wierd white buildup after converting to borax

[anomale]

Hi, Has anyone experienced this or have an explanation i'm kind of puzzled. About 6 months ago i had a pool guy and he never checked the ph. i checked it one day and fired him on the spot. 10 boxed on 20 mule team borax later and the ph is back to normal. since then I havent had to adjust the ph at all. I also stopped using the pucks and switched to bleach since then. here is the puzzling part my kids were playing with the net trying to get their tou out of the deep end and left the pole in the water, about a week later i went out and pulled it out and noticed little white clumps building up on the portion of the pole that was in the water. I rubbed one off and it looked like a small drop of dried up borax. Have any of you experienced this? or have any explanation what it could be?

 

[anomale]

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here is a picture of the pole with the buildup for reference

 

[anomale]

lets see if that works if not then here is the direct link on photobucket

http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x33 ... s/pole.jpg

 

[duraleigh]

What is your current pH, CH and TA?

 

[zea3]

I don't think that is borax. I get the same kind of deposits on my aluminum pans if I leave them sitting in dishwater for a day or two.

 

[anomale]

ph 7.8
TA 80
CH 240

 

[duraleigh]

Those numbers look pretty good. My thinking is it is calcium deposits even though your results would probably not indicate that.

An easy check is to remove some of those nodules in a glass or plastic bowl and put muriatic acid on them. If they foam up, it is almost surely calcium. If so, keep your pH down in the lower 7's and it shouldn't be a problem.

A week is probably a little too long to leave anything metal (except stainless steel) in the pool

 

[mas985]

I use to get a salt build up on my aluminum sollar roller that looked like that. I am sure that I have a much higher salt level because of the SWG but have you ever had the salt or TDS level tested?

 

[anomale]

I've never tested the salt levels and I'll try the muriatic acid approach. Thanks

 

[duraleigh]

I like mas985's idea of salt. I don't have a salt pool but that makes sense to me now that it is pointed out.

 

[JamesW]

It might be pitting corrosion of the aluminum. Once the aluminum is scratched, the damaged surfaces can corrode at an accelerated rate. The white bumps might be aluminum hydroxide.

 

[Red Shirt Ensign]

I boraxed my pool last year but did not experience any tracking of borax clumps in our around the pool/deck
I would lean to the salt /aluminum corrosion route as my 1st go round