Flakes in the pool

Jwwagner

Active member
Nov 21, 2023
42
South West Florida
Pool Size
7750
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Pentair Intellichlor IC-20
12 year old salt water pool with Krystalkrete finish. Having an issue with flakes and small specs floating below the surface by the thousands. Very small had to get a ultrafine net to remove the stuff but I can’t get ahead of it and it’s back every day. Do you think it’s the finish? What else could it be? The finish looks ok from above. Any suggestions or recommendations. IMG_2048.jpeg
 
Welcome to the forum

Likely calcium scale being shed from the SWCG.

Please post a complete set of water chemistry test results.
 
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Welcome to the forum

Likely calcium scale being shed from the SWCG.

Please post a complete set of water chemistry test results.
This is all I have.
Welcome to the forum

Likely calcium scale being shed from the SWCG.

Please post a complete set of water chemistry test results.

pH 7.5
Salt 3800 ppm
Stabilizer 40 ppm
Alkalinity 80 ppm
Weather BUENO
Chlorine 4 ppm
 
Are the green output LEDs on your salt cell flashing or constantly on? Flashing would be 10% output; on constantly would be 100%.
 

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Cleaning the salt cell probably will not have any effect - at least not for more than a few days. Most of the salt cells naturally shed the scale that builds up on them every 90-ish minutes when the polarity changes on the plates in them- and cleaning them too frequently/too harshly can shorten their life span.

I agree with mknauss - purchase a good test kit and check the water yourself and report back to us what the results are - especially what the hardness level is. High calcium content in your pool water + a salt cell that is on 100% of the time just about guarantees lots of scaling on the salt cell (depending upon the other water characteristics).

It is really pretty simple to maintain a trouble-free pool yourself - just follow the instructions on this website. Give it a shot - you have nothing to lose! :)
 
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I am going to test myself this weekend, I ordered the kit yesterday. I was hoping that cleaning the cell would save me, but maybe not. I will share the water results when I get them over the weekend. I checked with our water dept. They say the water in our area is hard to very hard, don’t know how true that is until I test. Thanks for the advice so far. Have a good Thanksgiving everyone.
 
SWG cleaned today, not much of anything in it. Water tested by me, first time testing.
PH=7.7
Cya=40
Free C=5.6
Complete C=0.4
TA=40
CH=300
Salt=4000
SI=0.01
Still making flakes. Just to clarify the flakes I have are very small, thousand and thousands I would guess. None bigger than tip of a ball point pen. Most the size of a pin head.
What do you think?
 
Your TA result is very low with the pH you report.

Can you collect some of the solids and test with acid?
 
So likely calcium scale. Very odd with the chemistry data you showed.
I have given up. I still have small flakes the size of pencil lead diameter. Not as bad and now I see off and on thousands of tiny air or hydrogen bubbles. I’m not worried. I have talked to everyone I could find and no real answers.
 

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