Quartzon Pool (6 month's) old with light grey patches

[dave the pool guy]

do not use quatzon, i'm a pool guy and I hate the stuff, you guys are wasting your money. best way to attack this problem is strip the pool out and choose a different surface, choose tile or NZ pebbles.

[Snowman 21]

Had a pool fitted with quartz on 3months ago and like many of your posts the pool started to go blotchy after a few weeks.pool company didn't add cal-stop,quartzon rep has had a look, have now added cal stop and 6ltrs of acid which will remove the stains(they said) no difference.pool company are now playing the water is at fault card( water is tested by a pool shop every week to keep ph perfect).so I feel this could turn in to a long drawn out battle over a new pool that looks like a stained coffee cup

[czechmate]

When you ask for a remedy please at least include your location.
Quartzon is an australian product, though it was registered here in the US in March of 1999.
It looks similar to the DiamondBrite product.
Treatment with acid is best done immediately after filling the pool on the fresh application.
You can find more in detail procedure and also helpful comments in the archive under my login name.

[alexaki]

I have had a new quartzon pool for 15 months now...NO issues as mentioned here....I maintain my water balance perfectly....PH 7-4-7.4 TA 100-140, CH 200-250, CYA 35 I also brush the surface every month...so far so good!..I dont think the maintenance on Quatrzon is any higher than other pool surfaces

[RoyInAdelaide]

I had a calypso Blue Quartzon pool installed 3 years ago and last summer started having a black stain around base of pool. No amount of brushing would remove it. used ZedZed60 (lots of it) , Cal-Stop and keep levels spot on but can't move it . Only option is to drain and try acid washing - What if that doesnt work ? . I sympathise with everyone on here - I feel we have been sold a dud but no-one admits the responsibility. Our old marblesheen was easier to maintain and it was 20 years old.

If anyone has any ideas ........

[alexaki]

I had a calypso Blue Quartzon pool installed 3 years ago and last summer started having a black stain around base of pool. No amount of brushing would remove it. used ZedZed60 (lots of it) , Cal-Stop and keep levels spot on but can't move it . Only option is to drain and try acid washing - What if that doesnt work ? . I sympathise with everyone on here - I feel we have been sold a dud but no-one admits the responsibility. Our old marblesheen was easier to maintain and it was 20 years old.

If anyone has any ideas ........

Hi Roy...any chance you could post a link with some pics of your pool stain....?

[dontgetquartzon]

HI All,
Yes to all of this persons comments.
In our first years of Quartzon pool surface the pool had to be acid washed twice!couldn't understand why?so I the customer had to find out through my pool shop and they had said high calcium leaching out of the surfce!The other eas they left the pool hose in the shallow end and left a hose mark on the surface??I could go on about the whole Quartzon pools stuff but any new customer thinking of getting this srface HIGH Maintence pool.eg Calcium leaching,high pH,Staining,Calcium hardness through the roof levels..etc

Scaling or high pH and TA with metals or calcium

Seriously now.
It is a common practice in the pool industry to acid wash the newly applied plaster to clean from plaster residual and expose the new surface. The concentration of muriatic acid and technique applied is crucial as well as the experience of the crew.
From all the modern surfaces applied today the dark colored plaster is the most demanding on lot match and the perfect mixing during the application process and then also very touchy about acid washing. In your case it may be the combination of both.
Since the plaster application is usually supervised by the owner or company foreman and the acid wash almost never, I suspect that the crew washed from the deck by buckets, acid mix was not uniform and the exposure time to the harsh acid mix was uneven and possibly too long in places, where it sat prior to following wash down.
There is no easy fix for improper work procedure. Acid wash is fairly demanding procedure on old white plaster. It takes even more experience to wash properly fresh Diamond Brite or Pebble Tech.
The gray or dark plaster is sort of crap shoot, depending on quality of the crew and almost always with some deficiencies.
The industry does not always inform the potential customer of the downfalls in selecting some of the exotic surfaces now available. It is mostly left to the buyer to do diligent research prior to spending their hard earned money.

[kiwipool]

So many complaints about Pool Plaster maybe there is an answer coming.

The sooner you look at the date the Quartzon was packed and the date it was applied to the pool you will find out why there are issues with it with discoloration ect.

The cement has already started hydrating so the surface will erode away. Al products that have cement added to them have a shelf life and depending on the storage conditions this can be 3 months Oxide used as the coloring agent is also effected by the hydration of the cement as well, then as for the acid wash just ask yourself.

The product called Armadillo Pool Quartz which is 100% Quartz has no oxide and the cement is added on the day of application that is the same as in the days of Marble plaster. This product due for release in the USA in 2013 has been undergoing testing in New Zealand for more than 12 years and can provide a long term color fast more durable finish.

[silas]

I had a calypso Blue Quartzon pool installed 3 years ago and last summer started having a black stain around base of pool. No amount of brushing would remove it. used ZedZed60 (lots of it) , Cal-Stop and keep levels spot on but can't move it . Only option is to drain and try acid washing - What if that doesnt work ? . I sympathise with everyone on here - I feel we have been sold a dud but no-one admits the responsibility. Our old marblesheen was easier to maintain and it was 20 years old.

If anyone has any ideas ........

The facts about Cal Stop is that it will last only a couple of weeks as it is VERY Chlorine sensitive. Scale Tec is the produst to use.

[boss71]

Brown/grey cloudy stains. This is sometimes caused by calcium carbonate covering dirt or algae on the pool interior. Although calcium carbonate is always white, in some cases, it presents as brown or grey because the dirt discolours the calcium carbonate which gives a brown appearance. This brown appearance cannot be removed with traditional treatments such as chlorine and firm brushing because calcium carbonate does not react to these chemicals. I am not saying this is THE answer to all the problems mentioned here but it is surprising how often calcium is involved in Quartzon issues. and some other websites that pop up with a Quartzon search are worth a look. New Quartzon pools often need a lot of acid to keep the pH in check even when Calstop is added from the beginning.

[Rock painter]

I have seen and fixed this kind of problem many times over the years in So Cal. I’m not going to even try to tell you why it happened the only thing for sure is the plaster guy will blame your pool guy and vice versa. Funny that is even going on here. The fix is fast and simple, Look for a pool tile cleaning company that bead blasts, Bead blasting will even out the plaster quickly next to avoid this happening again get a pump up sprayer with a fan tip fill it with a good concrete densifire that is a penetrating non-membrane concrete sealer that internally hardens, densifies and blocks vapor emissions. The reason it works is the sealer goes in the plaster creates a gel the gel hardens and creates a protective shield inside the plaster that keeps the color even and is chemical resistant and you have solved the problem I am not a know it all I learned this procedure working at Disneyland I was just the guy with a bead blaster all the credit goes to the Disney engineers anyway I hope this helps.

[Lisa_gr]

I have had the exact same problem. I have pictures to show and compare with you if you like?
After 6 months I noticed the blotchy patches start to appear at the top of the pool, just underneath the waterline tile and progressively got worse and worse. This continued to run down the pool walls to the pool floor. When it first appeared I contactted quartzon and they continued to tell me it was calcium build up until I eventually had enough and demanded they come out to inspect. 6 months later they are still sending out people to view it saying they have never seen anything like this before and have no idea what has caused this to happen. They have come to the conclusion that they are semi-draining my pool this winter and giving it an acid wash to see if this fixes the problem!?? What should i do?

[lisa_gr]

I have a Quartzon pool that started exhibiting white(cacification ) spots almost immediately it was filled , by end of summer , it looked like pool had measles. During winter it was re-acid washed& refilled& rebalanced , almost immediately white spots reappeared. Quartzon rep said could be Quartzon not laid properly, leading to microporosity & rising ph. I had pool balanced aprox every 2-3 weeks & white spots still form. After initial acid wash & refilling pool, white spots started to form but not as many as 1st time round. Any solutions?

Hi John,

Your pool sounds like mine atm. Can you tell me how things went with your pool and if quartzon fixed the blotchiness.

http://www.troublefreepool.com/post459637.html#p459637

The link above shows you my current pool images and the blotchiness.

[Poolpro]

Grey spots can be trapped moisture.I drained a pool and torched the areas and they went away.As for those grey path ways are the areas that washed out when they wash the finish while there trowling and the water rushes down the floor.As they trowel down to the deepend they hand them Balls of (patch) material that they save out of the last batch mixed and most times doesn't come out the same color after its finished..

[Free info]

I have seen the same issue with Quartzon all the time as any color other than white with whatever color speckles you want does this. Do not use it period, any good plaster guy will not even offer it unless you use white. I also suggest not using colored plaster as they can not mix all the plaster at once so the plaster does not match perfect the way everyone wants it too. I can see the protective coating working for a pool but really? Who wants to do that to keep their pool correct.