New pool owner needing some advice!

[fortheloveofchem]

Hi all,

My 28k litre charcoal plaster pool is about 3 weeks old and I have a set of test results from the pool shop (I'm still waiting for my k2006 in the mail, as things are very, very slow getting to South Africa). I decided I couldn't wait any longer to post because I've noticed that my walls are suddenly just a little slimy. Now, I'm not sure if this is algae or? It's kind of light, whitey, film of stuff that doesn't come off too easily on some parts of the walls (it gets a little better after brushing - I've been brushing morning and evening for the last 3 weeks). It feels slimy to the touch, but only slightly. My water is clear. Could it be my chlorine and stabilizer amounts that are too low and algae is starting? The pool shop reckoned it was fine. The pool builders told me to leave a floater (HTH PACE) in the pool and nothing else for the first month, so I'm hard-pressed to go against that advice at this stage.

My readings are as follows:

Temp:18C
Stabilizer: 20
FC: 1.3
Total: 1.3
PH 7.8
TA: 107
CH: 215
Sat Index: 1.2

The test also mentions that there are no heavy metals or algae in the water but I'm not sure about the algae bit! I'm worried that it could be algae and I can't shock the new plaster.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Bama Rambler]

If you have a floater in there I'd open it up a little so as to raise the FC just a little bit to between 2 & 3 ppm. I would pretty much follow the builders recommendation for the first few months.

Once you get a better test kit you'll know what's going on.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

That's probably a combination of things happening. There is an article in Pool School you should read about starting up new plaster. You need to brush daily - that's the plaster curing and what you feel is probably plaster dust/particles etc. I'm worried about the slimy feeling - your FC is a bit low. It should be above 2 at a minimum every day. The tablets may not be emitting enough FC. How many tablets in the floater?

Can I suggest you practice using the Pool Calculator? Change the measurements so you get litres instead of gallons and then set your specifications and those test results. It will tell you how much liquid chlorine to add to bump your FC up to 2 and then to 3 before tomorrow. An hour after adding the liquid (hope you have access to it there (aka Clorox Bleach if they have in South Africa) you want to lower your PH to 7.2 (again, use the Pool Calculator to figure out how much Muratic Acid/Hydrochloric Acid to add to lower the PH.) The PH will steadly rise as plaster cures, and sometimes continues to rise for up to one year.

Hope I answered your concerns but if you have more or any other questions on what I posted, please ask away! And welcome to TFP, enjoy your new pool!

 

[fortheloveofchem]

Thanks for the advice! I'll get my FC up a little, and lower my PH a little more (I normally only lower it to about 7.6 and it heads back up to 7.8). The floater I have has a small, medium and large setting. Small being 30k litres, medium being 50k litres. Mine is set to 50k (as instructed by the pool builder, even though its only a 28k litre pool). It's nowhere near finished, so it's strange that its not putting out the necessary FC. I can hear at least two tablets in the floater still, it doesn't say how many are in there. Probably can't trust the floater much though! I'll try to get hold of that bleach, our range is a bit limited here :-/

I read the start up procedures and everything I could about new plaster just before the pool was put in, so I think I've been doing everything by the book thus far. I test the PH daily and put a cup of acid in every so now and then as the PH does tend to drift towards the alkaline (the curing plaster). I've been brushing daily (morning and evening) for the benefit of the plaster and I don't see much plaster dust when I brush now. I've resisted the temptation to throw anything else in for now because the builder said to have only the floater, but I'm not sure it's doing a good job. For now, I have to make trips to the pool store until I get my kit, but they seem alright - haven't tried to "pool store" me at all.

Hopefully the extra bit of chlorine/bleach sorts it all out before it becomes and issue

Thanks for the help!

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

It should. As long as your add the FC 1ppm at a time to bump it up slowly it shouldn't cause any problems. The floater was a "prefilled" variety? Can you add more tablets? If so, I would go ahead and fill the floater with as many tabs as you can get in there - and open it to the fullest setting. Yes, by lowering the PH down to 7.2 you should have to add acid as often.

 

[fortheloveofchem]

Unfortunately, the floater cannot be re-filled or altered in any way. If anything, I'd have to buy a new one or open it up to the highest setting like you say. I have, however, lowered my PH to 7.2 with acid and bumped my FC up to around 3 with a chlorine variety (I'll be hunting for that Clorox bleach on the weekend). I also bumped my CYA up to around 50. We are going into winter here and I should get less sun on the water, but there's still a bit that hits the water this time of year.

I'll keep you posted on what happens over the next few days! It's all so nerve-wrecking with new plaster

 

[fortheloveofchem]

This sounds exactly like a problem I'm now having:

white-flakes-t8588.html?hilit=shiny%20spots%20new%20plaster

My calcium is only at 300 (recommended is 300 - 375 for a new plaster pool?) with a binding agent to keep the calcium in the water (BioGuard Scale inhibitor). I have white flakes that settle on the surface and won't come off (there's only two or three spots at this stage). I also have one or two small shiny looking spots on the plaster surface. They seem reflective almost like a mirror. In the above post, JasonLion suggests keeping the PH <= 7.8 which I have been doing thus far.

I also have rough patches forming on the steps where the outlet jet is.

How do I stop this from happening?

 

[JasonLion]

Please post a full set of water test results. It sounds like you have calcium scaling in the SWG cell that is flaking off of the cell plates and coming out of the returns, which happens based on a combination of any of several different levels being out of range.

 

[fortheloveofchem]

Oh! I must add, I'm using chlorine (all manual at the moment), no chlorinator at all at this stage.

My readings are as follows (posted earlier in this thread, the problem existed when the readings were as below as well):

Stabilizer: 20
FC: 1.3
Total: 1.3
PH 7.8
TA: 107
CH: 215


Test readings today (I raised stabilizer and FC because I was worried about a slight slick on the walls that might be algae):

Stabilizer: 70
FC: 3.1
TC: 3.1
PH: 7.4
TA: 70
CH: 300 - raised ch and added bioguard anti scale agent.

The issue persists through both sets of readings.

 

[fortheloveofchem]

Some good news - after great effort and cost my Taylor k-2006 is arriving within the next week!