We have lived 4 years in Phoenix area and own an Inground spa. I just drained it today and notice a whitish cast to the pebble tec coating. Since the spa is empty, what can I use to remove this calcium(?) buildup before refilling the spa? Also, I scraped the waterline calcium buildup away, but still have a whitish shadow where it was. Tried pumice stone to no avail. This is our first time owning a pool or spa! Thanks for any help/suggestions!
Calcium buildup in brown pebble tec Inground spa
- Thread starter Trickydick69
- Start date
Hi! Welcome to TFP! I have a link for you. It is an older thread but has the answers you are looking for. Some of the pics do not work but the words are there.
calcium buildup removal - is what i did ok long term?
You can do a search in the white box at the top of this page for other threads that deal with this.
Once you get the calcium build up gone you will need to keep your water balanced to keep it clear. The best way to do that is to have your own test kit. Look in my siggy below for the one I think is the best bang for the buck.
Kim
calcium buildup removal - is what i did ok long term?
You can do a search in the white box at the top of this page for other threads that deal with this.
Once you get the calcium build up gone you will need to keep your water balanced to keep it clear. The best way to do that is to have your own test kit. Look in my siggy below for the one I think is the best bang for the buck.
Kim
What you have is calcium scale on the pool surface. The best thing to do is manage your CSI between -0.3 and 0. For now, refill it and lower your CSI to -0.8 or so and brush. Since the scale was just deposited it will likely lift easily. More here, Pool School - Calcium Scaling
Thanks to both Kimkats & Pooldv for their input! I have drained, acid-washed, and refilled the pool with Phoenix city water. I bought, tested, and used a flow meter to measure the gallons used to refill the spool and fill the pump, filter, heater heat exchanger, and all plumbing in the system. I filled the spool to 2.5" at the skimmer pass-through. Total gallons used: 1,350. I am currently balancing the chemicals while reading up on the Poolmath calculator and other articles on this website. I tested the city water to see what chemistry I would be facing in the pool: FC-0, Ph-8, TA-150, CH-250. Don't know if these really helped me to determine what I am working with. Thanks again!
Those readings show you that your PH and TA are high. That tells you to have some muratic acid on hand to do this:
Pool School - Lower Total Alkalinity
I know you said you have read many articles but want to make sure you did not miss one. I have a set of links I put together for new pool owners. I am just going to send the whole list to you:
Print these out:
Pool School - Basic Pool Care Schedule
Pool School - Recommended Levels
Bookmark these:
Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals
http://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html
Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
Make sure to ask any and all questions you might have no matter how small! We have all been where you are at one point.
Kim
Pool School - Lower Total Alkalinity
I know you said you have read many articles but want to make sure you did not miss one. I have a set of links I put together for new pool owners. I am just going to send the whole list to you:
Print these out:
Pool School - Basic Pool Care Schedule
Pool School - Recommended Levels
Bookmark these:
Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals
http://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html
Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
Make sure to ask any and all questions you might have no matter how small! We have all been where you are at one point.
Kim
Kimkats, thanks so much for providing the articles! At this time, my TA is 80 and my Ph is 7.5. My CH is holding at 250. However, my CYA test indicates it is below 30 and therefore I don't know how much Cyanuric Acid to add to get it to the 30-50ppm range. So, I need to resolve this issue!
Must have been operator error! Retested CYA twice and test results were 40 and 60. Hard to tell when the black dot at the bottom of the comparator becomes invisible. Will avg the two for a 50. Now to try the Poolmath to see where I am at!
Plugged my values into the Poolmath Calculator and it showed CSI as -0.09. Is this okay for my pebble-tec spool?
You are really getting it dialed in!!! SWEET! How is the water looking?
Kim
- - - Updated - - -
Oh and on the CYA test...................GLANCE in at the dot..............do NOT look for it! Fill test water to first line (100), GLANCE in, if you see dot pour to next line, GLANCE in, keep going until you do not see the dot at a GLANCE! This is the only way I saved my sanity with this test.
Kim
Kim
- - - Updated - - -
Oh and on the CYA test...................GLANCE in at the dot..............do NOT look for it! Fill test water to first line (100), GLANCE in, if you see dot pour to next line, GLANCE in, keep going until you do not see the dot at a GLANCE! This is the only way I saved my sanity with this test.
Kim
Pooldv & Kimkats, thanks so much for your feedback and encouragement! I feel very good at this point and hope with your continued support that I will be able to enjoy our spool without trepidation!!! Kimkats, your suggestion regarding the CYA test will be used from this point on!!! And... The water is looking very good and we notice an almost sparkle to the water which we never saw before!!!
Have a Great remainder of the week!
Have a Great remainder of the week!
this makes my heart smile!!! Update on CYA At-a-glance test- 60. This process is so much easier than trying to add drops while looking at the black dot!!! More info on chemicals I am using: currently using 3" trichlor tabs in a large pool, floating dispenser. Not sure if this is what I should be using, but seemed easy to set up at the time. However, are these tabs introducing CYA which is keeping the level a little higher than it should be. Any recommendations from the TFP world??? Also, I've always had difficulty keeping the FC level consistent. Any recommendations here would be much appreciated.
All other tests are holding.
That's about it for now.
All other tests are holding.
That's about it for now.
Take the pucks out of the tube please. Your CYA is about as high as you want it now. For right now you are going to add FC using liquid chlorine or bleach. *GASP* BLEACH?? Yes bleach, plain, unscented, not splashless or outdoor bleach. Just plain bleach if your easy to get to pool store does not have liquid chlorine.
Now this will give you time to do some reading and searching. I am going to share a link for you to read over and think about:
Pool School - Salt Water Chlorine Generators
This is an older thread but it will give you a good starting point:
Choosing Stenner pump
Do some searching and reading. Ask LOTS of questions here so we can help you pick out what will work best for you. I am guessing the SWG but we shall see.
Me? I haul jugs of chlorine for my pool. No big deal as the store on the way home sells liquid chlorine so is easy to get when needed.
Kim
Now this will give you time to do some reading and searching. I am going to share a link for you to read over and think about:
Pool School - Salt Water Chlorine Generators
This is an older thread but it will give you a good starting point:
Choosing Stenner pump
Do some searching and reading. Ask LOTS of questions here so we can help you pick out what will work best for you. I am guessing the SWG but we shall see.
Me? I haul jugs of chlorine for my pool. No big deal as the store on the way home sells liquid chlorine so is easy to get when needed.
Kim
Thanks for the info! I had, in the back of my mind, investigating a salt-chlorine-generator (or something of the sort) to automatically dose the spa with chlorine when the recirc pump is running. So... The SWG is very interesting to me. I have taken some pics of my plumbing system showing all the connections between the pump, filter, heater, water-feature valves, and return. I will send another post including the pics so the forum can analyze and tell me what I can do to install a SWG into my plumbing.
I have been reading articles online for a couple of days and wish to move forward with the idea of installing the SWG. So I will formulate my questions in a later post. Thanks again for all your help and support!
I have been reading articles online for a couple of days and wish to move forward with the idea of installing the SWG. So I will formulate my questions in a later post. Thanks again for all your help and support!
Here are pictures of my plumbing/sys eqpt: http://s1064.photobucket.com/user/Trickydick6969/library/
I sure hope they can be viewed! I've not worked with photobucket before and had to go through a learning curve! My objective is to get input as to where I would insert the SWG unit.
Thanks much for any and all input I can get on this project!!
I sure hope they can be viewed! I've not worked with photobucket before and had to go through a learning curve! My objective is to get input as to where I would insert the SWG unit.
Thanks much for any and all input I can get on this project!!
The SWG cell needs to be the last thing before the water goes back to the pool. So, it needs to be plumbed after the heater. I would put it in the strain piece that runs over to the manifold. Rotate the union out of the heater so it turns forward instead of down and elevate that whole section of pipe off the ground to the SWG and then on to the return manifold.
Sorry for the delay in my reply, Pooldv. Too many things going on at my house. I have been noticing that my Ph keeps drifting up. I adjust to 7.5 and in a couple of days it is back up to the 7.8-8.0 range. I adjust down and it creeps back up. Cl level ranges 5-10, TA steady at .80, CYA 50-60, CH steady at 350. Today's test: Cl=5, Ph=8.0, TA=80. Any help is much appreciated here!
Dropping TA to 60ish will help slow down the rate OH rises. Also, running waterfalls, water features, etc pushes pH up quite a bit. Running them less often and less duration will slow ph rise as well.
Forgot to mention that we have not been running any of the water features, and bather load is very low. Today I added acid to bring TA down to 60 and ran jets for two hours. Ph is now 7.6. Will monitor daily to see what the outcome is.
On another topic (saltwater conversion), I contacted Hayward to discuss impact of conversion on pump and filter eqpt. Hayward Tech Support recommend to not convert to saltwater as I will be constantly chasing chlorine level. He suggested I stop using chlorine tabs and start using liquid chlorine (Kimkats recommended this) and adding the correct amount daily to stop the chlorine swings. Here is where I need the Knowledge of this forum to help me decide what to do. Hayward says no manufacturer makes a cell small enough for me to use on my spa since it is only 1,350 gal. So, please help me here.
On another topic (saltwater conversion), I contacted Hayward to discuss impact of conversion on pump and filter eqpt. Hayward Tech Support recommend to not convert to saltwater as I will be constantly chasing chlorine level. He suggested I stop using chlorine tabs and start using liquid chlorine (Kimkats recommended this) and adding the correct amount daily to stop the chlorine swings. Here is where I need the Knowledge of this forum to help me decide what to do. Hayward says no manufacturer makes a cell small enough for me to use on my spa since it is only 1,350 gal. So, please help me here.