Bubbles and Flakes

[oasisdave]

Thanx for the reply, I'll post a complete water test when I get home. I do know my PH has been around 7.6 - 7.8 I TRY to keep it 7.6 or lower but with the swg it sure likes to stay pretty high. I got the following reply from the Aquarite tech support:

The Aqua Rite can't make the flakes but they may be forming from something in the chemistry reacting with the chlorine. I recommend getting a complete water chemistry analysis done then call our Technical Support Team from the pool so we can go over the results and look at the system's diagnostics.

Would the ps233 be considered a complete water chemistry analysis? As the Aquarite tech asked for?

[Poolsean]

Yes. Ben's test kit is fine for this purpose.
However, I do not agree with the techs analysis. The flakes can form on the cell. it's the very nature of salt cells to generate calcium scale. The reverse polarity's function is to dissolve the calcium back into solution before it has a chance to build up or flake off. If the reverse polarity is not working properly, or your water chemistry is considered "Scale forming" according to the Saturation Index, then you'll see scale. Typically, if the reverse polarity is not working properly, the cell will develope scale in about a week. The scale would be visible when looked into the end of the cell. Water chemistry related scale usually build up in 2 weeks or longer.

Hope this helps.

[mas985]

The last few weeks, I have had a similar problem. White flakes you can see best at night with the light on. I did not think it was the SWG because of the volume of water and density of the flakes. It seems like a SWG have to make a lot of flakes to be able to see it in a 14,000 gallon pool let alone a 21,000. But then again, I do have high calcium and it would seem like a reasonable explaination.

Oasisdave,

Do you have high calcium in your pool? That is my problem and I think it may contribute to the flakes.

Also, I have read in another post that it could just be particulates in the water. Summer time puts a lot stuff in the water and the chlorine bleaches it to white. Depending on the density of the particles, they will float, sink or stay mixed with the water. The later has a hard time getting filtered out.

If I could catch a few particles, it would be interesting to put under a microscope.

[Ozzzz]

I have also noticed flakes in my pool, to me they look like bad dandruff. Some days I notice them and some I dont, all depends on how the sun is shining into the pool. Pool Store told me to shock with non-chlorine shock, didnt have much effect.

During the time that my cell was not switching polarity correctly the flakes were really bad, and also caked up my debris shield in the skimmer pretty bad. Since finding this site, getting a good test kit to check the chemistry, and getting my salt cell replaced I havent really noticed the flakes, the debris sheild is not caked with white powdery stuff either, and my cell is not scaling up either. The scale that had built up on the tile in the spa also seems to be cleaning itself up.

My CH is up over the 1000 mark right now and try to keep my PH below 7.8 to stay in a non-scaling condition.

[guild1]

Keep your CH close to 200 and your PH in the correct range and the flakes will disappear.
Greg

[mas985]

Keep your CH close to 200 and your PH in the correct range and the flakes will disappear.
Greg

Easy for you to say . With fill water over 350 ppm hardness, it is very difficult to keep the pool below 400 ppm. The only thing I have to work with is alkalinity and PH and that does not seem to be enough.

[waste]

Oh, sorry, I thought this was a thread about some of my old girlfriends - seriously, Sean, as per usual, has the right take on this.

[socalKC]

Keep your CH close to 200 and your PH in the correct range and the flakes will disappear.
Greg

My water is 350 coming out of the city supply. Can't do much about that, sad as that is. I suppose I can truck water in......

this issue of white flakes has plague our system for four years. I will tell you what I have found to be the case in my sitation. My flaeks are BAD, by the way.

1. defintely has to do with CH, my start point is 350 and it is over 700 now after draining two years ago.
2. It only happens in summer (high chlorine output)
3. Ph lowering has not helped me, but I try to maintain it low at around 7.3-.4
4.The Corporate Aquarite guy came here a couple of years ago and basically blew me off as a pool chemistry issue that he can't help. Which I basically agree with, but he was a total jerk....I don't recall his name but I do recall he was Australian.
5. It also causes my filter to require cleaning more often, like once a month(cartridge).
6. I eventually learned not too mess with putting tons of product, clarifiers, etc in the pool. However, if there was something new developed, I would try it.

I realize this isn't solving the problem but, the only thing I have done that works is drain the pool. Also I try to clean the cell once a month, not sure this helps. It is so visible/bad in my spa that I think we have to drain again.

I also would appreciate any new found input/product.

karen in so cal