trying to identify pool stains

hello all,

new to the forum. trying to identify some stains on the pool..they have progressively gotten worse..i will admit i didnt take care of the pool as I should of last year..the kids are older and dont use it much..i also dont really know a whole lot about pool care..I bought the house about 4 years ago with the pool already there..I generally take the water to pinch a penny and they tell me what to add..

these stains are prevalent in the little standing shallow area and on the steps..but now im seeing it in the deep end too...I tried the chlorine in a sock and that didnt work..i did the vitamin C pills and that did nothing..i scrubbed them with a wire brush and that did nothing..i did use a pumice stone and it did tend to lighten the stain a little, but it was leaving indentions in the pool surface, so didnt want to keep doing that...pinch a penny recommended a product called stop stains..i bought 2 large containers of it. I got the readings down to where they needed to be and got the chemical in. first couple days didnt notice anything..but i have since noticed that the stains did get lighter..ive been scrubbing them like crazy with the pool brush.

i had a pool company come out for some estimated on removing them..I wasnt there when they came out, but recommended to empty the pool and do an acid wash..said something about calcium stains...I looked up calcium stains and they are more white in color...so not sure if thats it or not and they want 1600 to do it :cry:...so im posting pictures to see if anyone can identify the issue...the stains on the pic really stand out, but they dont look that bad as you are standing there looking at them in person..and these pics are before the stop stain was applied...any help would be appreciated in identifying the stains..the pics are from the steps and the shallow standing area.
 

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Welcome to TFP!

The first step is to identify the source of the stains and then we can figure out how to deal with them. Can you give us some recent test results and tell us where they came from. Do you have a test kit?

More here on stains,

Pool School - Pool Stains

thank you for the response..i dont have a test kit..I normally just take water samples in to pinch a penny for water testing. I dont have my most recent test results. I know i had to bring the chlorine down for the stop stains to be effective.
 
Calcium stains, called calcium scale, starts white but it can grab organic material and darken. If your pH, TA and/or CH runs high frequently and over time them scale is certainly an option. But, we can't know without test results. Are the stains rough and raised above the plaster surface?

Try the various things in the article and we can go from there.
 
Calcium stains, called calcium scale, starts white but it can grab organic material and darken. If your pH, TA and/or CH runs high frequently and over time them scale is certainly an option. But, we can't know without test results. Are the stains rough and raised above the plaster surface?

Try the various things in the article and we can go from there.


would the test results be altered being i had to drop the chlorine down and get the pool ready to be able to do the stop stain treatment?

the stains i wouldnt say or raised, but they do have some texture to them. can you pressure wash away calcium stains? my neighbor has his own pressure wash business and I could drain the pool enough to uncover the shallow standing area and the top steps....would sure beat paying 1600 for an acid wash.

and thanks
 
No, pressure washing won't do it. There are 4 options to treating calcium scale. From least aggressive to most aggressive.

Sand with 100grit wet/dry sandpaper
Lower CSI to -0.8 to -0.9 and brush often with a stainless steel brush to s l o w l y dissolve the scale, Pool School - Calcium Scaling
Do a no drain acid bath, The Zero Alkalinity Acid Treatment
Drain the pool and acid wash
 
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