First Post - Plaster condition question

[Mikedeal17]

Hey all,

I’ve been lurking for a bit as I’ve recently taken over maintenance of my pool.
Unfortunately the pool service was using pucks and my CYA reading was 150.

I’ve just drained a bunch of water and am refilling to get to a manageable CYA level.

During the drain, I’ve noted that my plaster has more splotchiness than I realized. Do I need to be concerned about this condition? Pool is about 3.5 years old.

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum!
Is the pool surface rough or smooth? Do you think it is a stain or scale?
I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry and consider reviewing the entire Pool School eBook.

 

[Mikedeal17]

It's mostly smooth, there is a little bit of pitting - particularly on the sunshelf, along with some blue-greenish tint, where it looks like maybe the plaster has absorbed some copper?

My CH is off the charts as well (900ish) - but reading posts here it sounds like some people are able to live with high CH. Looking forward to see what this water exchange has done for my CH as well.

Thanks! Bought the ebook and have read a bunch of the ABCs, but I guess I need to go back to the stain and scale posts to review.

 

[mknauss]

I would imagine you have used Cal Hypo 'shock' in the past if your CH was that high.

I suspect much of it is copper staining. There are ways to release it from the plaster, but then you must drain the water from the pool to get rid of the copper. Discontinue using products with copper in them.

 

[Mikedeal17]

Good news is that my CH is down to ~500 and CYA at 55, so the water exchange got me moved in the right direction!

Not sure what exactly the service used, other than pucks, acid, and liquid chlorine from time to time, so I can't comment on Cal Hypo specifically, but now i'm on track to just use liquid chlorine and acid for most maintenance.

Thanks!
mike