White flakes or sometiing

[Aanders34]

Hi there
We had a pool installed July 2021 and this year sometime in June I started seeing white flakes/substance in the pool daily. My water chemistry is tested weekly and everything is within range. I vacuum daily and rinse off my cartridge filter which is a pain but the o my way to keep the pool clean. I have a leisure pool precision 23 fibreglass pool that is a high water line pool and I’m also losing about an inch of water daily which doesn’t seem right. I add water daily using a filter on my hose. I’ve been to 3 pool places and no one can explain all the white stuff. I have cleaned my salt cell twice this year so it’s not scale buildup.
Thoughts?

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum.
Collect some of it and put a drop of acid on it. If it fizzes, it is scale. From the SWCG.

Can you post a complete set of water chemistry test results from your own test kit?

 

[Aanders34]

Welcome to the forum.
Collect some of it and put a drop of acid on it. If it fizzes, it is scale. From the SWCG.

Can you post a complete set of water chemistry test results from your own test kit?

The pictures attached are from today and I vacuumed it yesterday. With a clean salt cell how would that much scale occur?
It’s tough to collect as it basically dissolves when I try to touch it

 

[mknauss]

Depending on your brand / model of SWCG, the polarity reversal occurs every so many hours, cycles, etc. It sheds the scale off the plates. A properly balanced pool water will not have scale left on the plates nor should you be shedding much scale, if any. Likely the TA is high, along with elevated pH and possible CH.

Do you have chemistry test results?

 

[Aanders34]

Depending on your brand / model of SWCG, the polarity reversal occurs every so many hours, cycles, etc. It sheds the scale off the plates. A properly balanced pool water will not have scale left on the plates nor should you be shedding much scale, if any. Likely the TA is high, along with elevated pH and possible CH.

Do you have chemistry test results?

Interesting. I don’t have results handy at the moment and the ones I get are from my pool store. I’ve read up on the Taylor kits and will probably invest in one shortly

 

[mknauss]

I’ve read up on the Taylor kits and will probably invest in one shortly

Great plan. Pool store testing is not typically very accurate.

You live pretty close to the US border. You can ship a TF100 or K2006C to a mail drop on the US side of the border and drive over to pick it up.

 

[gingrbredman]

Welcome to TFP! A couple things to get you on track....

You can scoop out some water where you have a large deposit of the flakes, and let the water evaporate. You will see some of these flakes remain pretty consistently solid and then can put the acid on it to confirm.

I’ve been to 3 pool places and no one can explain all the white stuff

As @mknauss already mentioned, pool store testing is inaccurate at best, and most likely incorrect, and not correctly reporting the results from the water that are important to keeping the white scale out of the water.

My water chemistry is tested weekly and everything is within range.

The honest answer is your water is not in range. Water balanced with the TFP ranges in check will not have white flakes from your SWCG in it. Without seeing a reliable set of test results, I would also agree your TA and PH are high, and this is the reason for the flakes.

Early in my time here at TFP, I also had these in my pool. Once I had my water in real balance, they never came back. This is one of the reasons why it is so important to have a proper test kit, so you can rely on the results, and make the necessary adjustments to quickly get ahead of any issues.

When you clean your SWCG, try not to use muriatic acid if you can. The more you use over the life of the cell, the lower its life will be. If you can use clean water and a plastic or wood tool to gently remove any deposits, your cell will last much longer.

After you get your test kit, make sure to download the pool math app. And when you do, make sure to track CSI. Keeping your CSI in the recommended ranges will also greatly reduce the possibility of these flakes. While you do not directly make adjustments for CSI, the calculations are based on all the variables that can keep scaling, and white flakes at bat.

 

[rcs29]

Agree with the above that this almost certainly SWCG scale. Also agree to not use MA if you can help it. Bamboo skewers you can get in the BBQ section of most places work well or popsicle sticks with water from garden hose. Your 1" water loss per day would maybe warrant a bucket test to see if it is evaporation or a leak.

 

[Aanders34]

Great plan. Pool store testing is not typically very accurate.

You live pretty close to the US border. You can ship a TF100 or K2006C to a mail drop on the US side of the border and drive over to pick it up.

Looks like I can get them from Amazon.ca

 

[Aanders34]

My last test numbers from the pool store on Aug 5 were:
Ch - 2
pH - 7.8
TA - 180
CH - 250
cya - 20 (added 1.5L of stabilizer later that day)
Phosphates - 50
Salt - 1600 (low salt system)

 

[Aanders34]

Todays pools test results

Ch - 4
Ph - 7.6
TA - 200
CH - 220
Cya - 35

Thinking the ph and ta need to come down to prevent the white flakes….thoughts?

 

[rcs29]

Todays pools test results

Ch - 4
Ph - 7.6
TA - 200
CH - 220
Cya - 35

Thinking the ph and ta need to come down to prevent the white flakes….thoughts?

By reducing your PH to 7.0 and then letting it drift back up and repeating you'll eventually lower your TA. It'll take awhile to bring it down. Yes your TA is high and if it were me I'd be working to bring it down.

 

[Aanders34]

my numbers from today are:
ch: 5
pH: 7.2
TA: 100
CH: 200
CYA: 30

Ive but 3L of muriatic acid in over the last 3 days (1L/day) and brought the ph and TA down. Still lots of white flakes settling on the ground but going to try and keep these levels for now i guess.

 

[rcs29]

You got your TA to drop 100ppm in 3 days? That seems crazy to me. Are you waiting until it turns blue and then adding drops until there is no more color change? Not saying this is impossible as I wouldn't know but based on personal experience it seems like quite the drop. And to be clear you are now using one of the recommended kits right?

 

[Oly]

Adjust your water chemistry to run a negative CSI. Having a fiberglass pool gives you more flexibility.

CSI and LSI - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

PoolMath

Discover the calculator behind the perfect pool, PoolMath. Dealing with pools has allowed TFP to become the original authors of the best calculator on the net.

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Aanders34]

My pool store uses a Taylor kit and I’ve been watching them do it but only record the numbers I’ve posted. It’s not a big pool by any means…11x21 and 5’ depth and has a 3’ splash deck in the 21’ length.

I bought myself a kit but it hasn’t arrived yet

 

[rcs29]

Ok. I'd hold off on adding anything other than chlorine until you get your own kit. I wouldn't have suggested anything if I knew you didn't have it yet.