New above ground pool with SWG

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delongboy

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Jul 2, 2007
7
Hi,
I just install an above ground oval pool 18x33. Filled the pool with well water over 2 days. Got the water high enough to run the pump late Sunday night. Added recommended salt and stabilizer and let the pump run 24 hours. Turned on SWG monday night and let run until 6pm Tuesday at 70%. Took water about an hour later in for testing with the following results:
CYA: 69
Tot. Chlorine: 2.8
Free Chlorine: 2.8
pH: 7.8
Tot. Alkalinity: 137
Adj. Total Alk. 116 (not sure what this is and how it difers from TA)
Tot. Hardness: 247
Salt: 3000
Borates: 0
Iron: 0.3
Copper: 0.1

At the store they recommended removing the metals because of the iron, is this necessary?
Also, I am planning to add more salt as the SWG manual recommends 3200.
What is concerning me is the high TA and PH. My drop kit was showing the PH around 7.5. He managed to sell me a container of PH reducer. Active ingredient is sodium bisulfite. Should I go with this? Will this also help in lowering the TA?
In the pool school article it recommends adding borates also, but I believe this will raise the ph and ta correct? so not a good time for this.
I guess my plan is to add another 20lbs of salt or so (about half a bag) and starting to lower the PH. Is this safe to do with the kids swimming?
Any other suggestions?
Thanks!!
 
To reduce pH, you want to use muriatic acid (liquid) NOT dry acid. Dry acid reduces pH but it also adds sulfates to your water which can damage SWG cell plates. So stay away from the dry acid or ANYTHING that adds sulfates, they are unnecessary.

Your FC is too low for your CYA. So your first order of business before you add anything new to your pool is to get your FC to the proper levels and maintain it. Don't try to adjust lots of things at once especially with a new pool. It's going to take time to get everything balanced and to learn how your pool water reacts. Trying to do too much will only confuse you.

Adjusted alkalinity is unimportant. Just report TA. Also, if you haven't done so, you need to get your own good test kit (we recommend two, the Taylor K-2006 or the TFTestKits TF-100, both use the same Taylor Technologies reagents for water testing). You need to stop going into the pool store as their only motivation is to sell you chemicals you mostly don't need.

As far as metals go, you are right on the edge with iron and a little high with copper. There is no way to "remove" metals from your pool water. That can only happen if you replace your water with metal free water which usually requires trucking in treated water. Right now, you metal levels (assuming the pool store did the tests correctly) are right on the edge, so I would not spend a lot of time trying to treat them. You biggest concern right now is getting your sanitizer (chlorine) to correct levels and maintaining it. You may need to use liquid chlorine (aka, bleach) at first to get your FC to where your want it and then let the SWG take over. SWG's are a great way to maintain FC levels but they can not, by design, put a lot of FC into the water all at once. Forget about all the "Boost Mode", "Super-Chlorinate Mode", etc, etc, it's all marketing nonsense. SWG's can only put out a fix amount of chlorine per day and that's it; there's no way to speed it up or make it produce chlorine faster.

Get your test kit and report back your results.

Good luck,

Matt

OH, and WELCOME TO TFP!!
 
Thanks Matt,
I have a test kit I bought from a pool supply store a while back.. It is taylor but I'm not sure of the model. The reason I went to the pool store for testing was to check my salt levels. I read not to trust the readout on the SWG and the test strips that were included seemed worthless.
I was also concerned with the metals since I filled with well water.
For FC the chart on this site says 3-5, so at 2.8 I'm very close. That was just one day of running the SWG with it starting at 0. I will check again tonight when I get home. So I should toss the dry acid? I doubt the pool store will return it for me.
 
delongboy said:
Thanks Matt,
I have a test kit I bought from a pool supply store a while back.. It is taylor but I'm not sure of the model. The reason I went to the pool store for testing was to check my salt levels. I read not to trust the readout on the SWG and the test strips that were included seemed worthless.
I was also concerned with the metals since I filled with well water.
For FC the chart on this site says 3-5, so at 2.8 I'm very close. That was just one day of running the SWG with it starting at 0. I will check again tonight when I get home. So I should toss the dry acid? I doubt the pool store will return it for me.
Click to expand...

If you can find a model number on the test kit, lets know. If it was expensive (like $50) the t's very likely a K-2005, which is missing a critical FC test component. You can sometimes get a K-1000 or K-1001 in pools stores, but those are just simple pH/chlorine tests. You need either a K-2006 (I'd suggest a 2006C because it has larger reagent bottles) OR a TFTestKits TF-100. We're pretty serious about test kits around here and a good one is the heart & soul of DIY pool care. People always try to nickel & dime their way through testing with cheapo test kits or strips (which are worthless) and they waste more time and money messing around with that then if they had just invested in a good test kit up front. I'll say it like this - you absolutely can not take care of your pool water if you can't accurately measure what is in it.

As for the dry acid, if it's not a lot of acid (like 1-2 lbs or less), just use it up. If it's more, than just toss it (responsibly!). Stick with muriatic acid for reducing pH.
 
My test kit has no model number on it. Its been re-branded for the pool supply store I got it from. It is all Taylor items inside and based on looking at the different kits I would say its the K-2005
I'm wondering if my regents are still effective. They are a couple years old. The difference between the 2005 and 2006 is just the Chlorine tests? I'm debating between replacing the regents or just buying a new kit.
 
I'd buy a new kit. Taylor reagents are typically only good for 12-18 months IF they are properly stored.

Get either a K-2006(C) or a TF-100 and I would also suggest a SpeedStir (I also recommend a SampleSizer too but many here think it's not necessary...up to you on that).
 
You can lower it following the method taught in pool school. The lower you get it, the more stable your pH should be.
 
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