New pool startup for Wet Edge finish

[dawei213]

Hey all, long time lurker and occasional poster here. First some quick info on the work.

I just had my pool completely renovated due to coping/tile issue. Since we had to do a full drain and the plaster also had discoloration/scaling/SOMETHING issue, I figure I might as well get the plaster redone too. This time with Wet Edge pebble finish (Prism Matrix Eclipse)

Here's a picture of my old pool:

Here's the renovated work with stone coping, new tiles and Wet Edge pebble finish (Prism Matrix Eclipse):


Ok, now to the meat of the question. What is the proper water chemistry values to follow? I've asked my PB but haven't gotten an answer yet. Is it the same as a full plaster pool (w/ bleach) as noted in the Recommended Levels page? Specifically the Calcium hardness level.


Here were my starting values as soon as the fill was completed:
pH 8.2+
TA 50
CH 100
CYA did not measure

2 days later (today) it's this:
pH 7.2
TA 80
CH 110
CYA did not measure

The CH went up slightly but not much. I'll probably be adding some calcium hardness increaser this Saturday to bring it up to 150.

I would think TA, FC, ph and CYA should stay the same. In the Wet Edge start up guide, they noted to bring it up to 150, but that shouldn't be the final resting value correct? Since there is definitely less plaster due to the pebbles in place of the plaster, would that required value be lower? Thoughts?

 

[pooldv]

Pool looks good! Please add your location (city and ST) in your profile so it shows up over there <------. SETTINGS upper right, Edit Profile lower left, add info and save bottom right.

Follow recommended levels for plaster. Do they recommend at least 150 or only 150? I would raise it to 250. I might change my answer once you add your location though.

Since you had scale issues before be sure to manage your CSI to avoid it in the future. Keep CSI between -0.3 and 0. It can add a decade to the life of your plaster. Poolmath will calculate it for you after you enter your test results. Tweak PH, TA, CH to adjust, borates and salt also affect it.

More on scale here, Pool School - Calcium Scaling

 

[twinkiesmommy2009]

Looks great!! Love the color.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dawei213]

Updated! Why would location affect what optimal value the CH should be? Water hardness for different regions of the country?

Also I never heard of CSI until now. Based on my current readings:
TA 100
CH 130
ph 7.2
CYA 0
25k gallon
My CSI is -0.48.
My ideal numbers would be
TA 90
CH 250
ph 7.2
CYA 30
My CSI would then be -0.32.
Does that mean I should increase either my TA or CH higher to get a CSI between -0.3 and 0? Is the goal to get as close to 0 as possible?

As for the first picture, I don't know what cause the issue. It was like that when we purchased the home 3 years ago. It may be due to scaling as you have suggested.

I see that you have pebble tec. How long did you brush the plaster for? I'm planning to do it for 3 weeks straight but then I'll be going away for vacation for a week. Would 3 weeks be sufficient?

Thanks for your response!

 

[bdavis466]

Location has a lot to do with rainfall and evaporation rates. Areas with low rainfall and high evaporation shouldn't add calcium but rather maintain a slightly higher TA to keep the CSI from being so far negative until the CH naturally rises

 

[pooldv]

For climate/location and CH. Depends on rainfall, open all the time or close for winter, generally hard water in region, low humidity, high evaporation, droughts. Lots of factors.

Pebbletec is acid washed the day after it is installed and does not require brushing. My PB told me not to brush it.

Why do you have PH at 7.2? It will likely be hard to keep it there, your tap was 8.2 right? I would go at least 7.6 or even 7.8 if it ends up being there every time you test.

Increase CH before increasing TA, you may even want TA lower to slow PH rise, like 60 or 70.

The goal will be to set CSI at either -0.3 when you test or 0. The answer depends if your CSI tends to go up or down between testing and adjusting.

 

[bdavis466]

New sheriff in town eh???

Congrats!

 

[dawei213]

For climate/location and CH. Depends on rainfall, open all the time or close for winter, generally hard water in region, low humidity, high evaporation, droughts. Lots of factors.

Pebbletec is acid washed the day after it is installed and does not require brushing. My PB told me not to brush it.

Why do you have PH at 7.2? It will likely be hard to keep it there, your tap was 8.2 right? I would go at least 7.6 or even 7.8 if it ends up being there every time you test.

Increase CH before increasing TA, you may even want TA lower to slow PH rise, like 60 or 70.

The goal will be to set CSI at either -0.3 when you test or 0. The answer depends if your CSI tends to go up or down between testing and adjusting.

Ok, that makes sense about climate and location.

As for the brushing, everything I've read says you still need to brush the pool. All the start up documentations from Pebbletec and Wet Edge specifically states you need to brush your pool. The Wet Edge guy said I should do it for 3 weeks at a minimum. Although I wonder if they say that to cover their butt so to minimize any plaster issues that may crop up. The first day when I brushed it, the water did cloud up just a bit, but now, i don't think I see any plaster dust. Either that or I don't know what I'm looking for. The water is crystal clear as I can see the bottom after brushing the entire pool.

I lowered my ph to 7.2-7.4 since that's what the start up documentation states it to have it. It was 8.2 from the tap but I have been able to bring it down and keep it there using muriatic acid. So far it's been pretty steady the past 2 days.

And as for increasing CH before increasing TA, again, the documentation states to do the opposite, raise TA first to 80, then raise CH over the course of the month from 150 on day 3 to 250 over the next 25 days.

So far, everything you stated has been near opposite of what the pool start up guides tells me to do. Just curious if this is because the advice you're given is generally not industry standard but works just as well or maybe even better? Just like using the BBB method instead of throwing in those chlorine pucks into the skimmer.

 

[pooldv]

There is certainly nothing wrong at all with following the instructions from the person providing the warranty for your expensive product. We support that idea 100%. I have no issues with what you are saying you/Wetedge want to do. There are different ways to start up plaster. This is more on the acidic side with PH at 7.2 and with slower CH build up and it is completely fine.

Raising and keeping TA at 80 and maintaining PH at 7.2 to 7.4 will take some effort and quite a bit of muriatic acid. Every time you lower PH to 7.2 you also lower TA, then the PH will rise and the TA won't so you will have to add baking soda to raise TA which will make the PH rise more. So, you add more acid to lower PH, TA goes down, PH back up but not TA, repeat.

But, none of that is outside of TFP guidelines or recommended levels.

As for brushing and plaster dust, when there is plaster dust you can definitely see it. Certainly will not hurt anything except your arms to brush daily.