Pool Plaster Problems

[rspass]

Having issues with new plaster and can not figure it out. 26,000 gallon pool was re plastered 2 years ago with a pebble finish. There were white streaks so pool plasterer suggested and did a no drain acid wash last year. It seemed to work and streaks look much better. But then I was getting white powder on bottom of the pool and thought it was DE. Changed all the grids and went through filter with pool company. But still problem persisted. I then noticed that I was getting white powder dust coming off the walls while I brushed it. It persisted the rest of the year. The Plasterer said its still curing and could be some calcium coming off. I closed the pool and figured it should be fine this year. Well, its still there a year later. The pool plasterer came out and said he thinks its calcium since its a white powder and was not sure why its still coming off the walls.
My chemical levels have been pretty good

Hardness 220
TC 3
FC 3
ph 7.5
TA 90
CYA 45
Salt 3000
I've kept this range for the most part of 2 years. The PH would would rise to 7.8 for even 8 but I would ad Muriatic acid to bring it down to 7.4 to 7.6

The pool guy suggests raising calcium to about 250 or a little more but he seemed stumped
Can anyone give

 

[blakeusa]

Calcium usually adheres to the tile and walls like a white hardened chalk like material and often does not come off easily.

Powdered dusty material sounds more like DE to me, but I don't have a DE filter so I don't know for sure. Also what kind of salt did you use.? or do you use any other chemicals or have wierd trees around your pool that could be depositing polin or something else...

 

[rspass]

Thanks for response Blake, DE was my first nclination too. Did another check of filter today.. everything seemed tight. Even took the whole thing out and brought it to pool store for 2nd look. completely cleaned it out and vacuumed pool to waste after it sat for a day. started pool and recharged with DE.. nothing came through the lines so I think I'm at the point where I can rule out the DE. The pool actually looks beautiful and crystal clear until night time, thats when you see the powder like stuff floating in front of the lights. but its a lot. Brushed the walls again and still powder brushes off. You see it real good infant of the lights. As far as the salt.. 2 years ago I was getting from pool company but forget the name brand they used... Maybe Aqua salt or something like that. Last year they moved to a new location too far so I was getting it at Walmart ..Morton salt. This year I found another pool place I think their brand is called Mega salt. Can some salt brands have issues dissolving in water or something? I've only converted to salt 3 years ago so I'm not real educated on it... When the pool was first plastered it seemed ok. It seemed like this started after the no drain aside wash. Could this still be plaster dust and I just need to keep brushing. 2 years seems like a pretty excessive time though.

 

[rspass]

Ok so here is an update on what I've figuring out. I wanted to rule out DE do I put socks on the returns and saw a white powdery like substance bleeding out every 3 or 4 minutes with looked liked tiny tiny bubbles. I figured WOW I am getting DE back in. SO I took filter out washed it down and ran filter with no DE just to be sure. Well, the bubbles and powered cloud continued every 3 to 4 minutes. This made my head hurt because there was no DE in the system. After a few hours of research I found a thread from 2009 started by SheildFX who was having the same issue. Through research and a post from Chem geek it was learned that the foggy haze ( white powdery substance) coming out of returns is from the SWG . ITs hydrogen bubbles and maybe chlorine gas being released from SWG. I shut off my SWG and it stopped. I then put the SWG on 100% and it came back but continued without stopping. This helped me rule out DE. Its the SWG making Chlorine. The filter looks tight. However I still get a powdery like substance on the pool floor everyday. still have powder coming out of walls when brushing and still have white objects that float in pool that are illuminated by the lights at night. after recharging the filter and running it for 2 days i opened it back up with out back washing. I see the DE coated on the grids but there is another substance the DE looks like it is catching.. Its white undissolved grains. I'm posting photos you can see it especially on top of the manifold. Questions. What could this be ?? The only 2 things I can think of is undissolved salt ( I actually put 2 bags in during the 2 days) or Calcium. 2nd question : what could the powder on bottom of the pool be? could that be something from the SWG hydrogen bubbles or chlorine gas it produces? Any suggestions would help. I'm going crazy.

 

[rspass]

Sorry Forgot to upload images.