I'm trying to determine if I have calcium scaling, efflorescence, or what.. and of course then what to do about it.
My pool is about 2 years old. Standard in-ground, pebble tec plaster.
It has a large tile spillover from the raised spa to the pool. (7' diameter spa, spillover accounts for about 50% of it)
They way the pool is plumbed, I cannot run the pump without the spillover running, so I have fairly constantly rising PH I haven't yet been able to get under control.
I've been pretty good about acid additions, but it does climb up above 8 from time to time if I don't check for a week or so.
The ONLY chemicals I've ever put in the pool are CYA, liquid chlorine, and acid.
As you can see in the pics, I'm getting build up around the spillover in various places.
I am not noticing the buildup in other areas around the pool, only where water runs from the spa spillover.
It breaks off without much effort with a screwdriver, and feels a bit gritty.
I tossed a few chunks into a pyrex glass with a tablespoon of (undiluted) muriatic acid and it sizzled like bacon.
Latest test results (recommended Taylor kit):
CH: 500
TA: 50
PH: 7.6
CYA: 40
FC: 3.0
I'm a little confused on the CH test - because I tested my tap water (twice) and got 50 CH.
I live in Austin, TX and we have "moderately hard" water which google tells me should be around 186 ppm "hardness". (I don't know if that's the same a CH).
I noticed when testing that the blue drops (R0011L) are much smaller than others in the test kit and much harder to squeeze out.
I even popped the cap off and cleaned it out, but still the same - seems the hole is smaller - not sure if by design or I have a bad bottle.
What am I dealing with here?
Thanks for the help!
My pool is about 2 years old. Standard in-ground, pebble tec plaster.
It has a large tile spillover from the raised spa to the pool. (7' diameter spa, spillover accounts for about 50% of it)
They way the pool is plumbed, I cannot run the pump without the spillover running, so I have fairly constantly rising PH I haven't yet been able to get under control.
I've been pretty good about acid additions, but it does climb up above 8 from time to time if I don't check for a week or so.
The ONLY chemicals I've ever put in the pool are CYA, liquid chlorine, and acid.
As you can see in the pics, I'm getting build up around the spillover in various places.
I am not noticing the buildup in other areas around the pool, only where water runs from the spa spillover.
It breaks off without much effort with a screwdriver, and feels a bit gritty.
I tossed a few chunks into a pyrex glass with a tablespoon of (undiluted) muriatic acid and it sizzled like bacon.
Latest test results (recommended Taylor kit):
CH: 500
TA: 50
PH: 7.6
CYA: 40
FC: 3.0
I'm a little confused on the CH test - because I tested my tap water (twice) and got 50 CH.
I live in Austin, TX and we have "moderately hard" water which google tells me should be around 186 ppm "hardness". (I don't know if that's the same a CH).
I noticed when testing that the blue drops (R0011L) are much smaller than others in the test kit and much harder to squeeze out.
I even popped the cap off and cleaned it out, but still the same - seems the hole is smaller - not sure if by design or I have a bad bottle.
What am I dealing with here?
Thanks for the help!
