Dealing with scale problem

[PoolDoc]

OK. I hadn't understood that. I thought you were saying there was still green algae.

Brown algae is dead. And yes, when the calcium 'sand' is present, the algae will remain brown inside those nodules till it's bleached out by sun and/or chlorine.

There probably IS some live algae inside some of the bits, but if everything you can see is brown, then you can move own. So do this:

1. Use muriatic acid to lower your pH to just below 7.0. That is, add acid till you reach 7.0, and the add a bit more. Read http://pool9.net/muriatic/

2. Dose with chlorine nightly, to maintain chlorine levels above 5 in the AM.

3. Brush the scale after adding chlorine, if you can. Don't brush hard, just enough to knock loose what's already coming loose.

4. Complete the pool chart: http://pool9.net/pf-chart/ so we can see what sort of pool you have.

5. Increase aeration by adjusting the return eyeballs to 'riffle' the surface.

[beaverplt]

OK. I hadn't understood that. I thought you were saying there was still green algae. My fault, I should have mentioned the color earlier

Brown algae is dead. And yes, when the calcium 'sand' is present, the algae will remain brown inside those nodules till it's bleached out by sun and/or chlorine.

There probably IS some live algae inside some of the bits, but if everything you can see is brown, then you can move own. So do this:

1. Use muriatic acid to lower your pH to just below 7.0. That is, add acid till you reach 7.0, and the add a bit more. Read http://pool9.net/muriatic/
I added a half gallon just now. I'll check PH before bedtime to see if more is needed.

2. Dose with chlorine nightly, to maintain chlorine levels above 5 in the AM. I'm at dark yellow or about 13 ppm on the oto chart right now. I was in the orange range this morning and most of the day was cloudy. It seems I lost more chlorine today than I have over the past 3 days. Is that due to the higher PH?

3. Brush the scale after adding chlorine, if you can. Don't brush hard, just enough to knock loose what's already coming loose. Easy enough, between my wife and I we've been brushing twice daily plus running our cleaner almost all day.

4. Complete the pool chart: http://pool9.net/pf-chart/ so we can see what sort of pool you have. Stupid of me, should have done that when I joined.

5. Increase aeration by adjusting the return eyeballs to 'riffle' the surface. My eyeballs that are in my steps are a good 6-8 inches below the surface. I aimed them as high as I can. I can see minor riffling when I do. My other return riffles the surface nicely when turned slightly up Question; doesn't aeration increase PH? Am I negating some of the effects of adding muriatic acid?

One more thing. I had almost forgotten that we are going out of town this weekend to celebrate our son's birthday. That means two days without attention. I don't want to lose ground. Any suggestions?

Thanks for your help.

[PoolDoc]

Aeration strips carbon dioxide, which raises pH. But aeration LOWERS 'carbonics' => carbon dioxide + carbonic acid + bicarbonate + carbonates.

Essentially, alkalinity is that fraction of the 'carbonics' that is present as bicarbonates or carbonates. You can't easily remove those. BUT if you lower the pH, you shift some of the bicarbonates and carbonates into the form of carbonic acid + carbon dioxide.

In your case, reducing the alkalinity enable your pool water to begin dissolving the scale. But that, in turn, replenishes the alkalinity, and increases the calcium.

Since you're leaving for a few days, I'd re-orient the eyeballs to reduce aeration, let the pH drift up to a stable plateau, raise the chlorine level -- and then restart the process once you return.

Brushing 2x per day probably doesn't hurt anything, but it probably doesn't help that much, either. Once a day, or even once every 2 days is probably enough. It's unlikely the dissolution process is moving fast enough to warrant a 2x per day brushing.

Losing chlorine could be a result of dissolving some of the algae capsules, and exposing oxidizable algae to the chlorine.

I'll look at your chart data, and update your pool sig. info.

[beaverplt]

I received my new kit today. Here are the numbers I got
FC 7.6
CC .8
TA 150
CH 250
CYA 42

Weekend prep is done. I'll add chlorine tomorrow to raise levels to last through the weekend. I may not make any progress on the scale, but I don't want to give any algae a chance to come back.

[PoolDoc]

Use this chart to enter your test results; go ahead and retest today and complete the chart. I entered the results above.

http://pool9.net/pf-hist-form/

You can see the results here:

http://pool9.net/pf-hist-chart/

Also, if you haven't yet done so, please complete the pool chart data, here:http://pool9.net/pf-chart/


Enter the thread number (24064) as needed:

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php/24064-Dealing-with-scale-problem

I merged your threads -- they are separate problems, and we've been wasting time giving you the same advice in two threads.

[beaverplt]

Thanks for merging the threads I had been hopping back and forth to re-read both.

Back from my weekend away. I had not been home since I read your last post. I tested the water and entered the results on the form you linked. I was pleased to see the pool is very clear. I also cleaned the filter bag on my Dolphin as I usually do before running it and was very pleased to see handfuls of scale from the last cycle. I seem to be making progress. I believe the correct next step is to lower PH to 7.0 again, reorient the eyeballs to riffle the surface again. I'll continue with your program for the next week or so and continue posting results on the chart.

[PoolDoc]

Thanks!

[PoolDoc]

Just checked -- there is no chart entry for "beaverplt", nor any entry associated with this thread (24064)