Greetings...newbie checking in....

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M

molardog

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Jun 13, 2016
62
Locust Grove, GA
Just finished our build...50x20 in-ground saltwater with hayward swcg..

I have been ravenously reading here at TFP about how to care for my pool myself. I figure that if I do decide to farm out the maintenance I need to be able to at least check behind whoever is doing it. Towards that end I have ordered a TF100 test kit. In the meantime, all I have is aquachek 7 strips given to me by the pool builder with which to monitor the pool with. With these strips I am consistently reading very low (0.5 ppm) FC. Everything else is testing normal.

Question is....how much stock should I put in this FC reading? Should I wait until Wednesday when my kit arrives to test and decide to add bleach? Or am I risking trouble between now and then? I contacted the builder and he said to run super chlorinate cycle for 24 hrs and report back on the FC level...

Sorry for the rambling post but this is my first pool.
 
Welcome to TFP! Great to have you here :)

If you list your pool size and chlorinator model, we can give you some rough settings that should be OK. We can't give logical advice without more info. See "read before you post" in my signature below for advice on entering your pool info. Can't really trust guess-strips cause there's so many ways they go wrong - super high chlorine and the strip is bleached out, or super-low and not enough there, or guess-strips no good.

Order the test kit, as you mention. If it were me, and this will be the only time I suggest this, take a water sample to the pool store and check your chlorine right away, and let us know. Don't let them talk you into any purchases!!! Just say your pool builder wanted to see it, or whatever works to get you out of there as fast as you can.
 
needsajet said:
I should have explained, in case it is 0.5 FC, you're going to need to raise that as soon as you can, or problems will develop. Your PBs advice isn't a bad idea, until we know.
Click to expand...

Much thanks for the helpful posting tips. Looks like I can't fill out my profile in mobile format so I will get that completed asap at my desktop tomorrow.

Our pool is approximately 41k gallons running a Hayward turbo cell t-15....currently reading 2800ppm salt level. Have been running 8am-8pm at 85% for the last week since getting on the swcg.

I turned it up to 100% yesterday midday and as of this evening even after running hyper-mode for a few hours I see no change in the FC level. The water is crystal clear at the moment.

I sure hope they didn't overdose me on CYA. Water here is pretty expensive in metro Atlanta.
 
Well, if it were me, I'd just jump start the chlorine with at least a full gallon of bleach (liquid chlorine). Liquid chlorine can run from 6-12.5% so that's a big swing. But with a 41K gallon pool, and that low FC, it's not going to hurt to dump a gallon of any factor in there. One thing is to relax... you are already on the right path asking these questions. It's not as if you're mixing nitro glycerin here and you don't have an immediate problem. It would be quite hard to get too much chlorine in a 41k pool without working at it.

You said everything else is in line (TA / pH) so that's why I'm saying immediately raise the chlorine some. But you should post the numbers so the experts can see them. Obviously at some point, you'll want CYA and CH numbers but TA, pH, FC are the first ones, then CYA so you know what chlorine level to stabilize at.

Seriously, even if you were to get too much chlorine in there, it will go away pretty quick. Frankly, I think you should be dumping 2-3 gallons in there and then testing but I don't have enough information to strongly advise that. A gallon or two is definitely not going to hurt and should set you in the right direction while you get more information and your SWG starts raising the level.

Last comment, FC is definitely too low so you do want to get that up reasonably quickly while you're getting the full analysis in. Even dumping 1-2 lbs of shock (really powdered chlorine) in there would be good. Unfortunately, without CYA / CH values, I didn't want to advise that (because it will either add CYA or CH depending on type of shock). Get some liquid chlorine in there and go from there, you can adjust with proper numbers after that.
 
You mentioned reporting back to the pool builder... ask him if he added any stabilizer and let us know.

Yeh, I have to agree with Jeff. Put 2 gallons of bleach in there. Don't buy scented or splashless. Any brand of 8 or 10% sodium hypochlorite from Walmart or wherever. It will not hurt a thing. Pour it slowly (a minute per jug) in front of one of your return jets with the pump running so it will mix in. Same for tomorrow. That's 4 PPM free chlorine and then the SWG can take over to maintain it. If you're at work already or about to leave or whatever, don't worry about it, just do it when you get home.

If, for any reason you or your wife are not yet comfortable with bleach, buy chlorinating liquid at a pool store. It will probably be 10 or 12.5% sodium hypochlorite. It all tastes bad to the algae that's trying to grow in the water, but we can explain why it's the same later.
 

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The chlorinator adjusts to a point. If salt gets too low it will cut out and give you an error light. Otherwise, it will vary the input to the cell to produce the same amount of chlorine per running hour.

Just realized I don't see your equipment details in your signature yet. Check out the link in my signature "read before you post" - it tells you what to enter and how to do it.

All good, you got this!
 
Did you order a K-1766 salt testing kit? The reason I ask is if the reading you're referring to is from your SWG controller, you'd be better off waiting for the drop test. The PB should have got the salt right cause it's pretty easy to do.
 
needsajet said:
You mentioned reporting back to the pool builder... ask him if he added any stabilizer and let us know.

Yeh, I have to agree with Jeff. Put 2 gallons of bleach in there. Don't buy scented or splashless. Any brand of 8 or 10% sodium hypochlorite from Walmart or wherever. It will not hurt a thing. Pour it slowly (a minute per jug) in front of one of your return jets with the pump running so it will mix in. Same for tomorrow. That's 4 PPM free chlorine and then the SWG can take over to maintain it. If you're at work already or about to leave or whatever, don't worry about it, just do it when you get home.

If, for any reason you or your wife are not yet comfortable with bleach, buy chlorinating liquid at a pool store. It will probably be 10 or 12.5% sodium hypochlorite. It all tastes bad to the algae that's trying to grow in the water, but we can explain why it's the same later.
Click to expand...
Pool builder says he has added CYA a week or so ago but my strips are reading 30-50 ppm. We had a massive rainstorm today and now my FC has dropped to 1 ppm after adding two gallons of bleach this morning. Of course PH is creeping up over 8 now. CC right at 1 ppm so might be getting some critter growth.

I need that CYA and salinity test to get here so I can confirm those levels.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
 
Glad to hear there's some stabilizer in there :) If you see FC at 1 PPM, put more chlorine in. I know it's guess-strips, but I'm sure you want to eliminate the organic contamination.

I see your equipment details now. For a 41,000 gal pool, and a Hayward T-cell-15 SWG, it's going to have to run quite a lot to keep up through swimming season. This is probably not music to your ears, but if it were me, this is what I'd do if the pool gets a lot of sun and swimming. I would start at 20 hours run time and 100% on the SWG. That's 3.4 PPM FC replenishment per day, so there's every chance you'll be able to cut back the pump run time from there. 18 hours is 3.1 PPM FC per day, which should be fine, but a little too much FC at this stage is no harm to the pool or equipment, nor for swimming once we verify the CYA level.

So first you'll raise FC to target with chlorinating liquid, then let the SWG take over and hold it. With daily testing, you'll see if FC climbs from the SWG.

Then, you can consider raising CYA into the correct range for SWG and the pump run time will come down a bit more. Leaving some headroom on CYA isn't a bad idea until you have your own plan for vacations, and whether a pool service is still in the cards.
 
needsajet said:
Glad to hear there's some stabilizer in there :) If you see FC at 1 PPM, put more chlorine in. I know it's guess-strips, but I'm sure you want to eliminate the organic contamination.

I see your equipment details now. For a 41,000 gal pool, and a Hayward T-cell-15 SWG, it's going to have to run quite a lot to keep up through swimming season. This is probably not music to your ears, but if it were me, this is what I'd do if the pool gets a lot of sun and swimming. I would start at 20 hours run time and 100% on the SWG. That's 3.4 PPM FC replenishment per day, so there's every chance you'll be able to cut back the pump run time from there. 18 hours is 3.1 PPM FC per day, which should be fine, but a little too much FC at this stage is no harm to the pool or equipment, nor for swimming once we verify the CYA level.

So first you'll raise FC to target with chlorinating liquid, then let the SWG take over and hold it. With daily testing, you'll see if FC climbs from the SWG.

Then, you can consider raising CYA into the correct range for SWG and the pump run time will come down a bit more. Leaving some headroom on CYA isn't a bad idea until you have your own plan for vacations, and whether a pool service is still in the cards.
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Yes sir, I will make those adjustments accordingly. Once my test kit is here I will report back with some real numbers.

You reckon I should go back to the pool builder and request a larger capacity swcg?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
 

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