Water Feels Chalky on skin - Causes?

[Kegman]

Moved from here.

Opened my pool this year, had a small leak and had to fill with water. I'm in the exact same boat, water is balanced, chlorine has been perfect and low with the same results.

Anyone ever solve this?

FC 1.5
PH 7.8
TA 80
CH 330
CYA 70

 

[Mr Bruce]

Opened my pool this year, had a small leak and had to fill with water. I'm in the exact same boat, water is balanced, chlorine has been perfect and low with the same results.

Anyone ever solve this?

FC 1.5
PH 7.8
TA 80
CH 330
CYA 70

Your FC is too low for your CYA btw.

I'm just throwing out ideas. Is it possible the chlorine/bleach you are using has some additives that give the water this feel? That new Chlorox? Splashless? Scented?

 

[mkolb]

I have a fiberglass pool and if I rub the walls I get a white chalky substance that comes off; is that what you are seeing? My chemistry is perfect; so I have pretty much just ignored it.

 

[Kegman]

I don't see anything except on my hands. Yeah my FC got low. I had this same feeling when it was a 6

 

[Kegman]

I have a fiberglass pool and if I rub the walls I get a white chalky substance that comes off; is that what you are seeing? My chemistry is perfect; so I have pretty much just ignored it.

I've seen that before but no. It's just on my skin. I brought a sample to local pool place for a test. I have 1200 phosphates. Could this be it?

 

[zea3]

Nope, every pool has phospates, the amount just varies. Don't let them sell you phosphate remover. Your pH and CH are inching to the high side, that might be it. Some people add salt to the water to improve the feel.

 

[gonfishin]

My water also seems chalky or dry. I’ve been thinking it’s higher TA than last year as my test results are similar with the exception of TA.

 

[Kegman]

Well, I did do the phosphate remover and this weekend I didn't experience that chalky feel. According to them my stabilizer was higher, CYA 86.

 

[Donldson]

Yeah, they do the CYA test indoors which skews the results. Perhaps you missed the part where we said not to trust pool stores. Looks like they got their sale.

However, I do believe you that the phosphate remover helped fix the problem. I doubt it has anything to do with phosphates though and could have been accomplished with a much cheaper chemical...

 

[Kegman]

Yeah, they do the CYA test indoors which skews the results. Perhaps you missed the part where we said not to trust pool stores. Looks like they got their sale.

However, I do believe you that the phosphate remover helped fix the problem. I doubt it has anything to do with phosphates though and could have been accomplished with a much cheaper chemical...

I've read quite a bit over the years here. Which chemical would have killed the phosphates cheaper?

I've read plenty about the cya test in stores, it should be performed on a sunny day, however only reason I'm considering theirs to have a chance at being accurate is because theirs was 100% automated in a machine. I never seen anything like that before.

 

[zea3]

Machine test does not equal better test results, in fact it is often the opposite. The testing machines need frequent cleaning and re-calibration to be accurate. Odds are that is not happening.

We don't recommend any phosphate remover because in a properly chlorinated pool they don't matter. Phosphates are algae fertillizer, but if you have no algae, you have no algae, simple as that. If you keep your FC within target range for your CYA level you could have a billion ppm of phosphate and it won't matter.

 

[Donldson]

Oh, it was done in a machine? My mistake. Their result is a complete joke then, it's pure luck that it was even close to an actual result. Digital testing just looks impressive to make sales, accuracy doesn't help make sales so it's not a priority.

As I said, reducing phosphates did not fix the problem. It was a side-effect of the phosphate remover that did. It had nothing to do with phosphates and it could have been accomplished much better and cheaper.