Stains

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rmcconkey

rmcconkey

0
Mar 16, 2016
28
Akron/NY
We opened our pool at the end of April to be surprised with some yellow/brown stains in the deep end. The pool is a marcite finish and is new as of last year. We had the pool professionally closed in October of last year by the company that constructed our pool. They subcontract the pool finish by an independent company that is local. I am at my wits end trying to get some resolution out of either company. After several months they sent out couple young guys to sand the bottom with a hydrostatic sander which in turn has now made it worse. I now have white stripes running through a yellowish stain. Before it was at least consistent in color now it's blotchy and a mess. Any thoughts.



I test on a daily basis with my Taylor 2006 and my wife now calls me Walter from Breaking Bad:D
 
Okay "Walter" :), can you confirm where you get your water from (well, city, etc) and if you have added any pool store products like algaecides in the past? In addition, you can try the following:
- If it's dark in color and/or rough, it may be scale from excess calcium - possibly with something embedded in it. Excess calcium requires scrubbing and/or possible acid treatment to reduce the excess scale (reference the CSI index)
- Try vitamin C on it. Regular tablets crushed in a sock will do. If it lifts the stain it was probably iron (i.e. from well water). If it made the stain darker, it could be copper (i.e. from algaecides) in which case try some dry acid on the same area.
- Finally, try a tri-chlor puck on the area to see if it's organic. If that works, then an increased FC level may help reduce the overall appearance of the stain.

There are also over-the-counter methods to ID a stain (i.e. Jack’s Magic Stain ID Kit – about $15) that can be used to help identify the cause of a stain. Hope one of these helps get you closer to an answer. Let us know if you need anymore help.
 
No algaecides, I feel like it is scale from the increase in Ph. The pool being so new when it was closed had a very high demand for acid. I called the pool builder and told them about the high Ph and they told me to not worry about it because of cold temperatures would effect it. When they closed it they dropped 4 gallons of chlorine in with no circulation and called it a day. We opened early because I knew I needed to get a handle on the Ph and that it was going to be high. They also told me that the need for acid would taper off after a year. I'm still waiting for that to happen. I test daily and add anywhere from 2-4 cups per day to keep it in check.
 
If it is indeed scale, then your best bet right now with a new pool might be to try and maintain your CSI slightly on the "negative" end of the scale. By doing so, you hope that any accumulated scale would eventually wither away off of the walls with a negative CSI and routine brushing. Next time you post, let us see all your numbers to include your TA. If your TA is elevated, that may be part of the reason your pH is rising so fast. We can help with that as well.
 
That's not bad at all really. You can still lower TA more, as much as down to 60 if you would like. It may help keep the pH from rising quite as fast. Your CSI is in a good place at -0.17. I based that off of an estimated 3,000 salt level.
 
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