We have Ocean Blue Pebble Sheen and had the same issues. Our PB kept saying it was normal too... and from what I have seen, is very common, but I did not like it. Cheifneil, from this forum, has the same color we have and his builder did a "no drain" acid wash that helped. I finally after much debate talked our builder into doing this for us. We have a 17k gallon pool and they took the filter out and dumped in 10 gallons of muratic acid, ran the equipment nonstop for 3 days (we have infloor cleaning which helped), rebalanced chemicals and it completely got rid of the streaks or moddling. It basically ate away the cream and exposed the pebbles underneath it. THere were a couple areas where it is light on pebbles and since the extra cream was eliminated, those 2 areas are a little rough, but nothing terrible.

Pebble Tec was in the area and came by since it was the first Ocean Blue PS pool our builder had done and the field support guy from Pebble Tec said it was the most even finish he had ever seen.

Good Luck!

Good to know, our pool is 14,000 gallons and we would hate to have to drain it. Maybe it will all blend when filled and balanced, I just didnt want to wait if it needed to be fixed now. I am hoping other posts say it looked uneven to them to. When he acid washed it didnt look bad, but I did notice a few areas on the stairs that had more "blue cream" on them. As the areas without water dried, they didnt look so hot, thats where I see the mottled look. Then of course I look at the shelf which doesnt look right to me and then I start worring:)

Here is ours during the fill... before no drain acid wash. Main areas of concern were around the drain, where the steps or benches met the wall, and where the floor met the side walls.

The last one is where we have a rough spot. Once the acid wash removed the spots of cream, there were little pebble and is now rough.

Here is a link to after the acid wash... there is a lot of reflection from the trees, fence, etc but the overall streaking and moddling is GONE!

Here is a link that might be useful: After no drain acid wash

What color is your pool, it looks very pretty?

As the entire bottom of our pool filled with water it was harder to see the mottling. I am waiting for it to fill over the stairs and bench area. It was very noticable when the pool dried out in the low end as the deep end was filling. We are half way full tonight, hope to be done tomorrow and I want to see if they can come out Wednesday to do the start up instead of Thursday. Or does it have to sit a day? It was hard to tell from your pictures what looked mottled. It looked great. So your mottling was very noticeable even when it was full and balanced. It seems like your filled pool acid wash worked and you noticed a significant improvement??? At least there is hope and it doesnt have to be emptied.

I uploaded a picture of the bench area. This is probably the worst area.

{{!gwi}}

Our pool is doing the same thing. It looked great after acid wash today, but then as it dried out, it had that film/cream look in some spots. I'm hoping as it fills and I can see it in the light tomorrow it won't look like that. It's good to know the problem can go away. It seems like it's a "pebble finish" issue, not a "brand" issue.

I think the nature of the installation of pebble will cause this problem in most cases. Kind of like grouting tile, that haze stays behind unless you really wipe it well. I remember Chiefneil, the forum goer I mentioned earlier, saying his pool builder does the no drain acid wash on every pool.

The darker color cream, the more noticeable it is going to be.

I had pebblesheen ocean blue installed last august. After the "install" I noticed a few patches on the bottom of the pool as you described. The installer said "don't worry, it will go away." It hasnt. It is actually most noticable in the twilight hours. I was thinking of picking two equal spots and treating one with addtional brushing over the coming weeks to see if that would make a difference.

Overall we love the pebble sheen and I really have a hard time noticing the blotches in direct sunlight. I really hate the thought of messing with the water chemistry at this point. Our pool is about 25,000 gallons. Any other ideas versus the acid washing would be appreciated.

Tomorrow they are coming to do the start up chemicals. I mentioned again that the stairs and bench dont look better with water. Without seeing it, it was hard to comment but she said they might just have to brush those areas to remove any residue....I will keep you posted. The blotchiness in the main pool area does not seem to be noticable now that the pool is filled with water. Our pool looks green (but crystal clear) so it is hard to tell. I guess I just have to sit back and trust it will be ok. They collect their money on start-up.....You like to think everyone is honest and will honor their work, unfortunately its not a perfect world:)

One other note with PS, our ocean blue was an awful pond scum green for the first week. After that it will change to your color. Do not be alarmed.

eimea is right, the pebble guys that did my pool said they do the no-drain acid wash on almost all the dark-colored pebble finishes. Of course that leads one to wonder why they don't just do a more careful job with the initial acid wash....

For the bench and stairs - try slowly and carefully pouring a gallon of acid directly over the blotchy spots with all equipment off. Don't brush or do anything for an hour, then brush and see if that helps. Be careful not to breathe the fumes

chiefneil, I am going to wait and see what they say tomorrow, but just in case down the road we need to try this I want to get it straight.....obviously the pool is full of water when you do this, right? What type of brush did you use. I tried just brushing it today with a nylon handle scrub brush and it was useless. The blue cream is hard as a rock.

What I mentioned isn't a full no-drain acid wash. Acid is heavier than water, so it sinks. On the shallow steps, you can pour the acid into the water and it will sink down to the step and maybe dissolve some of the cream. Standard cautions apply when dealing with acid, of course. If your blotchy spots are at the bottom of the pool, then all bets are off and you'll have to do a proper acid wash.

The pebble guy did just what you mentioned only he didnt wait more than a few minutes and he was brushing. He said what I have is common on the stairs. Apparently the tools they use must really push the stones down deep and therefore they are a more compact and harder to reveal....he says what I am seeing is more cement. I am going to wait a few weeks, check out a few other pebble pools and see if it still bothers me. Thanks.

Here's my stairs during the initial fill. The pebble seemed pretty even to me. I told them in advance that I don't want to see any patches of plaster with few pebbles showing, like I had seen on some other pools. If it's really noticable, have them come back and acid wash those areas.

I'm not noticing those patches as much now that it's filled. But the pump was turned on after initial chemicals yesterday. Apparently we have a plenty strong pump since 'cause it's almost like a whirpool now and we can't see anything clearly! I'll let you know how ours is in the next couple days as the water settles down.

Scrapula, here is the top step and the shelf. The rest of the pool turned out fine. I know its hard to capture that kodak moment, its more noticable when you are right there. Can you see its not uniform....do your stairs have more "cream" in the corners and the edges? Or are they perfect!

Cindy

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

I see the uneven spots you're talking about. Were these pictures taken after the pebble guy's visit yesterday?

Yes, are your stairs all pebbles with no cement showing? The pictures look better than it actually is, its so hard to take the pictures, either the flash refects or the sun is shinning. I need to see some neighbors pools.

Yes, my stairs (the entire pool, in fact) is all pebble with no cement showing. Try the acid thing again yourself. Just lean over from the edge, hold the opening of the bottle as close to the water as possible if not actually in water, and pour it out slowly and gently over the length of the steps. Depending on the severity you might want to brush and repeat with another gallon.

Here's a couple before/after acid wash photos that I dug up of my pool.

The steps were really bad and hadn't fully cleared up after a couple days of the no-drain acid wash. So I poured another gallon directly over them and it finished clearing them up. Actually I think I may have done that twice.
{{!gwi}}

Pool floor:
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Saturday we need to take the water to have it balanced. Its also my daughters birthday party and I know they want to swim. I might try this next week. After you add acid, what do you do to counter act all that acid, wont the chemicals be off. Or should I do this technique when I need acid....is that typically after a rain. My husband takes care of the chemicals.