Crystals Over Everything

[Rjcox9889]

I have crystals over everything under water in my pool. Sparkles like diamonds in the sunlight. I read your sight on this and it said add calcium cloride. We went to Leslie's and guy said clorine. Here are the numbers they gave us:
FAC. 0
TAC. 0
CH. 340
CYA. 80
TOTAL ALKALINITY. 180
PH. 8.0
ACID DEMAND. 2
COPPER. 0
IRON. 0
TOTAL DISSOLVED SOLIDS. 2500
PHOSPHATES. 100

I FOUGHT YELLOW ALGAE ALL SUMMER WITH YELLOW OUT AND POOL SHOCK. NOW I FINF crystals.

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum! :handshake:

You do need chlorine. You also need to lower your pH using muriatic acid. Over time that will lower your TA down to 70 ppm or so.

We do not provide specific guidance based on pool store tests. Do you have your own test kit?
Please do not use Yellow Out anymore. It is either ammonia based (eats massive amounts of chlorine) or is sodium bromide based, which turns your pool into a bromine pool.

Please add a signature. Read Pool School - Read This BEFORE You Post
Information in your signature will show up each time you post and it makes advice more accurate as we know what equipment we are dealing with.

I suggest you read Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry and consider reviewing the entire Trouble Free Pool School book.

 

[duraleigh]

Welcome to the forum

+1 what mknauss said.

Do you remember where someone on this forum said to add calcium chloride?

 

[JamesW]

Do you have pictures of the crystals?

Get a sample of the crystals by scraping and put a drop of acid on the sample to see what reaction you get.

What is the history of the chemistry?

What are your readings for the last two months?

What did you add? How much and when?

What test kit do you have?

 

[Richjcox9889]

Hi Dave! I remember seeing the YouTube about adding calcium chloride. the theory being calcium is leaching out of plaster need to add calcium to stop leaching. we went to Leslies and they didn,t know what I was talking about. so I need an expert to tell me what to do first!

 

[Richjcox9889]

I have worked hard cleaning scale on waterline this spring. Summer got hot and I fought yellow algae for the rest of the summer . finally got rid of yellow algae. I noticed pool sweep didn't move and went to check and found these crystals everywhere under the water. so we turned off pump and trying to find out what to do. I have not kept records of added chemicals, but we used alot of shock and chlorine tablets.

 

[Richjcox9889]

janice and I have owned this pool for 10 years and do all the maintenance. we have had no problems until this year. We have never changed the water but we have such evaporation here inLas Vegas we put lots of fresh water in. I know chlorine is zero, but in this case is that the first thing to do?

 

[mknauss]

If you have never drained and refilled this pool the probability that the CH test result you got from the pool store being correct is very near zero. If you are getting your water from the LVVWD your CH of your fill water is ~250 ppm. During evaporation, the calcium stays behind, and you add more with the water you add. My pool triples in CH every 16 months or so. If your water comes from LVVWD, we both use the same water.

You need a proper test kit.

Order a TF100 test kit
The only other real option for a test kit is a Taylor K-2006-C. Be careful comparing prices because the K-2006 comes in sizes, designated by a letter. The basic K-2006 has .75oz bottles. You need to get the K-2006-C to get the larger bottles that you want.
I also have the SpeedStir. It makes testing much easier.

 

[JamesW]

I remember seeing the YouTube about adding calcium chloride. the theory being calcium is leaching out of plaster need to add calcium to stop leaching. we went to Leslies and they didn,t know what I was talking about. so I need an expert to tell me what to do first!

The problem is not too little calcium, it's too much calcium for the conditions.

Use PoolMath to calculate the CSI and keep the CSI about -0.3 until the crystals are gone.

Brush the pool several times a day.

Keep the pH at 7.2 until the TA gets down to about 60 to 80.

Maintain the chlorine at about 7.5% of the cyanuric acid level.

SLAM if necessary.

You really need a good test kit to manage your pool properly.

TF-100 Test Kit