Discoloration on Quartz…I feel defeated

[allidb85]

Hello, I’ve been balancing my myself for about 4 months and I thought I was doing everything right. My PH has been consistently rise so the only chemical I have been adding to my pool is Muartic Acid. There now appears to be some discoloration on the plaster at the bottom not quite in the deep end. I tried the vitamin C tabs and that did nothing and I went to the pool store and they said no metals. Now I’ve been trying to find a Chlorine tab to try that but haven’t been successful in locating a small packet everyone sales the big $100 containers.

Can someone look at my test and tell me if im doing something wrong? I almost bought a bunch of chemicals from the pool store at there suggest but didn’t…..Im lost help me please

 

[mknauss]

Pool water chemistry looks great. Plaster can just have some minor variations. If it does not react to vitamin C, it likely is just one of those natural variations.

 

[allidb85]

Pool water chemistry looks great. Plaster can just have some minor variations. If it does not react to vitamin C, it likely is just one of those natural variations.

Okay so should I try the chlorine tab?

 

[mknauss]

I do not see why. Can you feel anything there?

 

[Jimrahbe]

A,

Quartz plaster tends to mottle over time. I really doubt that anyone did anything "wrong".

Good job not adding a bunch of pool $tore magic that would not help a bit.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Some better images would help. @onBalance can help you understand the plaster issues better and what steps you might take in analyzing the plaster further. There is a lot of material on TFP written by @onBalance that discusses plaster mottling and white spotting. Often these issues don’t creep up
until months later when the PB and plaster subs are long gone. Let’s hear from @onBalance first.

 

[onBalance]

When was the pool finished, and when did the discoloration show up?
Is it white cement with colored quartz, or did it have a color pigment added to the mix?
Using 80 grit wet&dry sandpaper, sand a small area (hand size) where the discoloration is and see if that removes the darkened plaster.
Post a couple of more photos.

 

[allidb85]

When was the pool finished, and when did the discoloration show up?
Is it white cement with colored quartz, or did it have a color pigment added to the mix?
Using 80 grit wet&dry sandpaper, sand a small area (hand size) where the discoloration is and see if that removes the darkened plaster.
Post a couple of more photos.

The plaster was done 3rd week of July 2021 it’s just white cement with colored quartz.
The weather has been pretty bad here in central Florida so it’s been hard to get good pictures.

The stains look brown I thought molting would be more gray.

I’ll give the sand paper a try…is there a special tool to use to do this? Water is super cold so not getting in.

I’m going to order a chlorine tab and try that too since I can’t find them in stores

 

[onBalance]

Pool supply stores often have a device that attaches to a pole for sanding.
This appears to be gray mottling discoloration. See the below posts.

How White Pool Plaster Can Turn Gray

One would think that when mixing white cement with white limestone aggregate, the final pool plaster product would always be white. But that is not always the case. Unfortunately, white pool plaster sometimes turns gray (or grey) either immediately or a few months after the pool is filled with...

www.troublefreepool.com

How White Pool Plaster Turns Blotchy

This experiment below explains how white pool plaster can become blotchy gray, and also have white areas mixed into the gray areas. Both white pool plaster coupons below have been in water for one year. Sometimes the water was slightly aggressive (negative CSI), and sometimes the water was...

www.troublefreepool.com