Had pea soup but now....

I got lazy and didn't cover my pool over the winter, so I got what I deserved. An 18' x 52" bowl of pea soup. I drained it down and cleaned out as much as possible. Then work got real busy and I left the pool with only a few inches of water in it. I waited for a very warm stretch of weather and slowly filled it back up so the liner wouldn't split. Let me shorten this.. The pea soup is gone, it is still cloudy but I am using old nylons on the skimmer basket to catch the algae. Now, when I climbed in to do some detailed cleaner I have like scales or calcium deposit all over the liner. It is light brownish white and will only come off with a brillo pad. What is it and will it come back? Thanks, in advance.

First of all, welcome to the forum!!:)
We need chem #s (pH, alk, CH ...) to better tell whethewr it's calcium or not. Please post the full test #s and I or someoneelse will tell you what's going on.

ps. Don't use a brillo pad on the liner!

I will get some #s in the a.m. I used a non-scratch brillo (the kind that you can use on cars that don't hurt the finish) It came off with just some moderate scrubbing. I picked up a pool scrubber today but won't try it until Sat. p.m. Thanks, again.

By the way, leaving a pool uncovered over the winter doesn't necessarily mean pea soup in the spring. I didn't cover mine, but the water stayed clear. A little dirt on the bottom, but that is all. Al (Poconos) never covers his either. So, it is possible to leave it uncovered and be OK come springtime.

And..... welcome to the forum!

Good morning,

Here's what I got this a.m.
FC - 0
CC - 0 (added 1/3 gal bleach)
TA - 250
PH - 7.6
CYA - filled the reading tube to the top but still could see the dot that is suppose to disappear
Hardness - couldn't get a reading after 20 drops so it must be way over 500.

Stuff on the sides that I scrubbed off has not shown any signs of trying to come back.

Water is still cloudy but it looks to be getting better.

With the readings I got wouldn't it be better to finish scrubbing the (whatever it is) off and drain and refill?

Thanks, again

Your idea of getting the stuff off and draining/ refilling sounds very workable. I'd take a test of the fill water for pH alk and hardness - sounds like the problem may be being exaserbated by the fill water, so if it is the fill water draining and refilling may not do any good:( If you don't mind the cleaning/ draining/ refilling and the fill water is good, it will probably save you a lot of time getting the water ballanced. If the fill water is ~ the same chem make-up as what's in the pool, you're going to want to drop the alk and run with a lower pH - it'll probably take quite a while to get the alk down and use a bunch of acid. Please let us know and we'll help you.:)
Oh yeah, be very!! careful!! draining a liner pool!!!! you should leave ~ 6" of water in it. If you don't know why I'm saying this, please ask for further info!

Best of luck with this!

Well, I didn't test the water today. I drained it down to about 24" and scrubed and scrubbed. It came off and then I vac'd with it on "waste" and dropped it to ~ 18". Looks a lot better and am refilling now. I just for the heck of it tested the hose water and the FC was 5 and the PH was 7.8. So we will see what it is in the a.m. BTY I'm using a Walmart AquaChem 6 ways, it that good enough or should I go to a Taylors or something else?
Have a good night.

Sounds like things are comming along nicely:) You've got to know the pH, alk and hardness to be able to tell if calcium scale will form, if your kit is not strips and the reagents are fresh/ good, the Walmart kit is fine. Depending on the #s, you may be able to keep the calcium in suspension by running the pool at a pH of 7.2 - 7.4, or you may have to airate off some of the alk. Thanks for keeping us posted, the more we know about your pool, the more we can help.

Here's the latest:

Refilled and looks much better. So that is what the bottom of my pool looks like. It still has the slightess of cloudy to it but it is coming along. Skimmer socks are the greatest. My numbers for the day:

Weather: 66/cloudy
Water temp: 72

FC/TC/CC: 0 (added 1/3 gal of bleach)
PH: 7.6
TA: 240 (Should I add some Muriactic Acid to bring it down? Will this drop my PH to low?)
CYA: 0 (Help please!! Can't get a reading. It was okay last year)
CA: 260 (Tested twice and seems okay)

Once the pool is ready then I can get back to the "honey do" list that is growing quickly.

Thanks for all the help, we are finally getting close.

Take a look at the Alkalinity and calcium section, I believe the 'airation' method of lowering alk is stickied there, it involves acid., patience and persistence. You are slightly on the scaling side of the Langlier index, however Chem_geek says that you shouldn't be in the scaling area yet. The cloudyness may just be left over from the water you didn't drain from the pool, you might try taking the pH down to 7.2 and see if that helps. Hopefully you'll have clear water soon!:)