Are chlorine tabs causing buildup on my tile?

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tanksjeep

tanksjeep

LifeTime Supporter
Sep 23, 2015
46
Lake Havasu City, AZ
Pool Size
12500
Surface
Plaster
I use soft water for my makeup water so as not to increase my pools calcium through water evaporation. This kept my calcium build up to a minimum for about a year. The pool water wasn’t 100% soft water to begin with but now I am seeing an increase in build up on my tile. Could the chlorine tabs be causing this? I know that the water softener exchanges the calcium ions for sodium ions. Maybe I am seeing salt build up? The water hardness has not changed much in a few years.
 
How do you test your water? Are you using one of the Test Kits Compared? You should post your current testing results. If you use the PoolMath app then are you calculating your CSI? That is a good place to start after you get a current CH reading. Yes, your tabs could be causing this rise in CH. You should be using liquid chlorine or better yet, a salt water chlorine generator.
 
Also, post up the active ingredients in your tabs. Most add CYA, but if they are Cal-hypo they add calcium instead. Tabs are not a good long term chlorination solution.
 
Scrape some of the scale off and drop it in either muriatic acid or cleaning vinegar. If it dissolves it’s calcium scaling. I doubt the tabs are the cause, how often are you using them? Are they your primary source of chlorination?
 
Very typical evaporative water line scale. Really nothing you can do about it. There is a gelled acid product that is best to use to remove it. Get it early or you to have it blasted off. You can also try a non woven quick strip disc. Home Depot has them. Avanti Pro.
 
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Lake Placid said:
Scrape some of the scale off and drop it in either muriatic acid or cleaning vinegar. If it dissolves it’s calcium scaling. I doubt the tabs are the cause, how often are you using them? Are they your primary source of chlorination?
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Yes, tabs are pretty much all I use unless I need to shock it or I might add liquid chlorine if I need to get the chlorine level up quickly. We were gone for 6 months (April to October) and I hired a pool service that only comes once a week. I’ll try adding some of the scaling in MA.
 
mknauss said:
Very typical evaporative water line scale. Really nothing you can do about it. There is a gelled acid product that is best to use to remove it. Get it early or you to have it blasted off. You can also try a non woven quick strip disc. Home Depot has them. Avanti Pro.
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Thanks. As you know, here in the southwest, our evaporation is horrendous. This is why I add a water softener. I was hoping to eliminate or greatly reduce the buildup on the tile.
 

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You have greatly reduced the scale. But when our summer temperatures are over 120F, you can do nothing about evaporative scale at the water line.
 
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