New pool owner in trouble

[Beamup]

Many thanks for the thoughts!

If I am seeing the pictures correctly, you have a pool with copper sulfite staining and scale. The green coloration looks to me like someone used a copper algaecide or the pH got too low and etched copper in your system. The brownish areas are scale build up from hard water. The pool looks like it has had years of neglect prior to you getting it. I would work on getting your CYA levels down so that you can minimize your chlorine level and do the best with what you have for now.

The green is not consistent - only right after brushing. So it doesn't seem like metals. Scale does sound plausible for the brown areas, since you are correct that it was neglected for years.

The pool looks pretty rough, and I think you are on the right track with looking forward to some remodel (replaster, tile, etc.) work. Draining, tiling and replaster around here would run around $7-8K, assuming some sizing on your pool. Unless you have a large amount of decking, the price sounds high to me. Check around before you commit!

Yes, it is very rough. The reason for the higher price (we got something in the same range from 2 different companies) is that, when the pool was originally put in, they had to build up the area with dirt first since the property is on a hill. Said dirt was apparently not properly compacted, so over the years it's settled and at the deep end, the deck is almost an inch below the coping (so no mastic joint, which has probably contributed to the cracking and tile loss since water would get in). Which means that part of the deck has to be broken up, more dirt brought in to re-grade the area, and the deck replaced.

 

[OldSchoo]

That looks familiar to me. Check out the ascorbic acid treatment described in the metal staining section of pool scool. I did it an it worked very well. The trick is to keep the pH low (7.0-7.2). I find that when my cholorine levels get high- those stains can start to reappear- which tells me that my pH has crept up to 7.4. Time to add some muriatic acid.

 

[Beamup]

So long as it's just staining we're not going to worry about it - we don't care if it's a bit unsightly, given that we do need to get it replastered in the next few years anyway.

And the FC is almost down enough to do a reliable pH test again!