Salt Water Pool Chemistry

[Patcoomer]

Hi, Received my Taylor TK-100 test kit yesterday. Anxious to use it I did all of the test earlier today (about 2 hrs ago). Here are my readings...FC- 1.5; CC- 0.5; Cal Hardness- 125; TA- 160; CYA- 40. I have a vynal liner 20,000 gal and am running a Hayward T-9 SW Cell with a newly installed after market circuit board by Optimum. So, I have raised the chlorine output to 100 (was running at 45 - and my cir bd reading was at 3200). I have some alkalinity decreaser. Should I try to get the alkalinity down first or raise the CYA level? I have a 1766 salt kit coming. Any suggestions are appreciated.

another question is could my circuit board be misreading the salt level. Around 3200 is where I have run it I past years.

 

[woodyp]

Why not do both? Add enough CYA to raise to 70 or 80. Gonna take awhile to dissolve anyhow.

 

[chiefwej]

What the heck is "alkalinity decreaser"? If there's a magic chemical that just lowers TA, I haven't found it. Reducing TA requires multiple steps, including lowering pH and TA with MA, then using aeration to raise pH without increasing TA. I think you need to do a bit of reading in Pool School, if you want to get a handle on your pool's chemistry.

 

[Richard320]

Slow down... what is the pH? TA is not a big deal. It's the last thing you mess with. You don't want to add Alkalinity Decreaser (probably just dry acid sold at an inflated price) if the pH is low. When you add acid, both pH and TA drop. Then through normal operation and aeration, the pH rises again while the TA stays down. pH is far more important than TA or CH or even the CYA and salt levels. A green pool can be fixed easily. A corroded heater costs a bunch. Check out the pictures: Maintain your chemicals correctly

 

[Patcoomer]

Thanks...PH was within range this am when I checked it. chlorine was low- between 1-2 mark on the daily check tubes.

 

[chiefwej]

PH "within range"? What is the pH? To give advice we are looking for complete test results. FC, CC, TC, TA, CH, CYA, and in SWG pool salt reading. All in numbers not just "OK" or "within range". That gives a complete picture of the water chemistry.

 

[Leebo]

I'd like to first welcome you to TFP! We hope you enjoy your time here.......we can't wait to help you learn about your pool!

Here are my readings...
FC- 1.5
CC- 0.5
Cal Hardness- 125
TA- 160
CYA- 40

The main thing that worries me here is your FC level. A 1ppm chlorine level is asking for some algae to form. I would manually add some bleach to raise your FC level to at least 3ppm and do NOT let it drop below there. From there you can raise your CYA to 70 but once you do you also need to make sure your FC level never drops below 5ppm. It is VERY important that you keep the proper amount of chlorine in your water or it will turn green on you.

Once you post your pH level we can help you more with that. My other question for you is what does your water look like? Is it clear, cloudy, or green? This too will impact the advice we will give to you. For now nothing else really jumps out as a problem so I personally wouldn't worry about the TA just yet. Get a grasp of the chemistry first and you can work on lowering it at a later date.


Welcome once again to TFP!