Calcium scale and negative CSI in fiberglass pools

[drseuss]

Hi seribus,
We had the pool refinished on 9/2. I followed the startup process to a t. In talking to one of the guys that was doing the refinishing, he said to allows add anything to the pool in the skimmer. Obviously, not salt, but everything else. We've got the pool chemistry close to stabilized. I need to up the CYA a little more. I've got the chlorine levels stabilized with the swg. I had to add 4 packets of the non-chlorine shock until the swg started to kick in. When I had my water analyzed, my CH was only 13 and the water felt really soft. Tony said not to add any calcium but I can't stand the water so soft so I'm going to keep it around 100. I asked him about your situation and he says it's different. Mine was caused by chlorine and he said your current issues are due to CH being too high. I think they just pick something to blame it on. If my chlorine level is low I'll add the non-chlorine shock but I haven't had to do that since the swg kicked in. I'll be adding the algaecide weekly and the EasyCare Beautec monthly. Tony said not to use the Trichloro-S-Triazinetrione and use the non-chlorine shock instead over the winter. He actually said that lithium shock is better, but I can't find anyone that sells it. Fingers crossed, but we'll see what happens next year.

 

[seribus]

Yeah that is completely different than what he told me or even his placard reads. He told me several times Trichloro-S-Triazinetrione was fine to run in inline chlorinator. I just recently put calcium in the pool. Like someone told me once we are balancing the water not the surface. I may not close it this year and run swg low and pull pump back low.

 

[seribus]

Seuss,

How's the pool holding up? Mine is showing the oxidized effect again. Chlorine levels and calcium isn't my issue because they have stayed low and even lower as it cools off. Running SWG at 10% and staying around 3-4ppm. CSI is negative and has been slightly negative as I have been keeping pH around 7.2-7.5. Only thing I can think of is salt staining if that is a thing, something in local water or the full sun during days has simply faded it. I'd like to see a handful of fiberglass and/or ecofinish dark blue pools after a few years to see what it looks like. Maybe this is typical? Being that I turned SWG on very late this year and started noticing slight fading before that I tend to think fading. I think I am in same boat as vinyl owners. Deal with it and get new ecofinish sprayed in once it fades bad enough.

Seribus

 

[Texas Splash]

I have a suspicion us FG owners will all experience this issue to some degree over time. I've been monitoring my shell in various "test areas" and have yet to see a common denominator. But I did convert to salt this year which allowed me to maintain a lower FC level, and also ensuring my CSI didn't drop too low like I did in the past. While those items "shouldn't" matter in FG, I can't help but experiment with everything to be sure.

 

[seribus]

I have a suspicion us FG owners will all experience this issue to some degree over time. I've been monitoring my shell in various "test areas" and have yet to see a common denominator. But I did convert to salt this year which allowed me to maintain a lower FC level, and also ensuring my CSI didn't drop too low like I did in the past. While those items "shouldn't" matter in FG, I can't help but experiment with everything to be sure.

Thank you for replying. First thing we get told by suppliers and contractors is it's us, chemistry and maintenance which I understand there are a lot of variables and mistakes made but for those that try to be diligent and keep your investment nice it's very frustrating to look at.

Just in this thread you can see all the things we tried and nothing makes sense. No calcium, add calcium, certain chlorine types, add this or that. I can take something with an edge or one of those green scrub pads and rub off the top layer fairly easy like oxidation. I can use a magic eraser and turns blue. That makes me think oxidation. Calcium scale wouldn't be blue as the color of shell I wouldn't think. I leave my pool vac in way too much and it's shell is faded which I understand. I know I haven't been above 5ppm for FC for any length of time and CYA was 55-60 last I checked. The dark blue is pretty but I just don't think it can hold up against the sun, heat and chlorine. Maybe I'll eventually get a nice faded texture I can live with.

 

[seribus]

Seuss,

How's ecofinish looking? Starting to see any changes?

 

[drseuss]

Hi seribus,
It's kind of funny, but just yesterday as we were leaving for our morning walk I looked at the pool and thought I started seeing some of the haze starting. I haven't gotten back to looking into it real closely due to the weather, but I'll try tomorrow. We have been following the recommendations exactly. We put in the maintenance chemicals religiously and through the skimmer only. We did add salt right after it was refinished in September but then turned off the SWG at the beginning of November when the weather turned and did not put in the Trichlor tablets. We've been using the non-chlorine shock. Everything Tony told us to do. I'm hoping it was just a shadow or it just needs brushing. At the first sign of an issue, I'm going to notify Tony this time. I'm thinking the Ice Ice Bay Bay (lighter blue) may have been a better option for us.

 

[seribus]

I agree on color. I am definitely having same issues again albiet not as bad as in past YET and it's not calcium or high chlorine in my opinion. I checked and I'm at 4ppm FC and calcium is probably below 180 by now. Have inline chlorinator off but still getting some chlorine in pool. My thoughts is it doesn't hold up to UV from sun well. I see blue residue on new rollers on vacuum and on brush. Please keep me updated.

Carl

 

[drseuss]

I checked the pool again and didn't see any abnormalities so it may have been shadows or something else. I haven't checked the pool vacuum but will let you know if I see the blue residue. It's only been 4 months for us though. I think you had yours done much earlier than us.

 

[seribus]

Seuss, how are things looking? I have the chalky stuff again. Has to be something in this Cape Fear water or maybe salt residue? Is salt staining possible? Chlorine has been hovering around 1ppm all winter. Calcium is around 100ppm. I adjusted Ta and pH and shocked with non chlorine oxidizer in last week. I've been cleaning the stone tile border so I can seal tile and coping and noticed I can brush away some of this residue or chalking off the steps and seats. Just curious how you're doing with it.

Seribus

 

[drseuss]

Seuss, how are things looking? I have the chalky stuff again. Has to be something in this Cape Fear water or maybe salt residue? Is salt staining possible? Chlorine has been hovering around 1ppm all winter. Calcium is around 100ppm. I adjusted Ta and pH and shocked with non chlorine oxidizer in last week. I've been cleaning the stone tile border so I can seal tile and coping and noticed I can brush away some of this residue or chalking off the steps and seats. Just curious how you're doing with it.

Seribus

We're still looking good. We didn't use the chlorinator this winter. Instead, we used the non-chlorine shock. We're still doing the weekly and monthly maintenance according to the start-up guide and putting everything in the skimmer. My Taylor test kit was getting a little old so I just ordered a new one and I'm going to test everything again when I get it. We just turned the SWG back on and we're stabilizing the chlorine. We're working on building a new house so we may not have to deal with this issue too much longer. The new house won't be ready until next year. And yes, we'll have a pool. Not the same one. We like the Leisure Pools Riviera model.