New Plaster Advice

[BoatingDave]

Hi all. Newbie question here but I have received conflicting advice. Newly plastered 25,0000 gallon pool (white plaster). Fill was fine, added metal sequsterant during fill. I was told to brush and keep pH~7.2 for 14 days. Start-up guy told me to ignore hardness, TA, etc. just watch the pH.....No heater or vacuuming. My start up guy told me it was ok to put a little chlorine 3 pucks in each skimmer. pump running 22 hours/day

question 1: is this the only thing to do? another pool person said no chlorine for 2 weeks? Is a little chlorine OK (no shocking?)

anyway pool looked GREAT for about 5 days, I was brushing 2X/day, water was crystal clear.... but a rain storm came in and my pool is cloudy.... pH was up a bit to 7.4. I added acid, Ph now 7.2, TA 70, hardness 120. CYA 0. now a little green algea is forming on the thermometer floating around..... less cloudy on day 6, but not super clear. Not getting a lot of plater dust anymore.

question 2: I won't shock but is a little chlorine OK? I am at day 7..... keep Ph low still? add algecide?

Thanks and much appreciated....I am willing to work at this but all the advice seems to conflict...

[quantumchromodynamics]

Keep the pH at 7.3 to 7.5. Begin to add bleach to maintain a 3 to 4 ppm of free chlorine. Dilute the bleach to 1 % before adding it to the pool. Do not add any two different chemicals within 8 hours of each other.

Never put trichlor tabs in the skimmer.

Run the pump 24/7

[BoatingDave]

Keep the pH at 7.3 to 7.5. Begin to add bleach to maintain a 3 to 4 ppm of free chlorine. Dilute the bleach to 1 % before adding it to the pool. Do not add any two different chemicals within 8 hours of each other.

Never put trichlor tabs in the skimmer.

Run the pump 24/7

yes i did not think tabs in the skimmer was a good idea either so I put them in a floaty thing. The start up guy said soemthing about "letting the celulose (DE alternative media for filter) rest"? so he suggested 22 hours.... It is OK to use chlorine on the new plaster? Why do some people say no?

[quantumchromodynamics]

Do not put tabs in a floater; the chlorine will fall to the floor and may cause problems. The only acceptable feeder, in my opinion, for tabs is an off-line feeder that feeds to after all equipment. Do not overuse tabs. Do not use tabs in a feeder if you have floor returns and metals in the water. The chlorine could cause metal stains around the returns.

No need to let DE or Cellulose "rest". Keep the filter running.

It is fine to use chlorine in a new plaster pool. It is important not to shock to avoid causing metals to come out of suspension and stain the plaster. Adding moderate amounts does not cause any problems. Add 2 to 3 quarts of Clorox Regular bleach to at least 3 gallons of pool water in a clean, 5-gallon plastic bucket and add by pouring in the deep end.

One quart per 16,000 gallons will raise the chlorine by 1 ppm. Do not raise the chlorine by more than 1 ppm per 5 minutes. Maintain a 3 to 4 ppm chlorine level.

I am doing a start up right now and I am following the same procedure. I do start-ups all the time.

[PaulR]

Tabs in a floater would not cause chlorine to "fall to the floor." The tabs do not disintegrate, they dissolve, and the chlorine in solution will disperse throughout the water just fine.

The bigger problem with a floater is that it will tend to "park" somewhere and the low acidity of the tabs can be a problem if it parks near something that can corrode (e.g. metal stair rails).

The bigger problem with tabs is that they contribute CYA as well as chlorine, and extended use will cause CYA to build up too high and make the chlorine less effective.

--paulr

[geeman]

Cheap tabs can and will disintegrate, especially when they are smaller or almost totally dissolved. I've seen it happen and I've seen it put streaks on gray plaster mostly. Good point with the parking bit, it can also corrode plaster if it gets hung up often. Again, especially if it is a pigmented plaster.

[BoatingDave]

Tabs in a floater would not cause chlorine to "fall to the floor." The tabs do not disintegrate, they dissolve, and the chlorine in solution will disperse throughout the water just fine.

The bigger problem with a floater is that it will tend to "park" somewhere and the low acidity of the tabs can be a problem if it parks near something that can corrode (e.g. metal stair rails).

The bigger problem with tabs is that they contribute CYA as well as chlorine, and extended use will cause CYA to build up too high and make the chlorine less effective.

--paulr

so in general is it a bad idea to use tabs? Do most people here use plain old bleach? doesn't that provide less chlorine? Oh, and does CYA evaporate, or if not if the pool water evaporates in hot sun, will the cya concentration actually RISE?

[quantumchromodynamics]

Tabs are not a bad idea if they are used properly. You have to compensate for the pH and alkalinity drop due to the acidity of the tabs. You have to test the cyanuric acid level at least every 7 days to insure that the level does not go too high. You need to limit the use of trichlor tabs to 10 to 50 % of your total chlorine demand based on the cyanuric acid level.

The chlorine provide by bleach is not any less effective than the chlorine provided by any other source. Once bleach enters the water, it quickly combines with the available cyanuric acid and the chlorine becomes "stabilized". Liquid chlorine or bleach is the best overall source for chlorine.

Cyanuric acid does not evaporate. The only way to lower cyanuric acid is through dilution. The only way to increase cyanuric acid is to add it in concentrated form or in stabilized chlorine.

[jughead]

i agree if using tabs the only way to go is a free standing tab feeder . the pentair rainbow model 300 is my recomendation . be careful loading it up though or all the problems quantumchromodynamics was talking about can come true . i would never use an algecide on new plaster

[PaulR]

I use liquid chlorine as the primary source, and tabs only when I'm away on vacation. Liquid chlorine is typically the cheapest per 1ppm FC, and adds the least extra stuff to the water (just a teeny bit of salt, but almost all forms of chlorine will do that).

Yes if you lose water through evaporation the CYA concentration will rise; but your evaporation loss is only going to be a few percent before you need to add water, diluting it again. The variation is not worth worrying about in practical terms.

--paulr

[Lori Wolfe]

My pool was re-plastered about approximately 6 weeks ago. I first noticed the steps did not have a smooth finish.  The start up companies first technician said it is plaster on plaster. And also he noticed there  was not a float valve to prevent the plaster from going to the 2 main drains.

i told this to the plastering company who got mad and did not know what he is talking about. So the next day a different tech came to do the chemicals.  When he was here he took some pictures and then was talking on the phone for ten min.  After 2 days I asked him if this looked right .  He looked at me and hesitantly said no. It should not look like this.  Then the pool follow company owner just said he did not to get into it he is only there to adjust chemicals. Then to  top it off there was a dime size whole in the plaster that was there several days.

Then the plaster company came to fix the hole.  He said the stuff on the steps would sand off. I assume he thought plaster on plaster and tried sand the top step and now there are large areas with spots from sanding.

 

The pool also was drained to about 18 inches to adjust the calcium due to too much chlorine in our tap water. When drawing there were hairline fissures that appear to be small cracks because we can see when drawing it not smooth because water trails in the drained area 

The follow up pool company had come everyday to adjust chemicals.

What do you think they can do to remedy the surface of a pool. This pool  looks worse than what we had it done. Also white streaks.

Re Plaster?

 

 

 

[waterbear]

You posted in a 15 year old thread. Please start a new thread with your question for a better chance of getting it answered.

[Lori Wolfe]

Just adding something if I was clear on somethings.

.I was talking to the owner after the technicians told me what they saw.

the owner kept telling my husband was running 24/7 just at low RPM so can not hear it.

our own pool service guy and first technician set the pool for 24/7.

i have pictures but I was not able to get them off my iPad

I took them with my phone. 

[waterbear]

Once again, You posted in a 15 year old thread. Please start a new thread with your question for a better chance of getting it answered. This thread is now locked.