What is causing white discoloration on brick and tile?

[koodles55]

We've tried EVERYTHING to get rid of this white stuff to no avail. We tried ourselves, as suggested by our local Dallas TX pool store and we hired 2 different companies that said they could get rid of it. One even "sealed" it all after they finished. Unfortunately, it all returned exactly if not worse than before. Can it be an "internal" problem as opposed to something in the air or water environment?

file:///Users/plasdoc1/Desktop/spool%206:26:15.jpg

 

[Texas Splash]

Hello Koodles55, and welcome to TFP. Your pic didn't post. Have you tried linking your photos from Photobucket? That's what many of us do here on TFP. Upload your pics to Photobucket (free), then copy & paste the IMG code for that pic from Photobucket to your TFP post. Works great.

Without seeing the pic, the first thing to come to mind is calcium, but that's just an initial thought. Do you have a test kit to post some water readings for us?

 

[Michael1]

It may be lime leaching through from the back side.

 

[pooldv]

It is called efflorescence. There are zillions of websites that talk about it. Have a google and read more than you ever wantee to know. We have some and I leave it alone. I believe it will eventually stop when some equilibrium is reached.