Man, that's a bummer . . . well, the high pH wouldn't eat away at the plaster, so that's at least one good thing. If I had to guess, I'd say that the plaster dust has gotten stuck to the plaster . . . just a guess. The low hardness would leach calcium from the plaster, but I'm not sure what visual/tactile effect that has exactly. Is this an aggregate surface of any kind, quartz perhaps? Maybe post more info on your chemistry to help give everyone an idea of where your numbers are . . .
I think I've heard of people using a pumice stone to do small spots of roughness, but if this is wide spread, I'm not sure what you could realistically do to smooth out the entire surface. I'd tend toward a combination chemical/mechanical solution. I'll be interested to hear what the experts have to say on this one. Once again, sorry to hear about that happening on a new pool . . .
Hope that helps a little at least,
SJohnson
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