Almost a new opening?…..

[OasisInVegas]

Ok
Pool is finally drained, scrubbed with pool brush & rinsed.

Trying to decide if I should attempt to
1.) Power Wash
2.) Acid Wash
3.) Stain treatment I have Aquadex 50 stain off, plaster white & brihte and pool chlorine liquid bleach & Muriatic acid. I know not to mix them up just listing options I have lol

Idk how old the pool surface is but we’ve had it for 13 years. I attached some pics of pool. There are multiple spots from tablets being thrown in by fiancé when I was out of town.

There’s a little plaster damage around the step area but that’s it. No other cracking or chipping. The plaster has stains or discoloration on it that we’d like to get rid of if possible.

I dont want to risk damaging the pool and I guess we can live with the discoloration if it could be harmful to do any type of treatment due to age or condition of it currently.

Thoughts? Questions?

 

[Bperry]

Ok
Pool is finally drained, scrubbed with pool brush & rinsed.

Trying to decide if I should attempt to
1.) Power Wash
2.) Acid Wash
3.) Stain treatment I have Aquadex 50 stain off, plaster white & brihte and pool chlorine liquid bleach & Muriatic acid. I know not to mix them up just listing options I have lol

Idk how old the pool surface is but we’ve had it for 13 years. I attached some pics of pool. There are multiple spots from tablets being thrown in by fiancé when I was out of town.

There’s a little plaster damage around the step area but that’s it. No other cracking or chipping. The plaster has stains or discoloration on it that we’d like to get rid of if possible.

I dont want to risk damaging the pool and I guess we can live with the discoloration if it could be harmful to do any type of treatment due to age or condition of it currently.

Thoughts? Questions?

Power washing risks damaging the plaster and acid washing will remove a layer of plaster (ie damage).

 

[OasisInVegas]

Power washing risks damaging the plaster and acid washing will remove a layer of plaster (ie damage).

Is there a way to determine if the plaster is safe to acid wash?

What about the stain treatments or liquid bleach or what’s my best option?

 

[PoolStored]

Is there a way to determine if the plaster is safe to acid wash?

Acid wash will shorten the life of the plaster. How much? No way to tell.

What about the stain treatments or liquid bleach or what’s my best option?

Without knowing the source of the stains, it is really hard to tell you what to do next.

Here is our pool school article on staining.

Stains in Your Pool

The stained pool is beyond embarrassing. Our in-depth Guide to remove stains in your pool will help you to remove the stains and prevent them in the future.

www.troublefreepool.com

On the staining, the better approach would have been to do some testing with water in the pool, per the pool school article above...

You have spalling:

It is difficult/impossible to determine if this is degradation of the plaster, or an installation issue:

Pool Plaster "Spalling"

One of the arts or skills of the pool plastering trade is properly timing the troweling process. If troweling is performed when water is present on the surface of the plaster, forcing water back into the plaster paste causes excessively high water:cement ratios in the surface finish, weakening...

www.troublefreepool.com

How old is the plaster?

Brown staining is hard to diagnose, especially without water in the pool. Could be metals, could be organic.

However, given the "throw in the puck" comment, and the brighter areas where the pucks were thrown in, I'd lean organic,

If this were my pool, I'd keep the shell hydrated (multiple times per day while you are filling), and fill it immediately.

Then, add 30ppm of CYA, and maintain 60-100% of your SLAM level for your CYA and see if the stains lift. Link-->FC/CYA Levels

 

[Bperry]

Is there a way to determine if the plaster is safe to acid wash?

What about the stain treatments or liquid bleach or what’s my best option?

It’s never safe to acid wash. stain treatments are best done when you know what the stain is caused by and when the pool is full and you can use a Jack’s stain ID kit and then determine how to remove the stains, usually with water in the pool but replacing the water after treatment is often needed.

 

[OasisInVegas]

So I’m reading:
Pressure wash is bad. It will damage the pool. Don’t do it….?
Acid wash is bad/reduce lifetime. It will damage the pool. Don’t do it?

What about chlorine wash? Will that be pointless in this scenario?

We’ve lived here for 13 years. Pool was definitely not new so don’t know how old the plaster is. Is there any type of record keeping of when a pool is built? Maybe I could figure out some idea from that? If it would even be helpful?

FYI We bought after it was foreclosed on.

It was a swampy mess. We drained it scrubbed it & acid washed it at that time. Hardly any pool knowledge as first time pool owners. Honestly don’t remember the procedure as it was so long ago.

However I do recall those ‘spalling” spots were there and haven’t spread or worsened.

When we did the acid wash, I remember in the deep end we couldn’t get enough leverage to scrub very hard because of the height. So the brownish stains haven’t gone away in the 13 years of the pool running.

I assumed it was from the pool being full, pump not running, no maintenance while in foreclosure, turning into a swamp & then just slowly evaporating and staining the walls as it went along..

 

[OasisInVegas]

Also, over the days of draining the pool the weather was very mild, specifically for Vegas, with highs in 60s & today was like 70.

Well I guess it seems like the most I should do is a chlorine wash then at this point? But if it’s not going to to do much, I’ll just save the $$ & effort & just start refilling the pool I guess…. Idk

Would the chlorine scrub help with brightening or removing any of the discoloration? & are the stain removing chemicals a scam like many other pool chemicals to get your cash?

Besides visually, the pool is relatively fine in health it seems? Is it obvious when it’s time that the pool must be replastered? Or if we’re ok with the surface appearance, just enjoy it until that time?

I do see like areas of the pool that appear to have bluish streaks under the whitish “plaster” maybe? Idk what it may or should look like so I have no idea. Also some areas that look “cracked” but the surface is nice and smooth with no signs of damage. Pics attached

If it wasn’t for her wanting the pool to be sparking & pretty, I’d already have started refilling.

 

[Bperry]

Also, over the days of draining the pool the weather was very mild, specifically for Vegas, with highs in 60s & today was like 70.

Well I guess it seems like the most I should do is a chlorine wash then at this point? But if it’s not going to to do much, I’ll just save the $$ & effort & just start refilling the pool I guess…. Idk

Would the chlorine scrub help with brightening or removing any of the discoloration? & are the stain removing chemicals a scam like many other pool chemicals to get your cash?

Besides visually, the pool is relatively fine in health it seems? Is it obvious when it’s time that the pool must be replastered? Or if we’re ok with the surface appearance, just enjoy it until that time?

I do see like areas of the pool that appear to have bluish streaks under the whitish “plaster” maybe? Idk what it may or should look like so I have no idea. Also some areas that look “cracked” but the surface is nice and smooth with no signs of damage. Pics attached

If it wasn’t for her wanting the pool to be sparking & pretty, I’d already have started refilling. View attachment 636577View attachment 636578

If you want to replaster sooner then you can pressure wash and/or acid wash. They both aren’t a good idea if you want to try and salvage what you have.

You need to identify if the stains are organic or not. Bleach will only help remove organic stains. If there are stains caused by leaving a chlorine tablet on the surface, bleach (more chlorine) isn’t going to remove that.

If the stains are metal, then you need to do the JacksMagic stain ID kit to find out which metal and there’s separate process for that depending on the results.

 

[OasisInVegas]

If you want to replaster sooner then you can pressure wash and/or acid wash. They both aren’t a good idea if you want to try and salvage what you have.

You need to identify if the stains are organic or not. Bleach will only help remove organic stains. If there are stains caused by leaving a chlorine tablet on the surface, bleach (more chlorine) isn’t going to remove that.

If the stains are metal, then you need to do the JacksMagic stain ID kit to find out which metal and there’s separate process for that depending on the results.

The goal isn’t to remove the tablet bleached out spots. The target would be the light brownish areas around the pool, mainly in the deep end where we werent able to previously with our initial acid wash. I believe it was when we did the acid wash with no previous experience or knowledge and we ended up with streaking from applying the acid up high on the walls unevenly and kind of ended up as it is.

I’m trying to figure out if a bleach wash would help with the lightish brown areas that were left from our original acid wash 13 years ago. If it is likely to help I’ll put on the effort and bleach and then fill it back up.

Just wanted to get a few opinions/thoughts to confirm.

Thanks to everyone who’ve shared advice and thoughts to this point.

 

[Bperry]

The goal isn’t to remove the tablet bleached out spots. The target would be the light brownish areas around the pool, mainly in the deep end where we werent able to previously with our initial acid wash.

I understand. The idea was to determine if the stains you see are organic or not. Rubbing a tablet on one of the stains will tell you the difference. Might be hard without water in there though. You can try your bleach spray on a small portion before spending more/time money on it.

 

[OasisInVegas]

I understand. The idea was to determine if the stains you see are organic or not. Rubbing a tablet on one of the stains will tell you the difference. Might be hard without water in there though. You can try your bleach spray on a small portion before spending more/time money on it.

So pool has been refilled with no apparent damage done and no washes, acid, power or bleach done.

Pool looks decent, stains still present of course.

So now that there’s water in it, I should get the jacks test kit to determine what type they are and then they’re treatable with water in it by just raising chlorine levels or do I need to drain it to treat them? My is on organic stains, but the kit will tell I guess.

Do any of the stain chemicals work when the pool is filled? I have the Aquadex 50 stain off but idk if it’s another BS product or not

 

[PoolStored]

Do the tests first and report, then we can get you going.

Aquadex 50 Stain Off product that Bio-Dex recommends for removing metal stains indicates that it has TrisodiumHydroxyethylethylenediaminetriacetate as its primary ingredient so that would be a non-phosphate based metal sequestrant. HOWEVER, that ingredient is nothing more than the salt form of EDTA and we already know that this is not as strong a metal sequestrant as HEDP and furthermore that it breaks down more quickly from chlorine. If you need a sequestrant, we can help...but let's get the stain identified.

CuLator Metal Removal

[EDIT] NOTE: I received some info from the President and CEO of CuLator and am currently reviewing it so I will update this thread later. Some of the information in my posts may be inaccurate so I will let you know once this is sorted out. [END-EDIT] Copper is usually better at killing algae...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[OasisInVegas]

Do the tests first and report, then we can get you going.

Aquadex 50 Stain Off product that Bio-Dex recommends for removing metal stains indicates that it has TrisodiumHydroxyethylethylenediaminetriacetate as its primary ingredient so that would be a non-phosphate based metal sequestrant. HOWEVER, that ingredient is nothing more than the salt form of EDTA and we already know that this is not as strong a metal sequestrant as HEDP and furthermore that it breaks down more quickly from chlorine. If you need a sequestrant, we can help...but let's get the stain identified.

CuLator Metal Removal

[EDIT] NOTE: I received some info from the President and CEO of CuLator and am currently reviewing it so I will update this thread later. Some of the information in my posts may be inaccurate so I will let you know once this is sorted out. [END-EDIT] Copper is usually better at killing algae...

www.troublefreepool.com

Yes, I’ve been working everyday 10-12 hours a day and haven’t been able to get all the testing done yet.

I did do a cya test before draining, because no one would accept the local pool store results of my extremely high cya readings.

I did redo it to confirm with the same result. I followed the directions on the tf100 kit and here’s the pics since I’m new to the testing game. my notes show 110 cylinder rating? For cya. Is that correct reading that the pics show? Then u multiply it by 10? So it had a cya of over 1000?….. that might explain why I couldn’t get the chlorine to sanitize the pool right before draining….

I followed the directions to the T (twice) on the cya test and that’s the results I got. BEFORE draining the pool.

 

[PoolStored]

Your wording is not very clear. Can you confirm this test (latest test pics in your last post) is on a new fill? Did you add any CYA after refill?

If the pics are post drain, re-fill, something is VERY wrong. CYA is NOT naturally occurring. Your CYA should be 0 after a drain and refill. You have some other interference. I have never seen a precipitate in the CYA test in the vial (tube) like this pic shows.


CYA is not x10. When you test and it is obscured at 40, but not 50, you round up to the next 10 (not 10x) to 50 because the transition happened between 40 and 50.

Your results, if after re-fill, are confusing, Temperature can cause interference, but likely only +/- maybe 15 to 30 at most...but being in NV, shouldn't be an issue with current temps. Light source can change results, but with my own testing, I haven't seen more than +/- 20 from indoor to outdoor.

I have no idea what would cause this...let's ask @JoyfulNoise @JamesW and @AUSpool ...

I'd suggest testing again with these instructions, but I think following the test procedure outdoor will only make it a higher number.

CYA - Cyanuric Acid Test

Cyanuric acid (CYA) is the chemical name for the product commonly called “pool water stabilizer” … Read more…

www.troublefreepool.com

You have something strange going on...or the pics you posted were from before draining and refilling...

 

[AUSpool]

I followed the directions to the T (twice) on the cya test and that’s the results I got. BEFORE draining the pool.

This was before draining so it’s irrelevant now. Tap water has no CyA so your new fill water should have no CyA other then any that you have put in. - It was mentioned that you should bring your new water up to 30ppm CyA assuming that it was zero.

my notes show 110 cylinder rating? For cya. Is that correct reading that the pics show? Then u multiply it by 10? So it had a cya of over 1000?….. that might explain why I couldn’t get the chlorine to sanitize the pool right before draining….

I believe the test tolerance is ~20 to 100ppm but I would normally recommend doing a dilution test for anything above 90ppm. 50/50 pool water to tap water, run the test per instructions and multiply the result by 2.

Just to reiterate, you round up to the nearest 10ppm line which will be the one below your end point.

Dont think we’ll ever see a result at 1000ppm but I defiantly think you were above 100ppm which is very high and your FC chlorine just couldn’t keep up.

 

[AUSpool]

Your results, if after re-fill, are confusing, Temperature can cause interference, but likely only +/- maybe 15 to 30 at most...but being in NV, shouldn't be an issue with current temps. Light source can change results, but with my own testing, I haven't seen more than +/- 20 from indoor to outdoor.

I have no idea what would cause this...let's ask @JoyfulNoise @JamesW and @AUSpool ...

I have never seen a precipitate in the CyA test like that but I’ve never seen the results from a very high sample before. I guess a very high sample would reach and go beyond the point of saturation for the CyA-melamine complex. @OasisInVegas says it’s from before the pool was drained but the photo is dated Apr 12, 2025 - yesterday. So there is ambiguity.

 

[PoolStored]

ambiguity

Yuh think...lol
Going to have to wait for OP to respond so we can figure it out...

 

[OasisInVegas]

Sorry for the late reply guys. Worked two 14.5 hour days in a row.

Yes the test was indeed BEFORE drain & refill. I thought I made it clear but I guess I was mistaken. Sorry.

The photo date was because i airdropped it from my phone, which took the original pic, to my iPad where it was “created on the 25th” it’s easier to post and browse the internet.

My mistake in regard to cya levels. I read the cya directions “CYA levels are always multiples of 10.” I was multitasking at the time & thought I needed to multiply times 10! . Reading is fundamental