I have been a Stenner chlorination guy for the last 3 seasons but had gotten lazy about schlepping bottles of bleach, so I took the plunge and installed an RJ60+ this season. The install was a breeze and after adding 800 lbs of salt to our pool (based on the Taylor test kit), I was getting the following:
FC 5 (added some leftover dichlor to up my CYA and chlorinate)
CYA 50 (a bit low, but planned to add some more CYA)
CH 200 (working to fix that)
TA 70
pH 7.5
NaCl 3200 (a bit low, but planned to up that later)
Borates 30
Water was clear and 68°F
So, I turned on the SWG cell and thought all was well. I decided to start with 50% run time (I have a VSP that I run 24/7 at low speed) thinking that I wanted to ward off any algae problems during the transition. The SWG appeared to be working fine: flow ok, bubbles coming out of the cell, etc. However, the next day the FC was still 5. Our pool traditionally needs about 2ppm of FC per day. So, I thought that I should have increased my FC more than that, but I didn't panic. I buffed up the chemistries adding CaCl2, NaCl, and some more CYA. Cell continued to run at 50% for 24 hours.
I came back and found:
FC 3
CYA 65
CH 420
TA 70
pH 7.5
NaCL 4200
So all my chemistries are going in the right direction, but my FC (no detectable CC BTW). Pool still looked great (clear, etc.) Of course, Circupool included a Phosphate test kit (my reading is 2500 ppb) and claims that this may be the problem. However, the collective wisdom on this site says this is BS and that I might have a cryptic algae problem. So, I added some bleach and got my FC to 24.5. I did an OCLT and did not have any loss of FC (SWG turned off overnight). I have to say there is something satisfying about adding the bleach and seeing a predictable effect. I was now beginning to question my decision to move away from my trusty Stenner, but I'm invested in salt water now and want to make this work. So, I turned on the SWG again this morning and I will check again when I get home.
Any thoughts about what might be going on?
Perhaps my problem will be solved post SLAM/OCLT (as others have reported). But I don't understand the low output I've seen thus far, and I don't think I had a cryptic algae problem based on OCLT results.
Could it be the low water temp (68°F)?
Should I have waited for the FC to come down before restarting the SWG cell?
I'm in uncharted waters for me and am a bit confused. Any words of wisdom are appreciated. Thanks!
FC 5 (added some leftover dichlor to up my CYA and chlorinate)
CYA 50 (a bit low, but planned to add some more CYA)
CH 200 (working to fix that)
TA 70
pH 7.5
NaCl 3200 (a bit low, but planned to up that later)
Borates 30
Water was clear and 68°F
So, I turned on the SWG cell and thought all was well. I decided to start with 50% run time (I have a VSP that I run 24/7 at low speed) thinking that I wanted to ward off any algae problems during the transition. The SWG appeared to be working fine: flow ok, bubbles coming out of the cell, etc. However, the next day the FC was still 5. Our pool traditionally needs about 2ppm of FC per day. So, I thought that I should have increased my FC more than that, but I didn't panic. I buffed up the chemistries adding CaCl2, NaCl, and some more CYA. Cell continued to run at 50% for 24 hours.
I came back and found:
FC 3
CYA 65
CH 420
TA 70
pH 7.5
NaCL 4200
So all my chemistries are going in the right direction, but my FC (no detectable CC BTW). Pool still looked great (clear, etc.) Of course, Circupool included a Phosphate test kit (my reading is 2500 ppb) and claims that this may be the problem. However, the collective wisdom on this site says this is BS and that I might have a cryptic algae problem. So, I added some bleach and got my FC to 24.5. I did an OCLT and did not have any loss of FC (SWG turned off overnight). I have to say there is something satisfying about adding the bleach and seeing a predictable effect. I was now beginning to question my decision to move away from my trusty Stenner, but I'm invested in salt water now and want to make this work. So, I turned on the SWG again this morning and I will check again when I get home.
Any thoughts about what might be going on?
Perhaps my problem will be solved post SLAM/OCLT (as others have reported). But I don't understand the low output I've seen thus far, and I don't think I had a cryptic algae problem based on OCLT results.
Could it be the low water temp (68°F)?
Should I have waited for the FC to come down before restarting the SWG cell?
I'm in uncharted waters for me and am a bit confused. Any words of wisdom are appreciated. Thanks!