I've got calcium nodules and general calcium "roughness" (scaling) on my plaster -- it's getting worse each year. In doing my numbers, I think I've realized my problems but would love group confirmation.
Location: southern california.
FC: 5
CC: .5
pH: 6.8 // This is normally ~7.6. I've been keeping it lower last 4 weeks hoping to eliminate some of the rough calcium
TA: 90
CH: 925 (!!!, whoops)
CYA: 35 (need to bump this)
Salt: 2,800ppm (need to bump this too)
Water temp: 80F. This varies a lot. I'll heat it up to 100F for some winter weekends. Then let it drop back to 65F for most of the month.
12,000 gallon SWG pool that is plaster (or maybe plaster/aggregate??)
Nodules are 1-2" calcium, I've sraped some off and dropped muriatic on it -- it fizzed up so confirmed on that. The plaster overall is also starting to feel rough/sandpaper like. So both nodules AND scale. It's a bummer.
I don't check hardness very often, and I was very surprised to see the 925 hardness number. My tap water is CH 240, my water softener has a CH of 0. I have not drained the pool since I bought the house 7 years ago. It's weird because I top off the pool with softened water starting a few years ago, but still have totally lost the CH battle.
THE PLAN???: I think I should drain the pool almost entirely, and refill with my tap water. I'm concerned that draining the pool will make the nodules worse because as plaster drys it can make micro cracks worse. I will try and scrape off and/or muriatic acid some of the bigger nodules as I'm draining the pool. I certainly can't just leave the pool at CH 925 right??
Does that sound about right? Anything else I should be doing here (besides testing my water more regularly)? I also don't brush my pool often enough. Probably only 3-4X per year. I guess I'm starting to pay the price for ignoring standard stuff.
Also, everybody else already knows this, but a reminder: test chemicals go bad. Part of my problem was using 5 year old testing chemicals and thinking that was "OK". In particular I think R-0011L went bad on me. I re-upped my chems from the TFP test kits store and numbers above should be accurate.
Thanks TFP peoples. This forum has been a lifesaver.
Location: southern california.
FC: 5
CC: .5
pH: 6.8 // This is normally ~7.6. I've been keeping it lower last 4 weeks hoping to eliminate some of the rough calcium
TA: 90
CH: 925 (!!!, whoops)
CYA: 35 (need to bump this)
Salt: 2,800ppm (need to bump this too)
Water temp: 80F. This varies a lot. I'll heat it up to 100F for some winter weekends. Then let it drop back to 65F for most of the month.
12,000 gallon SWG pool that is plaster (or maybe plaster/aggregate??)
Nodules are 1-2" calcium, I've sraped some off and dropped muriatic on it -- it fizzed up so confirmed on that. The plaster overall is also starting to feel rough/sandpaper like. So both nodules AND scale. It's a bummer.
I don't check hardness very often, and I was very surprised to see the 925 hardness number. My tap water is CH 240, my water softener has a CH of 0. I have not drained the pool since I bought the house 7 years ago. It's weird because I top off the pool with softened water starting a few years ago, but still have totally lost the CH battle.
THE PLAN???: I think I should drain the pool almost entirely, and refill with my tap water. I'm concerned that draining the pool will make the nodules worse because as plaster drys it can make micro cracks worse. I will try and scrape off and/or muriatic acid some of the bigger nodules as I'm draining the pool. I certainly can't just leave the pool at CH 925 right??
Does that sound about right? Anything else I should be doing here (besides testing my water more regularly)? I also don't brush my pool often enough. Probably only 3-4X per year. I guess I'm starting to pay the price for ignoring standard stuff.
Also, everybody else already knows this, but a reminder: test chemicals go bad. Part of my problem was using 5 year old testing chemicals and thinking that was "OK". In particular I think R-0011L went bad on me. I re-upped my chems from the TFP test kits store and numbers above should be accurate.
Thanks TFP peoples. This forum has been a lifesaver.
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