patches, very even/uniform surface and it was acid washed twice during construction. for the first month I maintained pH at 7.2, then 7.4 for 2 more months. new water initial fillup was done through special membrane water tanks/filters which made initial fillup water appear blue with zero minerals and chemicals.

now keeping pH at 7.7 with the Simpool and still no white patches anywhere

 

[Aquatica]

my diamond brite with spectraquartz has zero white patches, very even/uniform surface and it was acid washed twice during construction. for the first month I maintained pH at 7.2, then 7.4 for 2 more months. new water initial fillup was done through special membrane water tanks/filters which made initial fillup water appear blue with zero minerals and chemicals.

now keeping pH at 7.7 with the Simpool and still no white patches anywhere

Thanks for the info susa. do you know if the mix was with the same filtered water? I know they filled the pool with filtered water but used the local water supply to mix.

I still think an acid start up is the best way to go. means dropping pH real low and holding for sometime to disolve paste.

also does anyone know if you can still do an acid start up like 1 month or 2 months after the pool has been filled or does this have to be done before the finish cures? or starts to cure?

just read somewhere online if plaster dust is not completely dissolved it will deposit back on new pool finish and cause the discolored light patches. is this right?

Thanks.

 

[susa]

mix was done with local municipal water supply which is surprisingly good quality but I went out on my own and handled the fillup filtering as I wanted absolutely no issues with the water at startup.

my instructions were to brush EACH and EVERY day for 60 days in addition to the startup pH range maintenance

 

[JasonLion]

You can do a no drain acid wash at any time and it should improve things, but it won't be prefect. A no drain acid wash doesn't give you any control over how much plaster is removed from any particular place. The amount that needs to be removed, and the amount that is actually removed, will both vary to some extent from place to place, and they will never match up exactly, so you will get a somewhat uneven color. To get the color to be as uniform as possible you need to do a manual acid wash.

 

[Aquatica]

You can do a no drain acid wash at any time and it should improve things, but it won't be prefect. A no drain acid wash doesn't give you any control over how much plaster is removed from any particular place. The amount that needs to be removed, and the amount that is actually removed, will both vary to some extent from place to place, and they will never match up exactly, so you will get a somewhat uneven color. To get the color to be as uniform as possible you need to do a manual acid wash.

Thanks Jason. I thought an acid start up was best?

Also with a manual acid wash I assume hiring a professional pressure cleaner who can deliver the acid uniformly using a pressure cleaner would be the best way?