Hi All, I am a new, first time pool owner. The pool is 3 months old now. I clean and balance my pool meticulously, but only recently (2 weeks) found out about TFP and the saturation index. Yesterday, I noticed a sandy feeling substance on the sunshelf. I manually vacuumed the sun shelf and the entire pool surface, then brushed it this morning. I cleaned the filter today and noticed a fair amount of what looks like white beach sand. We live 10 minutes from the beach but have not been there in a while, so it is not beach sand. And, the substance was actually whiter than our East Coast, FL beach sand. I am wondering, what it could be?
I have been keeping the pool pH at the range of 7.6 - 7.8. For sure it has seen 8.0 at times. I am currently sitting at pH 7.6, Alkalinity 70, CYA 50 (I know, low for a SWCG pool), FC 4, No CC, calcium hardness 360, Salt 3400. Testing with Taylor 2006C and K1766.
More background. Pool details are in my signature, but can briefly re-cap. 10K gallons, exposed aggregate (Freestone, with a bright blue color plaster, iChlor30 SWCG, AquaCal, Heater, 1 HP Pentair VSP. The builder used a sequestration agent at start-up. I had my Phospates checked by the pool store, they found phosphates to be 1000. We presumed it was from sequestration agent since the fill water showed no phosphates. I discontinued the maintenance dose of the sequestration agent and tried a No-Clouding Phosphate treatment. I followed the instructions on the label but the product did not work. Still 1000. Then, I did some internet research and tried Orenda PR-10000, 8 oz. Knocked the phosphate from 1000 to zero with one treatment. I understand phosphates don’t necessarily need to be treated, but I still prefer not to carry the 1000 ppm load if I can use a 1-time treatment.
So, what do you think the sandy substance is from? Could it be calcium coming our of solution after discontinuing the sequestration agent? Or, could it be salt coming our of solution? I added one bag of salt one month ago, thats it. My pool store readings on Salt have been 2800 -3400. I used the K1766 for the first time today (just received it) and confirmed 3400. Over the last week I drained about 3 inches of pool water because of heavy rains. The pool is still filled a little on the high side because of the rain. That’s why the CYA is low. I was expecting the salt to show a bit lower because of diluting, but it is still holding on the high end.
I know....long post. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Rex/
I have been keeping the pool pH at the range of 7.6 - 7.8. For sure it has seen 8.0 at times. I am currently sitting at pH 7.6, Alkalinity 70, CYA 50 (I know, low for a SWCG pool), FC 4, No CC, calcium hardness 360, Salt 3400. Testing with Taylor 2006C and K1766.
More background. Pool details are in my signature, but can briefly re-cap. 10K gallons, exposed aggregate (Freestone, with a bright blue color plaster, iChlor30 SWCG, AquaCal, Heater, 1 HP Pentair VSP. The builder used a sequestration agent at start-up. I had my Phospates checked by the pool store, they found phosphates to be 1000. We presumed it was from sequestration agent since the fill water showed no phosphates. I discontinued the maintenance dose of the sequestration agent and tried a No-Clouding Phosphate treatment. I followed the instructions on the label but the product did not work. Still 1000. Then, I did some internet research and tried Orenda PR-10000, 8 oz. Knocked the phosphate from 1000 to zero with one treatment. I understand phosphates don’t necessarily need to be treated, but I still prefer not to carry the 1000 ppm load if I can use a 1-time treatment.
So, what do you think the sandy substance is from? Could it be calcium coming our of solution after discontinuing the sequestration agent? Or, could it be salt coming our of solution? I added one bag of salt one month ago, thats it. My pool store readings on Salt have been 2800 -3400. I used the K1766 for the first time today (just received it) and confirmed 3400. Over the last week I drained about 3 inches of pool water because of heavy rains. The pool is still filled a little on the high side because of the rain. That’s why the CYA is low. I was expecting the salt to show a bit lower because of diluting, but it is still holding on the high end.
I know....long post. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Rex/