I THINK I have calcium nodules on the floor and icecicles on the walls, all over my colored pool plaster. I can't get a good photo of them so I borrowed a couple photos from Reddit that looks just like the spots and icecicles I have in my pool. They are white spots with brown around them, I'm pretty sure it's calcium but I need to know how to avoid this in the future and how I can treat the current nodules. I've done some research and a lot of people say this is from poor plaster work but we didn't have ANY of these spots until the 4th year, after our pool froze over this past winter. I always keep the water balanced and I adjust alkalinity based on temperature using the LSI calculator so I'm not sure why we could be getting these unless I'm keeping the hardness too high. I usually aim for 350 hardness as I was told by our pool builder that if we didn't keep enough calcium in the water that it would be leached from the plaster. I guess my main question is are these things from calcium in the water being too LOW or too HIGH? And beyond sanding these down one at a time (there's probably 200-300 of them) is there any way to easily remove these blemishes and try and keep them from coming back?
- Jul 21, 2013
- 65,758
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Welcome to TFP.
Calcium nodules are caused by delamination. Nothing you can do except scrape them smooth when they pop up.
Calcium nodules are not caused by too much or too little calcium in the water.
Calcium Nodules in pools What are calcium nodules? In swimming pools and spas, they are small mounds, bumps, deposits, or “slag” piles of calcium carbonate which are formed from material that has been released from the plaster. The small calcium nodules are rough to the touch, hard, and generally gritty. Nodules may form singularly (far apart or sporadically), or many and close together along a crack in the plaster surface.
Unusual Calcium Nodules About a dozen years ago, the onBalance team began investigating a slightly different and smaller type of nodule in recently plastered pools. Some of the nodules had not developed on delamination cracks, but instead, they had formed on severe “crazing” or “check” cracks that were nearly invisible. See photos of small nodules
www.troublefreepool.com
Calcium nodules are caused by delamination. Nothing you can do except scrape them smooth when they pop up.
Calcium nodules are not caused by too much or too little calcium in the water.
Calcium Nodules in pools What are calcium nodules? In swimming pools and spas, they are small mounds, bumps, deposits, or “slag” piles of calcium carbonate which are formed from material that has been released from the plaster. The small calcium nodules are rough to the touch, hard, and generally gritty. Nodules may form singularly (far apart or sporadically), or many and close together along a crack in the plaster surface.
Unusual Calcium Nodules About a dozen years ago, the onBalance team began investigating a slightly different and smaller type of nodule in recently plastered pools. Some of the nodules had not developed on delamination cracks, but instead, they had formed on severe “crazing” or “check” cracks that were nearly invisible. See photos of small nodules
Plaster Installation and Maintenance - Further Reading
www.troublefreepool.com
Welcome to TFP.
Calcium nodules are caused by delamination. Nothing you can do except scrape them smooth when they pop up.
Calcium nodules are not caused by too much or too little calcium in the water.
Calcium Nodules in pools What are calcium nodules? In swimming pools and spas, they are small mounds, bumps, deposits, or “slag” piles of calcium carbonate which are formed from material that has been released from the plaster. The small calcium nodules are rough to the touch, hard, and generally gritty. Nodules may form singularly (far apart or sporadically), or many and close together along a crack in the plaster surface.
Unusual Calcium Nodules About a dozen years ago, the onBalance team began investigating a slightly different and smaller type of nodule in recently plastered pools. Some of the nodules had not developed on delamination cracks, but instead, they had formed on severe “crazing” or “check” cracks that were nearly invisible. See photos of small nodules
Plaster Installation and Maintenance - Further Reading
Dang, I have hundreds of calcium nodules. I wonder why this didn't show up until the 4th year. Only difference I can think of is we had sub freezing temperatures for two weeks last winter for the first time. I suppose the plaster separated from the concrete during the freeze over - the top layer of the pool froze and water temps were around 32 when air temps were under 10 degrees.
- Jul 21, 2013
- 65,758
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60