Blotchy Liner Fade

[NOVA Vinyl]

Looking for help on anything I might be doing wrong to cause liner fading. This liner has seen 4 seasons and I noticed the fading last season. Just opened and attached is a good pic to reference. There’s pretty consistent fading where the floors meet the walls, but my biggest concern is the blotchy fading on the slope and deep end. I’m guessing it must be chemical related, so here’s my routines.

This liner has only ever seen 8% or 10% liquid chlorine, and I add it to the skimmer with the pump running at full speed. I keep the CYA at 40 and FC at 4. Have only had to SLAM at opening, taking FC to 16. PH will creep up during the summer and I add muratic acid slowly in front of the deep return when needed. I predisolve baking soda and broadcast in the deep end as needed to keep TA at 60. I use the Taylor kit and test 3x a week.

I love the TFP method and am pretty meticulous with everything so it’s driving me nuts that I have these blotches. I appreciate any thoughts on what might be causing this, especially if I’m screwing up somewhere. Thanks!

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Wow, that's some suspicious looking fade marks.

I always brush the wall and floor around where I just added MA to make sure none is sitting in a puddle. It is heavier than water.

Maddie

 

[Mdragger88]

Going forward I would be sure to add chems slowly in front of a return & brush the area after chemical additions- also adding chlorine directly into the skimmer on a daily basis is a good way to make your equipment/seals etc brittle. Also by doing this it may be shooting out the returns & falling as bleach is also heavier than water (resulting in this discoloration)

 

[NOVA Vinyl]

Thanks, that’s my best guess as there is a return at the top of the slope on the right side and that return is the shortest distance to the pump. It’s directed to the shallow end, but after I posted this and stared at the pic, I started thinking it looks like that return may be the point of origin for the blotches and would make sense if the chlorine sinks and gets drawn down slope towards the main drain. I’ll go back to adding in front of the returns and start brushing. Appreciate the help!