I am relatively new to caring for a swimming pool, so I apologize in advance for the questions. I read through the tutorials, but I am a bit overwhelmed. I'm confused about the order of everything; adding salt, adjusting pH, alkalinity, CH, CYA, etc. I already started SLAMing, but I know that my TA is a bit low. I also noticed that my Nature2 tutorial has different ranges for some of the chemistry values (see bottom of my post).
My pool was just opened, and the water looked slightly green. I haven't added salt yet (it's at 2.8 from last year), so I will need to do that before starting the SWG. Is it bad to not add salt until I am done SLAMing? I adjusted the pH to 7.6. The TA was at 50, which I think is slightly low. There was no CYA in the water. I added 5 gallons of bleach, and tested a few hours later. There was no FC, and I tested it again to confirm. I don't know if it burned off that quickly because of no CYA, ammonia, or algae. I thought it would be smart to use Dichlor, since it has CYA. I added 6 pounds yesterday afternoon. I tested again 3 hours later, and it was at 8 PPM. It was down to 3 PPM this morning. My understanding is that I need to SLAM until the overnight loss is less than 1.
I know that you have to watch using Dichlor, because it can increase the CYA rapidly. If I'm calculating correctly, 6 lbs would only increase my CYA by 10 PPM. I was thinking about getting Pool Conditioner (by Natural Chemistry), since I still need more. Should I just keep SLAMing with Dichlor and add Pool Conditioner later if needed?
My other concern is the Nature2 reference ranges. It looks like the TFP method recommends lower TA and higher CYA. Why do they suggest such a low CYA value? Do I really need to worry about FC above 3.0 causing corrosion? These are the ranges that they suggest:
Free Chlorine: 0.5 - 3.0 ppm. Continuous exposure to levels above 3.0 ppm may cause corrosion of pool metals.
Combined Chlorine (Chloramines): None (Super chlorinate to remove all chloramines.)
pH: 7.4 - 7.6
Chlorine Stabilizer (Cyanuric Acid): 10 - 50 ppm (For outdoor pools only.)
Total Alkalinity: 80 - 120 ppm.
Calcium Hardness: 175 - 400 ppm.
I appreciate any suggestions.
My pool was just opened, and the water looked slightly green. I haven't added salt yet (it's at 2.8 from last year), so I will need to do that before starting the SWG. Is it bad to not add salt until I am done SLAMing? I adjusted the pH to 7.6. The TA was at 50, which I think is slightly low. There was no CYA in the water. I added 5 gallons of bleach, and tested a few hours later. There was no FC, and I tested it again to confirm. I don't know if it burned off that quickly because of no CYA, ammonia, or algae. I thought it would be smart to use Dichlor, since it has CYA. I added 6 pounds yesterday afternoon. I tested again 3 hours later, and it was at 8 PPM. It was down to 3 PPM this morning. My understanding is that I need to SLAM until the overnight loss is less than 1.
I know that you have to watch using Dichlor, because it can increase the CYA rapidly. If I'm calculating correctly, 6 lbs would only increase my CYA by 10 PPM. I was thinking about getting Pool Conditioner (by Natural Chemistry), since I still need more. Should I just keep SLAMing with Dichlor and add Pool Conditioner later if needed?
My other concern is the Nature2 reference ranges. It looks like the TFP method recommends lower TA and higher CYA. Why do they suggest such a low CYA value? Do I really need to worry about FC above 3.0 causing corrosion? These are the ranges that they suggest:
Free Chlorine: 0.5 - 3.0 ppm. Continuous exposure to levels above 3.0 ppm may cause corrosion of pool metals.
Combined Chlorine (Chloramines): None (Super chlorinate to remove all chloramines.)
pH: 7.4 - 7.6
Chlorine Stabilizer (Cyanuric Acid): 10 - 50 ppm (For outdoor pools only.)
Total Alkalinity: 80 - 120 ppm.
Calcium Hardness: 175 - 400 ppm.
I appreciate any suggestions.