General FAQs
Poseidon marbelite is pool plaster manufactured by Poseidon Pool Plaster in Centurion, Gauteng, and supplied across South Africa. It is made with Class 1 52.5 white Portland cement and comes in 72 marbelite colours.
No. Poseidon Pool Plaster supplies marbelite, not labour, so we don’t quote on pool renovation work. We can tell you exactly how many bags of marbelite your pool needs: use the free Marbelite Calculator or WhatsApp us your pool’s length, width and depth.
On request, Poseidon can share the contact details of pool plasterers who use our marbelite. This is for your convenience only and is not a recommendation or endorsement. These contractors are independent businesses, and Poseidon is not responsible for their workmanship, pricing or conduct.
Before appointing any plasterer, do your own checks: ask for references and photos of marbelite pools they have completed, confirm their business details, and get a written quote. Make sure they will follow the Poseidon Pool Care Guide, with measured water per bag, nothing added to the mix, and misting after application.
Yes. Poseidon marbelite carries a 6-month limited warranty from the date of purchase. It covers defects in the product itself, not the way it is applied or looked after. See our full terms and conditions.
What the warranty covers (product defects):
The wrong colour supplied, or a colour that does not match the batch ordered
Missing or incorrect materials in the bag
Any other visible inconsistency in the product as supplied, before it is mixed or applied
How we check a claim: Poseidon keeps a retained sample of every production batch for 6 months. If you report a problem within that period, we test the retained sample from your batch against the issue. Your invoice records your batch numbers, so please keep it.
What the warranty does not cover. The following are not product defects, and Poseidon cannot be held liable for them:
Workmanship: how the contractor or applicator prepared the surface, mixed the marbelite (including the water per bag), applied, trowelled, misted and cured it, and when the pool was filled
Water chemistry: any reaction between the pool water and the plaster when the water is not tested and balanced, including etching, scaling, staining, bleaching and discolouration
Stored or untested water: filling with water from a pool bladder, borehole or any other source that was not tested and balanced before filling
Maintenance: incorrect chemical dosing, adding chemicals directly into the pool, floaters, solid covers, salt chlorinators used too early, unsuitable cleaning equipment, or failing to test and balance the water regularly
Outside factors: weather, structural problems with the pool shell, and normal wear and tear
If a claim is accepted, Poseidon’s liability is limited to replacing the defective product or, at our discretion, refunding its purchase price, as set out in our terms and conditions.
To assess any claim, we need your invoice, the plastering-day record sheet, photos before, during and after plastering, and your weekly pool shop water test results.
WhatsApp Poseidon a photo and a full pool shop water test as soon as you notice a problem. The earlier we see it, the easier it is to put right. We reply within 1 working day.
To investigate a marbelite problem properly, we’ll ask for:
Photos before, during and after plastering, and of the problem today
The plastering-day record sheet: date, weather, number of plasterers, bags used, batch numbers and water per bag
Your invoice, which shows your marbelite batch numbers
Weekly water test results from a pool shop. Test strips, or tests covering only pH, chlorine and alkalinity, aren’t enough.
Poseidon keeps a sample of every marbelite batch for 6 months, so your exact batch can be tested.
Please allow a time frame of 24-48 hours. Special made orders may take longer and is determined by the production schedule.
Poseidon keeps fast-moving marbelite colours in stock, such as White, Sky Blue, Aqua Blue and Charcoal. Darker and less common colours are made to order once payment is received. Buy all the marbelite for your pool at once, from the same batch, so the colour matches across the pool.
Yes. In Gauteng, delivery is quoted seperately to the supply and is based on distance and the number of bags. For the rest of South Africa, we deliver to main hubs in the major cities. WhatsApp us for a delivery quote.
Yes. Marbelite is a hand-applied cement finish, so soft, even variation in shade (mottling) is part of its natural look, and darker marbelite colours show it more. Sharp-edged dark patches, streaks that follow the trowel, or patchy fading are not normal. Compare with the photos in the Poseidon Pool Care Guide, or WhatsApp us a photo.
One 40kg bag of Poseidon marbelite covers 2 sqm at 6–8mm thick. Add your pool’s floor area to its wall area and divide by 2; for a renovation, subtract 4 bags. The free Marbelite Calculator works it out for you. Order enough marbelite to finish the whole pool from one batch.
Application FAQs
You can, but Poseidon strongly recommends experienced marbelite plasterers. Marbelite must be applied in one session by a team, about one skilled plasterer for every 10–15 sqm, with even trowel pressure and timing across the whole pool. DIY mistakes show as cracks, mottling and patchy colour.
If you plaster your pool yourself, follow Poseidon’s Book 5: How to Plaster a Pool step by step, and make sure you have enough experienced hands on the day.
Only a builder with marbelite experience. Marbelite is applied differently from normal cement plaster: the water must be measured exactly, nothing may be added to the mix, and trowelling timing decides the final colour. Give your builder the Poseidon Pool Care Guide before work starts.
Start with 6 litres of liquid per 40kg bag of Poseidon marbelite (5L water + 1L diluted Marbeltite bonding liquid), and never go above 8 litres per bag. Measure it with a marked bucket, never a hosepipe. Too much water makes marbelite weak and porous, causing cracking, delamination, patchy colour and mottling.
Wait at least 24 hours after plastering before filling a marbelite pool, and longer in cold weather, until the surface is hard. Marbelite doesn’t need to dry out, because cement cures by reacting with water. It only needs to be hard enough not to be marked by the incoming water.
Wrap the end of the hose in a cloth or plastic bag with no print, lay it on the floor at the deep end, and fill without stopping.
Yes. Replace the filter sand as part of every pool renovation. Old sand holds residue from the old pool (chemicals, scale, metals and algae) and releases it into the newly plastered pool, causing high or unexplained readings. If you can’t replace it, backwash and rinse fully before switching to filter, and test the water within 24 hours of filling.
Maintenance FAQs
Yes. Always have the water you’ll fill with fully tested at a pool shop before filling a newly plastered pool: pH, total alkalinity, calcium hardness, stabiliser, chlorine, phosphates, and copper and iron. Many South African municipal supplies are low in calcium and alkalinity, which attacks new marbelite. WhatsApp Poseidon the report and we’ll tell you which chemicals to add.
Old pool water stored in a pool bladder during a renovation must be tested too. Its chemical levels are unknown, and untested stored water can damage new marbelite immediately.
Water balancing starts as soon as the pool is filled—you do not need to wait 21 days. Have the water fully tested within 24 hours of filling and send the results to Poseidon for advice before adding chemicals.
New marbelite releases lime as it cures, raising pH and alkalinity. Test pH every 1–2 days for the first two weeks, then twice a week until day 28. Keep pH between 7.4 and 7.6.
Add chemicals only as needed, diluted through the weir—never directly onto the pool surface. Add treatments separately, allowing 12 hours of circulation between them.
The 21-day wait applies to automatic pool cleaners. Floaters are discouraged; if unavoidable, introduce one only after 21 days and follow the guide’s precautions. Do not add salt or operate a salt chlorinator for the first 30 days.
After 30 days. Switch the salt chlorinator off or bypass it, and add no salt, for the first 30 days while the marbelite cures. Salt in a newly plastered pool erodes the marbelite and roughens the surface.
After 3 weeks (21 days). Until then, brush the pool daily with a soft nylon brush and use a pool vacuum.
Brush the whole pool daily with a soft nylon brush for the first 2–3 weeks; fine plaster dust is normal while marbelite cures. Use a pool vacuum, but not an 8-wheel vacuum, which leaves lines on the soft surface.
Not without testing it first. Borehole water often contains iron and copper, which stain marbelite brown, blue-green or black. If the test shows metals, add a metal and stain remover when filling, before any chlorine. WhatsApp Poseidon the test first.
Poseidon advises against floaters on marbelite. When the pump stops, a floater drifts to one side and keeps releasing chlorine in one spot, bleaching white patches into the plaster. Floater tablets also lower pH and build up stabiliser. If you must use one, start after 21 days, tie it to the cleaner hose in the middle of the pool, and test pH more often.
Always through the weir, never straight into the pool. Undissolved chlorine granules settle on marbelite and bleach it. Add one chemical at a time, diluted in a bucket of water, with the pump running, and wait 12 hours before the next. Never mix chlorine and acid..
At least 8 hours a day, every day, all year round. Don’t switch the pump off in winter: still water goes out of balance and attacks the marbelite surface.
Technical FAQs
Fix pH first, before adding anything else. Below pH 7.0, no pool chemical works properly: chlorine is used up within hours, and the water attacks marbelite and metal fittings. Add soda ash in small doses through the weir, retesting in between, until pH is above 7.2. If your test also shows copper or iron, WhatsApp Poseidon first, because raising pH with metals in the water can cause stains.
Backwash and top up with fresh water first. Only if pH reaches 8.4 or higher, add hydrochloric acid diluted in a bucket of water (always acid into water, never water into acid), slowly through the weir.
Not as routine cleaning. Acid washing removes a layer of marbelite each time. It is a treatment for scaling only, on marbelite that has cured for at least 28 days. Contact Poseidon before acid washing so we can advise.
A solar blanket, yes. A solid pool cover, no: chemicals can’t escape from under a solid cover, which causes bleaching and scaling on marbelite.
Technical FAQs
Some lightening is normal: coloured marbelite settles evenly a shade lighter than the wet sample as it cures. Patchy or sudden whitening is not normal and usually comes from:
Low calcium, low pH or low alkalinity, which draws calcium out of the plaster (etching)
A floater, or chlorine thrown straight into the pool (bleaching)
Acid washing, or a salt chlorinator switched on too early
WhatsApp Poseidon a photo and a full water test, and we’ll tell you which it is.
White marks on marbelite are usually scaling or etching, and the pattern shows which:
Rough white crust or cloudy water: scaling, from too much calcium for the pH and alkalinity, usually with pH above 7.6.
White blotches spread over the pool: etching, from calcium-hungry water (calcium below 220 ppm, or low pH or alkalinity).
A white patch on one side or in one corner: a floater drifting there with the pump off.
White streaks that follow the trowel: water sprinkled on during plastering.
Target readings for a marbelite pool: pH 7.4–7.6, total alkalinity 80–120 ppm, calcium hardness 220–400 ppm (pool size dependent)
Marbelite cracking and delamination are usually caused by too much water in the mix, or too few bags stretched with extra water. Other causes are too little chipping of the old surface, hollow areas not removed, no misting after plastering, and filling the pool too early.
One 40kg bag of Poseidon marbelite covers 2 sqm at 6–8mm. Example: a 5 × 3 m pool, 1.5 m deep on average, needs about 20 bags for a new pool or 16 for a renovation. Only 10 bags means the plaster is too thin, or watered down to cover. Work out your pool with the Marbelite Calculator.
