Rescue Water Balancing after Pool Replaster

[El Matarife]

Continue with your startup and see where your water chemistry lands after about 2 months.

You are correct that to lower CH you will need to drain water and replace it with lower CH water.

Your high CH may be due to lots of plaster dUst in the water that your filter will remove in the coming days.

Be patient.



Your water softener salt has nothing to do with warning of not adding pool salt into the water. Water softener salt does not get into the water in significant amounts.

Plaster Installation and Maintenance - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

When Should Salt be Added? In our industry, there seems to be some consensus to wait 30 days before adding salt to new plaster pools, yet some say it is okay to add salt within a couple of days of filling the pool. Who is right? This thread describes why it appears that the recommendation to wait 30 days before adding any salt is appropriate for most plaster pools, including quartz and pebble pools.



Post a complete set of water tests for your pool...

FC
CC
pH
TA
CH
CYA
SALT
WATER TEMP
CSI

and your fill water...

pH
TA
CH

Apologies for the delay in responding and I appreciate the advice.

FC: 3
CC: 0
TC: 3
pH: 7.5
CH: 550
TA: 80
CYA: 25 (expect this to go up, sock is in pool as we speak)
Temp: 67
CSI: 0.01

I do not have anything as of now to accurately test the salt. When we purchased the hose the SWG had already gone kaput and we used liquid chlorine for the last half of the summer after we moved in. The automation system included says salt is at 0 ppm but im not convinced its accurate.

I have thus far been unable to get a water report from the company who filled it. It seems they have left early for memorial day weekend.

 

[ajw22]

Get the Taylor 1766 or TFT Salt test kit.

Your water chemistry looks fine. Let your pH be around 7.8 so your CSI is a bit higher.

 

[JamesW]

I would still register the plaster warranty with the manufacturer and get them involved.

 

[El Matarife]

Get the Taylor 1766 or TFT Salt test kit.

Your water chemistry looks fine. Let your pH be around 7.8 so your CSI is a bit higher.

Appreciate it.

Had another question for you. Any idea what could be causing these? They are small black/brown dots that are not coming up from brushing. Only present in one corner of the pool that happens to be situated under a Japanese maple. We haven’t been able to use our Dolphin yet to get the debris out so I’m afraid I may somehow be missing stuff that’s staining the pool while I’m vacuuming

 

[ajw22]

Any idea what could be causing these?

Read this and determine if the dots are organic or metals...

Stains in Your Pool

The stained pool is beyond embarrassing. Our in-depth Guide to remove stains in your pool will help you to remove the stains and prevent them in the future.

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[El Matarife]

Read this and determine if the dots are organic or metals...

Stains in Your Pool

The stained pool is beyond embarrassing. Our in-depth Guide to remove stains in your pool will help you to remove the stains and prevent them in the future.

www.troublefreepool.com

Pucks have been ordered, waiting until Friday when I can actually be home to monitor the situation.

As of last night my chemistry was:

FC: 2.0
PH: 8.0
TA: 90
CH: 500
CYA: 40

I put in a touch of muriatic acid to attempt to lower the PH into the 7.8 area.

Some areas of concern are starting to develop that have nothing to do with water chemistry. Rough spots that I had hoped would disappear are only getting worse. Further, there seems to be, for lack of a better word, "whiteness" coming out as the plaster cures. I'm not sure if this is just how it cures or not, but the first thing i mentioned is definitely an issue. I'll post some pictures on Friday when I'm home during the day and you can see it best.

Thanks again for all of your help.

 

[ajw22]

You need more FC for CYA 40. You are flying too close to the sun.

The Free Chlorine and Cyanuric Acid Relationship

Managing your cyanuric acid and Free Chlorine levels is key to stabilizing your pool. Learn how these two items affect each other.

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[El Matarife]

You need more FC for CYA 40. You are flying too close to the sun.

The Free Chlorine and Cyanuric Acid Relationship

Managing your cyanuric acid and Free Chlorine levels is key to stabilizing your pool. Learn how these two items affect each other.

www.troublefreepool.com

So should I be ignoring the recommendations of the Plaster Council stuff? According to the link you sent me I would want FC somewhere in the 5-6 range at 40 CYA, but the sheet I was given has a 1-3PPM target for FC with a 30-50ppm for CYA. Sorry, I’m just thoroughly confused what I should be following. My old vinyl poop seems so easy in retrospect…

 

[ajw22]

So should I be ignoring the recommendations of the Plaster Council stuff? According to the link you sent me I would want FC somewhere in the 5-6 range at 40 CYA, but the sheet I was given has a 1-3PPM target for FC with a 30-50ppm for CYA. Sorry, I’m just thoroughly confused what I should be following. My old vinyl poop seems so easy in retrospect…

I am confused and did not realize you are within your 30 day plaster startup.

Still, you should keep your FC at 3ppm which is 50% more chlorine then 2ppm.

What you don’t want is algae in a newly plastered pool.

How many days into the startup are you?

 

[El Matarife]

I am confused and did not realize you are within your 30 day plaster startup.

Still, you should keep your FC at 3ppm which is 50% more chlorine then 2ppm.

What you don’t want is algae in a newly plastered pool.

How many days into the startup are you?

I am 13 days in, replaster was on the 18th. I added chlorine earlier tonight targeting 5ppm based on the link that was sent. I’ll let that come down to 3.

My concerns as of now are chiefly with the high CH as I don’t want scaling and I could swear I’m noticing more “whiteness” in the plaster, but that could just be how it’s curing. Also concerned with the brown “dots” I mentioned earlier. They only seem to be happening in one specific corner and I’ll push forward the chlorine puck test to tomorrow instead of Friday.

Do any of your previous recs change based on the fact this is new plaster?

 

[ajw22]

Do not do the chlorine puck test on new curing plaster.

Just be patient and follow the start up process for the first month.

Let your plaster cure and stabilize before evaluating what you got.

 

[JamesW]

What does the plaster manufacturer say?

 

[El Matarife]

What does the plaster manufacturer say?

Unfortunately getting them to respond has been difficult. I've called twice and emailed three times with no response. We used one of the QuartzScape products by NPT so if you have any suggestions about how to get someone to answer, I'd appreciate it.

As for maintenance/startup, their website literally just copies the national pool plaster council startup card I have. And I don't mean its similar, its quotes directly from the start up card with references.

 

[JamesW]

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[El Matarife]

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Appreciate the link, that's what I've been using. Their customer service line goes to a voicemail inbox (first I've seen that happen) and the emails via the contact page haven't gotten a response.

 

[El Matarife]

Do not do the chlorine puck test on new curing plaster.

Just be patient and follow the start up process for the first month.

Let your plaster cure and stabilize before evaluating what you got.

Understood and thank you for the help. My only question is related to the calcium hardness which is varying between 500-600 every time I test it. Still hold off on doing anything until after the startup process? Thats the only result I'm getting that seems way out of line. PH was up a bit this morning but I did add the excess chlorine the other night and its very hot out, so I'm hoping the muriatic acid will do the trick.

And I do apologize if I come across as over excited or over concerned, I just really don't want to screw up this opening and the builder has been less than helpful about the chemical aspect.