Lost 900ppm salt and 25ppm CYA in a little over a month of heavy swimming

[dandannoodles]

I'm nearly certain I don't have a leak and I didn't backwash during this time... so I am chalking it up to splash out and heavy use, but wanted to see what you guys thought.

July 4th my CYA was at 70 and salt was 3800. It's a brand new pool and that was my baseline to have it ready for swimming for the summer.

We have been using the pool heavily the entire month of July - we had family over and many pool parties. Water toys, cannonballs, lots of splashing. I would guess we used the pool 20+ days in the past month. I've noticed salt dropping per the chemistry menu in my Intellicenter and I also have been monitoring FC, which was up at 10 at the beginning of July and has been dropping with lots of use, so I've been turning up the SWG to compensate. But it's stable at around 3-4 right now.

I added stablizer and salt yesterday to get my levels back up but wanted to report this to the fine folks of TFP and get your thoughts.

Normal? Something else I am missing? Thanks!

 

[Texas Splash]

You seem to be describing a couple issues. Your thread title states losing 900 ppm of salt which really seems hard to believe unless water was lost. If you are relying on the SWG or Intelicenter to give you an accurate salt number, don't hold your breath. Instead, rely on what your TF-Pro Salt test (K-1766) shows.

After that you describe a relatively low FC level and having to turn-up the SWG. That would indicate some heavy organis and/or the presence of algae.

So at this point I would offer two recommendations:
1 - Post a full set of water test results for us to review and include your own salt test result.
2 - Consider doing an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test to see if you have a potential algae issue that is placing a heavy FC demand on your SWG.

 

[dandannoodles]

To clarify, I used a salt test to confirm I went from about 3900 ppm to 2800 ppm. My SWG was saying the same thing over the last few weeks, but I confirmed with the actual test.

My FC was going up initially, going from 4-5 to 10 in less than a week. This is when I turned it down. I turned it back up recently because of heavy use and low FC readings. I also have noticed my CYA level has dropped, which I also think contributes to the low FC. I added CYA yesterday which I think will help bring FC levels back up.

I am certain I have no algae. There has been very heavy use lately and high heat here in Socal.

 

[Newdude]

I am certain I have no algae

Nobody can say that without the OCLT, and it's why we have it.

Step one is to rule out an impending swamp. You never want to lose the clear water leg up in the battle.

If you're right, and there's nothing brewing, then we are afforded the time to figure out anything else.

 

[wireform]

Not sure you know but the SWCG is a maintainer for normal loss and replenishment but a heavy bather load will load the pool with lots of organics that you need to manually add via LC. to lose that much salt you'd need a heck of a lot of splash out which seemlime an unlikely amount. Something doesn't add up.

 

[JJ_Tex]

+1 on the OCLT to rule out algae. If you do have it, it is much easier to deal with before you start seeing it.

Also, you mentioned a drop in your salt since July 4th. Did your CYA also drop since the 70 reading on 7/4?

 

[dandannoodles]

+1 on the OCLT to rule out algae. If you do have it, it is much easier to deal with before you start seeing it.

Also, you mentioned a drop in your salt since July 4th. Did your CYA also drop since the 70 reading on 7/4?

I'll do the OCLT test and report back.

Yes, salt and CYA dropped dramatically in the last month. CYA was 70 on July 5, 45 on Aug 7th.

I know it's a lot but we've been using the pool a lot... 4 kids in it daily, then with friends over its like 8 kids splashing around and using the pool to fill up waterguns and watertoys and stuff... so maybe I'm just hoping and praying I don't have a leak but I am wondering if the big drop is just due to heavy use and splashout.

 

[dandannoodles]

Also, one other question. Is it possible that it's not algae and it's just a bunch of organic contaminants? I've been getting lots of leaves and bugs in the pool lately... could that be eating up the chlorine?