Diamond Brite White Blotches?

[pkeiles]

Hi there, I'm a newbie to this site but it seems like there is a lot of knowledge here which I'm hoping will help me. (Too bad I didn't know about this site before).

Anyways, recently we had our pool totally remodeled to the point that it is now a brand new pool. We chose French Grey Diamond Brite for the plaster and it was applied the middle of March (of course the one weekend we were out of town). We followed the directions of our pool contractor exactly. I believe we waited about a week with the pump off, brushing the pool twice a day with a nylon brush, then another 2 weeks with the pump running, brushing twice a day. After the 3 weeks were up he added the salt. He told us to brush occasionally but 2 times a day was no longer needed. The problem is that we seem to still have these white blotches that he said would go away over time. He claims it could take months, or even up to a year. Recently I tried adding a few extra gallons of Muratic acid, left the pump off, and brushed 2 times daily for 4 days. The plaster guy told me this should make the blotches go away. But it didn't, and I'm wondering what is "normal" and if these guys are just feeding me a line to try and get me out of their hair.

After reading more about this on the web, I'm wondering what my options are to resolve this issue and hopefully get rid of the blotches. Do I have to get the pool completely emptied or would another (or longer) acid bath work? What does normal "mottling" look like, maybe this is as good as it gets? Help please!

PS> I'm trying to attach a picture so you can see the blotches but the file upload doesn't want to work right now.

 

[JasonLion]

Welcome to TFP!

White blotches like that usually form when the chemistry is not properly maintained during the first few weeks. What are your current water test results?

 

[ROB N]

It could also be the result of a poorly done acid wash on the plaster prior to the fill.

 

[pkeiles]

Thanks for your quick input Jason and Rob!

I can't be sure what the chemistry was like the first few weeks because I didn't know enough to check it regularly then, and I believed that the PB was actually handling it at this point. He basically told me not to worry and just brush it twice a day. And of course they did the whole thing the one weekend we were out of town so I have no idea how the acid wash was done. Since then I have maintained a good acid level, between 7.2 to 7.6, and a high chlorine. At this point I'm assuming it may be a poorly done acid wash, but what are my options now? Is emptying the pool and re-doing it the only choice? Does this cost a lot since my PB and the plaster guy won't even call me back I'm guessing I'll have to pay for it on my own. Any suggestions is much appreciated. Thanks!

Note: Current readings:
Free Chlorine 2.5 (approx)
Combined Chlorine same
BR 4.4+
pH 7.6
TA 70ppm

 

[pkeiles]

One other point to mention. The floor of the elevated spa looked the worst after the job was finished (and still does). The PB told me to just add the acid I needed to maintain the level in the spa at night and scrub it in the morning before the pump kicked on. I did this a few times and it looks slightly better but still not great. I seem to be adding around a gallon of acid a week. So instead of adding the half gallon in the middle of the week, I waited until the end to add a whole gallon and do this brushing ritual. At one point the PB said "looks like it may need to be drained and acid washed again". But since I can not reach him or his partner by phone I'm still trying to figure out who to call to do such a job. And of course now that it is summer I'm wondering if it can wait until fall to minimize our downtime.

 

[pkeiles]

Alas one other thought. After the third week the PB added the salt (which I paid him to do as a seperate task) and he put in way too much. It was reading around 4900ppm! He said don't worry about it, it is fine for now and would eventually go down. But the chlorine level was very low, as in barely any reading at all, since the chlorinator just automatically won't run when it reads above around 3800. This continued for a couple of weeks until I finally realized I had to do something about it myself and began draining and refilling the pool to get the salt down to 3600 - 3800 ppm. I'm not sure if this matters, but this very high salt level occurred 3 weeks after the fill.

 

[JasonLion]

The salt wouldn't have had any effect on the white splotches.

There is no rush on getting this fixed right away. Fixing up the appearance will still be very much the same process a couple of months from now as it is right now.

Do you know your CH and CYA levels?

 

[pkeiles]

CH = 380
CYA = 30

The only thing that seems to be out of range right now is the TA at about 60 and the salt around 3600. Hopefully the water splash-out today will resolve the salt issue. Guess I'll wait to do the acid wash until summer end. Last question, an additional acid wash on relatively new plaster won't affect the plaster life will it? Thanks for your adivce!

 

[JasonLion]

Acid washing always reduces the plaster lifetime a little. If done well the effect on lifetime is minimal.

Your CH level is a little tiny bit high, nothing to worry about. I was concerned that it was going to be much higher.

 

[pkeiles]

Thanks. I guess I'll wait until the end of the summer and see how it looks then. Do you know anything about using an acid wand? I was thinking of just trying to spot reduce the white blotches using one to help focus the acid when it needs to be added to the water. Is that a totally unrealistic thought?