Dealing with Calcium Scaling and Flakes

[Econdron]

When my pool was opened this year, I was going through a company to balance the water for me (Pre TFP). I just assumed they were taking care of it, but I started noticing white flakes shooting out of the returns, and heavy white staining in these areas as well. I do not know the exact values of the chemicals, but my CYA was around 30, the PH was around 8.2, and my salt levels dropped to about 1,200. Water temp was 88 and CH around 250, which puts my CSI value at close to 1.0, so I'm assuming that was the cause for this initially. I have a two part question now:

1) - Will the scaling on the floor of my fiberglass pool fix itself with a balanced pool and a CSI value in proper range?

2) - I'm still seeing some flakes in the water, and the pool vac is picking up A LOT of calcium deposits. Are these from the SWG, or possibly the scaling lifting up? If these are new from the SWG, how do I prevent this from happening? They have not been causing the calcium deposit stains to worsen to the best of my knowledge.

Here are my most recent test values, they have been this way for a couple months now:

TC - 6.6
CC - 0.2 or less
PH - 7.6
Alkalinity - 90
CH - 250
CYA - 60
Salt - 3200
Water Temp - 88
CSI - -0.18

 

[Texas Splash]

Will the scaling on the floor of my fiberglass pool fix itself with a balanced pool and a CSI value in proper range?

If what you see on the floor truly is scale, the outcome can vary. You can try to maintain a negative CSI level for a few months next year when you open to see if it helps. But discoloration can sometimes be related to other factors.

Are these from the SWG, or possibly the scaling lifting up? If these are new from the SWG, how do I prevent this from happening?

I would suspect the cell. It may still be shedding scale from when the pool's water wasn't ideally maintained earlier this year. It should begin to lessen soon. Of course when you close this year, you do have the option of removing the SWG to inspect the cell inside, and if you see scale, do a cell cleaning so that you'll be ready for next season.

 

[Econdron]

If what you see on the floor truly is scale, the outcome can vary. You can try to maintain a negative CSI level for a few months next year when you open to see if it helps. But discoloration can sometimes be related to other factors.


I would suspect the cell. It may still be shedding scale from when the pool's water wasn't ideally maintained earlier this year. It should begin to lessen soon. Of course when you close this year, you do have the option of removing the SWG to inspect the cell inside, and if you see scale, do a cell cleaning so that you'll be ready for next season.

What I thought was a little odd was that the vacuum has only recently been picking up calcium flakes. The white stains appeared around mid May, I first spotted calcium in the pool vacuum mid August. Would a slightly negative CSI value remove lift calcium scaling from the walls? I would assume it would more so be just dissolved into the water. I've done a lot of reading on calcium in pools and it seems to be a tricky subject, as everyone seems to have different theories and solutions.

 

[Texas Splash]

I've done a lot of reading on calcium in pools and it seems to be a tricky subject,

It is, and pulling the CSI low (i.e. -0.6 or lower) is no guarantee it will work or work uniformly across all pool surfaces. In our FG pools it's tricky because you wouldn't think the gelcoat would accumulate scale very quickly, but I suppose scenarios could vary. But anything you believe to be scale "should" feel a little rough compared to the factory feel of the gelcoat. If anything in the gelcoat feels smooth, it may not be calcium.