Cedar Tree Dropping Needles and Seriously Staining my Pebble Fina Finish

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mzimm88

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Dec 18, 2015
16
Sacramento
I have a large cedar that is dropping a ton of needles in my pool. No matter how often I run my skimmer/cleaner, they are still leaving stains all over my Pebble Fina finish. Does anyone have a product they'd recommend that will get rid of the stains with the least amount of damage possible to my finish? The only thing I know of is an acid bath, but that will slowly eat away the layer of finish I have (I think :confused:), or ascorbic acid which, as I understand it, I have to apply directly to each stained area which is probably 50% of my pool and it could change the color of the finish in those areas. Any guidance would be appreciated!

Thank you!
 
Chlorine will get them, it takes time. I have the same issue.

As a side note, it seems to take longer this year than previous years. The "puck on a stain" trick isn't working as well as it has in the past. I've even tried a sock full of crushed puck with very little success.
 
Mr Bruce said:
Chlorine will get them, it takes time. I have the same issue.

As a side note, it seems to take longer this year than previous years. The "puck on a stain" trick isn't working as well as it has in the past. I've even tried a sock full of crushed puck with very little success.
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It's good to know I am not alone, but I feel your pain! My pool is only 9 months old, so this is the first time I am going through a needle drop like this. My pool is saltwater, so I am wondering if the chlorine produced by the salt is less effective at removing them than just using regular bleach.
 
You could add some additional chlorine to try to speed it up, but I don't think SWG would be any worse or better.

Yes, it's disheartening to have a perfectly clear pool and then tons of stains at the bottom. I've been thinking about it hard this season, trying to think of solutions. One thing I might try is shading "sails" near the worst drop zones. The worst is golf ball sized walnuts. They leave softball sized stains.
 
Those walnuts sound awful. The shading sails seem like an interesting idea, my cedar is about 80 ft tall, so the wind blows the needles everywhere. I'd have to put a greenhouse over my pool to fend them off. The only solution I have thought of is refinishing with a darker color, which sounds awful. :(
 
Chainsaw?

I had a mesquite tree near my pool. While I liked the shade it provided in the afternoon, it was damaging my block wall and my neighbor's block wall. It also dropped a ton of mesquite debris (needles, leaves, beans, pollen, etc) into my pool. At first I was torn about removing it but I couldn't be happier now that it's gone. My neighbor's chainsaw and about 2 hours worth of work and my problems were solved.

80ft trees require specialists to remove them but you'll probably spend just as much time and money trying to fix your plaster. And if the stains become permanent, then you're out a couple thousand dollars for new plaster.

Just sayin'......
 
Ha, I have considered going Ferngully on it... I think I am going to have an arborist come out and prune it as much as possible and see if that helps next year. If not, it may be time to consider sending it to tree heaven.
 
mzimm88 said:
Ha, I have considered going Ferngully on it... I think I am going to have an arborist come out and prune it as much as possible and see if that helps next year. If not, it may be time to consider sending it to tree heaven.
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Being where you are at you'll probably have to petition your local city/town council for a permit to remove the tree.

As far as removing the stains, they are organic and likely won't respond to the AA treatment as well as you think.
If you want to try it grab some Vitamin C tablets at the store and just run one over the stains, if it works throw some in a sock and rub a bigger area.
Lifting these stains with trichlor pucks takes a few minutes longer and can cause acid etching at the spot of application.

You can try moving FC up after cleaning. If your water is in need of CH increase, shocking with cal-hypo might eliminate the stains immediately
 
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