Fiber Tech Liner

by Rick Stewart
(Palm Beach Gardens, Fl)

I had my concrete pool covered with a product called Fiber Tech when it was time for resurfacing.

The website talks about calcium levels but says "not with a fiber glass pool", which is what I now essentially have.

What should the calcium level of my pool be?

I recall when it was 1st installed it was a bit cloudy until this got settled and I had to fire the old pool guy and go with one recommended by Fiber Tech.

Now I want to do it myself to save some money.

Thanks

Rick

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Thanks for the question Rick

I had many customers who had fiberglass pools in Arizona. Each one of them said they would never go back to regular concrete pools.

The "mostly for concrete pools" is for the calcium level. When the calcium gets too low the water will cause "pitting" in the plaster or concrete. This is when actual chunks of plaster are drawn away from the pool surface.

Here in Oregon we have very soft water, about 1-2ppm so I have to add calcium to the YMCA pool on a regular basis.

In Arizona the calcium level, and also the TDS (total dissolved solids) are extremely high, around 300 - 400ppm, so obviously no extra calcium is needed.

The calcium level should be between 150 - 250ppm, but again this is mostly for concrete pools for the stated reasons.

Fiberglass pools don't have a problem with pitting because there's nothing to pit. If you have decorative tiles at the water line I would recommend keeping the calcium at this level.

If not you run the risk of the tiles coming apart because with the lack of calcium the water will draw calcium from the grout between the tiles. Otherwise, I personally wouldn't worry about adding any extra calcium. I took care of pools for years in Arizona and never have any any issues.

Hope this helps and good luck with your pool

Robert