Help!!! Yikes!

[tessv]

1. Chemistry as of just now (also a link to my logs is in my sig):


*pH is somewhere between 7.5 & 7.8 based on color

2. Flakes appear all white-will do try to drop some acid on them in a sec..

3. We run at least one cell 24/7. Have noticed MORE flakes when both are running.

4. Heater hasn’t been on yet this season...

*I’ve been waiting for my pH to hit 7.8 to add another gallon of MA to keep nursing that TA down...

If this is meaningful—the ammonia test kit we bought also has nitrite/nitrate tests... just did a nitrate test from curiosity...

 

[tessv]

Okay...

Flakes are hard/crunchy.
Acid on them did two things—1. Fizz & “smoke”—left this behind:


And this—2. Yellow liquid

 

[tessv]

*did that on the rocks...

 

[tessv]

*a random thought... we’ve always had some calcium flakes that appear in the pool... what’s different now, though, is that this is really early in the season for us to see them... In previous years, they start showing up late June/early July—and only when the water temp was above 90...

One year we had extraordinarily high CH (500+) bc of our city water that year—that year, if I remember correctly, was most like now, where you could practically make snowballs with it...

This is early with the cool temps and no heater on...

It’s just a weird season....

 

[mknauss]

TA and pH are actually a greater driver for calcium flakes from a SWCG. Your TA of 200 nearly assures you will get quite alot of calcium flakes. Lowering that (and lowering your CSI to below 0) will reduce them.

 

[JamesW]

Probably calcium carbonate and maybe some sulfur mixed in.

I would be more aggressive at dropping the TA. Try to keep the pH at 7.2.

 

[tessv]

Thanks, @mknauss...

So—just keep at the slow & steady reduction of TA??? No other way to do that besides lowering MA additions + aeration, is there?

 

[tessv]

@JamesW, thanks. Will do... no worries/nothing to be done about the sulphur?

 

[JamesW]

Keeping the pH as close as possible to 7.2 will reduce the flakes and speed up the lowering of the TA.

Any sulfur should get filtered out. Backwash periodically and note what the backwash water looks like.

When you backwash, what does the waste water look like?

 

[tessv]

I can do that. . .
Backwash water always seems to me to be a cloudy white/grey color. . .

Does the presence of Nitrates mean anything at those levels?

 

[JamesW]

I would ignore the nitrates.

 

[tessv]

Will do. . . Was just re-reading the "optimum water specs" for both the Jandy and the Pentair to see where they differ/narrow down the sweet spots. Both mention nitrates should be at 0, is kinda why I ask. . .

 

[JamesW]

There's not much you can do about nitrates other than drain and refill or reverse osmosis.

Nitrates can accelerate algae growth if you get algae.

As long as you maintain the FC at the correct level, nitrates should not cause you any problem.

What is the nitrate reading from the fill water?

 

[tessv]

Just tested it--thanks for the prompt! Weird lighting now, but I'd say somewhere between 10 and 20ppm. Pretty much exactly how the pool tested. . .

 

[JamesW]

Ok, so nothing that can be done. It should not be an issue.

The only good thing about nitrates is that they're cheaper than the day rates.

 

[tessv]

Niiiiiiiiiice! LOL. . .

 

[mariane]

The only good thing about nitrates is that they're cheaper than the day rates.

My 17 y.o. son even liked that one. He said "Now that one's clever". (He doesn't think HIS parent's jokes are clever, so you made the grade ).