Salt Eating Concrete?

[JGFresno]

Hello all!
I've noticed today, after 2 years of a SWG, that my concrete is starting to deteriorate. There is a flower bed by one of the waterfalls that has displayed a high concentration of salt (visible salt crystals on the surface), now the concrete is crumbling. Just wanted to see if anyone had a similar issue and what the culprit was. I have long thought there to be a leak from the waterfall but re-grout the fixture last summer.
Thanks!

 

[Patrick_B]

Welcome to TFP!
Salt damages Concrete, and unfortunately a lot of people learn that the hard way. You might do a search here for salt damage and concrete/stone sealers.

 

[Melt In The Sun]

You said it's on a flower bed, right? It's possible that has nothing to do with salt, but is cause by water from the flowers seeping through the concrete. Any chance of a picture?

 

[JGFresno]

Here are some pictures of the damage. If I use a concrete sealer will I have to seal all the way underground also?

 

[Poolsean]

Is there any reason you can think of for the pool water to only be at those areas of degradation? Unless there's pool water leaking out and running off the sidewalk at those specific areas, it does not seem to be from pool water. It may also be possible for your ground (soil) to have a high salt concentration and can have a damaging effect from the bottom up.

 

[Melt In The Sun]

To have that much salt left behind, that's a LOT of evaporated pool water. How hard is your tap water in Fresno? Is that spot regularly inundated with pool water?

 

[JGFresno]

Okay, so when I first assumed this pool the waterfall leaked through the rocks so bad that this area would flood with inches of water whenever they ran. I converted the pool to salt and sealed the cracks with grout; problem fixed, no more flooding (Summer 2012). This area has not flooded like before the fix. Although there is no more flooding, this area remains moist most of the time. Could be from the sprinklers, could be the pool either from an unfixed waterfall leak or actual pool leak.
The water here is not that hard compared to LA or other parts of California. I do have a water softener but to my knowledge the autofill is on the bypass lines.
Speaking to the volume of salt that is in the ground, I believe this to be way excessive. I had taken a water sample to the local pool store and they had stated, on two occasions, that the salt level was around 2000ppm. My original salt content, about a year ago, was almost 4500ppm. To me that is an amazing amount of salt consumption (his interpretation) or loss in my mind. To return the salt to the 4500ppm I added 200 kg of salt (425 kg was my original load in). The other concerning part was that my CYA was around 40, down from 90. My understanding is that you can only lose CYA from actual water removal, not evaporation.
I've tried the bucket test but can't really seam to tell a significant difference.
I'm really stressed about the concrete because it is all stamped concrete and quite pricey to fix/replace and my sago palm is ******.

 

[Patrick_B]

I assumed from you first post that you knew this was pool water puddling or collecting somewhere causing the damage. In either case, I can tell you that salt water and stamped concrete are not generally a good idea.

 

[Charlie_R]

When you did the bucket test, did you turn OFF the autofill?