White Flakes ??

[blakefoster]

New to the forum have been reading here for about a year. our pool is now 16 months old. we really enjoy it and it has been relatively low maintenance.

Couple things the pool has an auto fill although I don't hear it come on often the water out of the supply ph is about 7.8 - 8.1 range. I normally have to add .5 gallon of Muratic every week to bring the ph from 8 to 7.2. all the other levels read with in spec, the TA is usually on the high side.
a month ago I cleaned the 4 filters and we live in the desert so there was a lot of rde dirt in the filters ( I will be cleaning them more often in the future) I figured that could have had some bearing on the high PH. Now since cleaning the filters I am getting a lot of white flakes in the water??? they are not salty, there is calcium?? build up on the grout as well. as best as I have been able to figure it is the TA is too high.
only info I can find about lowering the TA is to add MORE Muratic when the pool is not circulating and let it sit??
the water is clear as can be. CL is correct. because it has a generator for the bromine I am not adding CL. salt level is good.

Just want to find out how to eliminate the flakes. that seems to be the only issue I am having other than ph creep
I will do another full test tonight so I have current levels.

 

[pooldv]

That is not how to lower TA. Chemicals should only be added when the pump is running.

More on adding chemicals here, Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals

More on lowering TA here, Pool School - Lower Total Alkalinity

Have you entered your info in Poolmath and checked you CSI score? More here, Pool School - Calcium Scaling

And welcome to TFP!

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome to TFP!!!

The flakes are from your SWG where calcium scaling is building up in the cell and flaking off when the polarity reverses. Likely your CH is high and you are letting the pH get too high.

Post test results.

 

[MarianParoo]

Hey. Welcome. What do you mean when you say you have a bromine generator? Please be more specific if you can.

 

[blakefoster]

Pulled the SWG very minimal buildup only the tips of 3 plates had any build up good considering it was a year ago that it was cleaned.
here are today's test results
free chlorine .5 yes it is low SWG set to 20%
PH 7.8
total alk 100 ppm
calcium hardness 560. When I tested last month it was 550 so no change
cya 40
total saturation .65 last month .35
so the question seems to be how to lower the CH
Looking at another thread there didn't seem to be an answer other than drain and add new water
the CH of the supply water is 300

 

[jblizzle]

Replacing water is really the cheapest option to lower the CH. Reverse Osmosis is another option, but not widely available and it costs more.

Plugging in your numbers to PoolMath with an assumed temp of 75 I get a CSI of 0.34, so not sure how you got 0.65. To avoid the flaking, you need to keep the CSI slightly negative. You should be able to accomplish that by keeping the pH lower and getting the TA to drop some.

 

[blakefoster]

Replacing water is really the cheapest option to lower the CH. Reverse Osmosis is another option, but not widely available and it costs more.

Plugging in your numbers to PoolMath with an assumed temp of 75 I get a CSI of 0.34, so not sure how you got 0.65. To avoid the flaking, you need to keep the CSI slightly negative. You should be able to accomplish that by keeping the pH lower and getting the TA to drop some.

I got .65 by using the Taylor pin wheel. perhaps I read it incorrectly?? the temp is 81 not sure if that would make a huge difference. but .34 is better than .65 for sure.
thanks for the info. I will try and lower the TA and see if I can stabilize the PH.

 

[bobby1017]

Even when I keep the csi in the negative, and my ph at 7.4, I still get white flakes. My ch is 400. I think everyone gets them unless they're ch is really low?