Preventing Staining and Scaling - Gunite Plaster

[JohnRevay]

Hi I have a 5 year old Gunite/Plaster pool. We live in the NorthEast so our pool season is Jun to Sept.

During first 1-3 years the plaster survice seemed to get stained slighlty - During year #3 the surface became very rough - where your feet would be come sore after being in the pool for a little while. On opening the pool during year 4 - the plaster was very rough to the touch - our pool company suggested draining, sanding and acid wash - which we hestitantly did.

I never got a real sense from any one what caused this. I started using some products from Jack's magic to try and control and stop this from happening again - not sure if it is working or not.

Can any one share thoughts or suggestions

 

[JasonLion]

Dark stains are often from metals in the water while roughness or lighter, white/gray/tan, stains are often from calcium scaling. Metals can be controlled with sequestrants (Jack's products are one brand), though it is better to never get any metals in the water in the first place (if possible). Calcium scaling can be prevented by keeping your chemistry balanced, especially your PH, TA, and CH levels. Once you have calcium scaling, a drain and acid wash is usually the best treatment.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Continuing along with Jason's statements, can you provide us with a complete set of test results and how you're chlorinating your pool? Once the good folks here see the numbers we can provide heplful info on how to correct them if needed.

 

[Guest]

I try and stay away from acid washes; they will degrade the plaster by approx. 3 years of life expectancy. If the latest version of plaster is what you have, you can reasonably expect 10 years of service with proper care. An acid wash will take nearly a third of that way!

As much as I hate to say it, you probably need to drain and refill (check you Calcium Hardness levels to see where you are. Around here, 200-400 ppm is what we shoot for). There are no chemicals that will address Calcium Hardness, so that is the only way (without me breaking the rules here!) to address the hard water condition.

Make sure you post up what these levels are when you update all of your levels. Chances are you are very high by your description of the problem.

 

[polyvue]

Chances are you are very high by your description of the problem.

• It does seems rather unsporting to criticize his writing.
  
  Just you go try sniffing a quart of Jack's magic before posting~! :lol:

 

[Guest]

Chances are you are very high by your description of the problem.

• It does seems rather unsporting to criticize his writing.
  
  Just you go try sniffing a quart of Jack's magic before posting~! :lol:

You know, I saw that I might not have written the best sentence structure before I posted, but I had to leave it in anyway :lol: I truly did mean that his CH levels were high, not him! Too funny.