I did a search on this subject but still not sure if I should be concerned as it doesn't appear that any professionals have chimed in. Just noticed this wet spot after our mini pebble was applied yesterday. DH says he noticed all along that there was a wet spot on the gunite in that area... wish he had pointed it out to me earlier. We are currently getting acid wash and will begin our fill in a couple of hours. Should we be concerned with this spot?

I know this is an old post, but I am having a similar issue with same pebble plaster pictured in the original post except mine is already 12 years old. This year, I had the pool acid washed. The acid was diluted propery from what I know. The pitting isn't really terrible, a lot of pebbles come loose apparently when you acid wash, but the discoloration started to appear mainly in two small areas over the course of the season. I have never had a plaster issue before. My pool guy insists that it's not the acid wash - and maybe he's 100% correct - but I have no other explanation. Yet. I bought an underwater camera but haven't yet developed the film. In the meantime, can any of you here shed light on acid washing pebble plaster. I've read a lot of posts where pool experts warn against it. My pool guy assures me that it's a lot of chatter, and, that done right, acid washing pebble is fine. I treasure this guy, he's hard working and honest. It's not a good spot to be in. I just want to figure out what is going on.

Did you ask your pool builder of the folks at NPT? We had some brown spots in our pebble finish that we were worried about and our pool builder came over to check it out for us.

sabbath7, your pool and fireplace is very pretty! Are those real rocks under the hot tub area? I like how the water flows over the stones. Mtn, that second picture you posted is one I've come across before and I believe it was a natural pool, AKA there is no pool cleaning system and the vegetation keeps the water clean. I briefly entertained the idea of doing something that b/c I love that picture, but gave up quickly b/c it seemed like too much hassle, impractical for us, and possibly kind of gross. These are very helpful suggestions, thanks! I have to be careful what I do around the pool's edging as far as vegetation b/c the dogs like to run circles around the pool when they swim in FL and they also like to roll around in grassy/plant areas when they are wet so I need to make sure they don't have garden areas where they can roll around and get filthy as they run around the pool. Garden/greenery has to be incorporated where they cannot get into it to make a mess. Our PB has us sourced to use PA Bluestone irregular slab pool coping and decking so we're good on that! I think he'll be good at picking out the rocks that look right b/c he knows we were very fanatical about the rocks for our water falls (like I said, we insisted on only rock sourced directly from our land for those... unfortunately, we don't have enough big rocks left on our land to do the pool). I will stress no orange-ish rocks and minimal or no rounded stone! I don't like round stones, they don't look as natural/rustic to me. We're trying to get the pool water color to be kind of like my first picture, do you think that was done w/ grey interior? I told PB I wanted water similar to that color, not sure what is planed for that yet. I'm not sure DH will go for rocks with lichen, he tends not to like mossy rocks and rejected the mossy once which were found when we did the water features. Don't know why he doesn't like b/c I think they look natural and add interest, but must compromise :)