Scale problem or a concrete problem?

[CharliesPool]

I've been skimming through old posts on scale and I think I have a twist on that. Most of the posts talk about scale at the waterline. I have what appears like scale (white and tacky), but it appears at the top of the tile and trails off as it goes down. It almost appears like concrete dust that adheres to the top and kind of grows from there.

If I catch it early, it's pretty easy to scrub off. If I dont't get it early, it eats away at the surface of the tile. Is there something I should do to the roughly 1/2 inch of exposed concrete above the tile? I'm stumped.

Charlie

 

[CharliesPool]

Shame on me. I should have posted my pool tests.

 

[mgtfp]

I'm not an expert on that one, but since no one has replied so far, I'll give that post a bump.

Looks like efflorescence to me:

Efflorescence - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Not a water chemistry problem, and your CSI certainly looks good.

Unrelated topic, but I'd bump up the FC a little bit, you are dangling along the minimum. With increasing sunshine going into summer, you want a buffer so you don't end up with an algae outbreak by the time you notice that your SWG needed to get cranked up. It's the time of the year where it needs adjusting into summer mode.

 

[ajw22]

Your problem is Efflorescence - Further Reading

 

[CharliesPool]

Thanks for the insight. Based on the additional reading, that is exactly my problem and it doesn't look like an easy (or even possible) fix.

With your recommendation, I did just bump of the SWG. I was running it at 30% and moved it to 40% to see what happens. I've been fighting a rising PH battle from day 1, so I've erred on the side of lower FC to try to to help.

Thanks @mgtfp and @ajw22 for responding to my question. I was truly stumped.

Charlie