Cloudiness - Gelcoat Oxidation?

[Ericwood73]

Moved from HERE

Can gel coat oxidation cause cloudiness? My pool was pretty clear last week but it had a ton of acorns and debris so I ran my dolphin multiple times and you can't see the bottom. If I run my hand along the wall below the waterline I get a chalk residue. I wonder if the rotary brush from the dolphin kicks up the fine dust and it clouds the water. I guess I'll know if I don't run the dolphin and in a few days it clears up. This happened to us earlier this summer after a SLAM and it seemed like only time helped it clear again.

 

[Texas Splash]

Can gel coat oxidation cause cloudiness?

You seem to be having the same situation as some other FG owners who can actually see white residue come-off simply by wiping your hands along the pool's surface. That's much different that some of us who have the chalkiness embedded and can only remove it by sanding/buffing. The hand does nothing. As long as you are sure there's no algae or other chemical issue going on, in your case the Dolphin might be kicking-up that gelcoat stuff. It may need to run its course for a day or two. If it doesn't go away, you can try this (no guarantee here), but some owners who had the white stuff that rubbed off easily seemed to find improvement by adjusting the TA higher for a while say about 120 or so. Also make sure the CH isn't too low. Keep in mind that's not a TFP recommendation for normal water chemistry to increase the TA like that. While it is within our recommended levels, once you increase the TA the pH may tend to climb quicker, so you'll be in a bit of an acid yo-yo scenario for a while and may find yourself right back where you were st first. But if it just doesn't go away on its own, it may be something worth trying. Of course you can always contact your pool manufacture to see if they have any other thoughts.

 

[Ericwood73]

Thanks, I don't typically worry about CH because I have FG so my calcium is close to 0. Should I try increasing CH before I mess with TA?

 

[Texas Splash]

Yes, I would. While the TFP minimum for CH is 250, that is primary a safety net of sorts for stains. Even though our FG pools "shouldn't" require CH as they are not made from plaster products, I would at least try increasing yours to about 100 for now. See if that alone helps. If not, perhaps increase in increments of 50 from there and evaluate the cloudiness to see if it improves.

 

[al27]

My fiberglass pool experiences chalking like this when the CH is too low. The first time that it happened, I called the manufacturer of my fiberglass pool, and was told that it was caused by low calcium. Once I increased the CH to around 300, it went away. I experience chalking like this every year and it always goes away after I increase CH to 250 or more. I find that it goes away faster if I increase CH gradually over several days and brush the walls and floor often.