Diamond Brite super blue dark streaks

[JohnfromTX]

Hello all,

I had my pool re-plastered with DB super blue around 2-28-2012.
Frankly it did not look very blue when it was finished.
It has always had some odd streaks from the return eyeball outlets, like where water ran out, and what appears to be trowel marks.
Now the whitish surface seems to be eroding away in patches or larger areas, and on the radius of the steps.
The areas where the whitish “plaster” has disappeared looks great, kind of what I expected when the job was first done.

The installer did use a garden hose spray the bowl down at the end of installation to expose more of the blue, but there was plenty of white material left behind.

I watched a few installation videos and noticed that they sponged or brushed off the top surface to expose the aggregate, and acid washed.
This did not happen with my installation.

I brush the pool daily and keep the chemistry correct.
It is a chlorine pool using a nature 2 cartridge, about 11,600 gallons.

Question is, is this erosion detrimental, or simply time doing what should have been done at the installation?
What can I do to move this process along?

One other thing I've noticed, the chrome ring around my pool lights are turning brown, hitting them with muriatic acid brings back the chrome look and it does not appear to be pitted or damaged.

I have sent this in an email to DB twice, with photos, no response........

Thanks in advance.

 

[sktn77a]

Nature 2 = copper = blue stains!

 

[JohnfromTX]

Thanks Keith,

I don't have blue stains, they are black, the pool has a layer of regular plaster with the Diamond Brite super blue on top of that.
Been using the nature 2 since the pool was built in 2010, how is the nature 2 an issue, I've seen some posts for and against the N2?

Anyway, I decided to drain and acid wash, seems to be taking care of the issue.

 

[jimim]

nature 2 puts metals in the water from how i understand. i have superblue. he is a wonky pic cause i'm skimming and my bot is working so water is all agitated. i don't have any steaks thankfully. i think there is a lot of aggregate. i have some blotches but i expected that cause of the color. when they finished mine they did a very very weak acid wash down then i filled with tanker trucks very quickly. they don't do full acid washes cause they wanted to be as gentle as possible i guess.


Untitled by Jim, on Flickr

that one spot in the corner 2nd step is dirt cause it rained hard just before. that kinda gives u an idea of color as the water depth changes.

 

[JohnfromTX]

Jimin,

Looks nice, very blue and even in texture, the tiles look iridescent.
As you can see from the photos above of the spa and stairs, this is what my Diamond Brite job looked like when it was done, very little blue showing.
I'm doing a light acid wash, seems to be taking care of the stains, fixing to refill.

 

[sktn77a]

Thanks Keith,

I don't have blue stains, they are black,

When the copper salts first stain the plaster surface, they are blue/grey. They darken (turn black) when they are oxidized by the chlorine. Acid washing does get rid of these stains.

 

[jimim]

Jimin,

Looks nice, very blue and even in texture, the tiles look iridescent.
As you can see from the photos above of the spa and stairs, this is what my Diamond Brite job looked like when it was done, very little blue showing.
I'm doing a light acid wash, seems to be taking care of the stains, fixing to refill.

oh ok those were day 1 pics. Go to my build and look at the pics before they washed it down and then after and then weeks later. Mine looked like urs before they washed it. After washing it it showed the texture but not a ton. After I brushed for 30 days 2xday it popped! I have all that documented pretty well.

 

[JohnfromTX]

Yup, the acid wash too care of the stains, brought the bowl back to its original color, filling now, getting ready to start with sequestering agent.
The acid wash seemed to even out the color of the bowl, even some of the streaks that have been there since the diamond brite was installed in 2012 have faded.

Now I understand what happened and what caused the blue color, this is the first time this has happened, hindsight is 20/20.
Pool has been trouble free up to this point, brush, clean Polaris bag, 3" pucks into the feeder, shock now and then. Totally opposite of all the horror stories I've heard about pool ownership.

Thanks to all for help, after 8 years I'm still a newbie.
I.E. pulled my filter cartridges to clean, took them out to the front yard to clean (waters my trees too), got busy, went back to equipment, forgot to disable the pump timer, pump switched on and pumped about 5K gallons of fresh water down the street, argggg, brain fart, LOL.......