Hi from Austin I have white plaster turning grey

[austinowner]

My pool was finished last September 23. Last month I noticed large grey spots forming on the plaster. Go the water checked. Cleaned the filters. Changed the Nature 2. Called the pool contractor. He said he had never seen this in 40 years. Like I believe that! He sent out the pool service to check the water. Their service man said the plaster looked 20 years old. The owner of that company emailed that he would send someone out to look. Never showed. Now the contractor says he is sending out the plaster company. I saw that someone else had this issue a few years ago, but
I saw no outcome on the postings. I found an article written that said it could come from troweling the plaster too long when it is applied. Does anybody know anything about how to fix this condition. Its seems to be worsening.

 

[JasonLion]

Welcome to TFP!

A picture and your current water test results would help us narrow down what might be happening.

 

[austinowner]

Right when it started I had it tested
Chlorine 3 I had shocked it thinking it was stains.
ph 7.4
TA 80
CYA 100
Calcium 260
TDS 800
Copper/iron 0
phosphates 100
I am not sure how to post a pic. I will figure that out and post one.

 

[RobbieH]

Ignore the phosphates. Your CYA is too high, and unless you have a salt water chlorine pool it is way too high. Can you post details about what kind of pool you have, equipment types, etc? You are most certainly going to have to drain a bunch of water. For Austin, that's low CH. Good news!

 

[austinowner]

the pool is 13000 gallons. Hayward ecostar pump Hayward cartridge filters. Nature 2 inline chlorinator. It is NOT saltwater

Yes, I know the cya is high. The pool service company said that is because I am using chlorine tablets. Because of the drought lots of new
water has been put in since last year.

I am still trying to upload a picture. This site says it is an invalid file. I will try one from my cell phone.

 

[RobbieH]

You are about to get some comments on your Nature 2.

Yes, chlorine tablets drive up your CYA. The thing is, drought just means you keep your pool full by adding water. CYA does not evaporate, so you never lost CYA. Believe me, we had drought here last year too.

 

[austinowner]

https://plus.google.com/photos/10400011 ... tnu8PC1ngE

I had to upload the pic to Google. here is the link

 

[RobbieH]

I suggest you get a good test kit, like the TF-100 from tftestkits.net, and do a full test on your own. I promise you will do a better job than any pool store or test strips. My concern right now is if you have a high CC level.

Waiting on the Nature 2 comments...

 

[austinowner]

How much should I drain to get rid of the cya?

 

[austinowner]

Thanks so much. I just checked that site and will order the kit.

 

[RobbieH]

I'm surprised nobody with experience with the Nature 2 has chimed in.

 

[austinowner]

Do people dislike it. I am keeping the chlorine low as per those directions.

 

[RobbieH]

The Nature2 system depends on metals, mostly copper, to remove bacteria from the pool. It's not good at keeping algae out of the pool, and the copper can stain your pool and turn blonde hair green. But I would still like someone with more experience to chime in.

 

[austinowner]

That is interesting.
When the pool water has been checked there was no copper detected. I am going to order that pool kit you suggested today.

 

[chem geek]

Nature2 for pools uses copper and silver where the copper does indeed prevent algae if the copper is at a high enough level. The problem is that if the pH gets too high, then that higher copper level can cause metal staining.

 

[dcwed]

Was this indeed copper and what did you do to clear it up?