Starting new Swg system

[pitmanr2003]

Ok im getting a intex swg system to use on my intex 18x48 easy set pool and Im curious where to start on getting it set up.

Here is where I figured i would start and you all can chime in and tell what you think. Here are my specs.

fc- usually 4-9 depending on time of day
cc- usually .5
ph-7.5
ta-150
cya-50
salt 0 i would assume being its regular water. The pool calculator says to add 146lbs to get it to 3500ppm
Here is how I figured I will start it up.

1. get salt and add it and wait 24hours to disolve and check
2. lower ph to 7.0 and aerate to get my ta down
3. Add stabalizer to get cya to 70
4. once ta is where it needs to be I will adjust ph to 7.5 if it isnt there yet.

My question is can I do all this at one time or do I need to wait for salt to disolve?
When I get salt disoved and where I need it I will set up Swg for output I need. Im trying to reduce downtime, so my next question is can I swim while this is still going on or not. I will as well keep adjusting my Fc daily with bleach untill swg is right.
Let me know what you all think about this.

 

[pitmanr2003]

I just thought of an idea. Would it be easier and faster to just add some pucs. They will lower Ph and add. Cya

 

[pitmanr2003]

no one has a answer?

 

[JasonLion]

Give us a moment This time of year there are many questions, and not so many people answering.

You can do those steps in more or less any order. Don't turn on the SWG until 24 hours after adding salt. Otherwise, order doesn't matter.

The salt level will not start at zero. It might be fairly low, but it won't be zero. It is best to add a fair bit less salt, perhaps enough to raise salt by 3000, instead of 3500, and then see where you end up. Or better yet, get a salt test, or have your salt level measured.

 

[pitmanr2003]

going to get a salt test. sorry to be so anxious but was trying to figure a answer out before I goto walmart and buy stuff. So would it just be smarter to just let some chlorine tabs dissolve and that would do all i need to get cya and ph down to raise ta. Or will that take alot longer than using ph down and stabalizer.

 

[MikeInNH]

You can use the Poolcalculator to see how many pucks you'd need to up the CYA that much. I would think too many to be as quick as you want. Stabilizer will be quicker. Pour it in a sock and hang it in front of the water inlet. You can buy strips to test for salt, like $12 for 10 where I live. BTW, you don't need to have any downtime, just supplement with liquid chlorine until you get the SWG where you want it.

 

[dmanb2b]

CYA at 50 is not that bad for the intex swg...it is a strong little bugger. You could use some pucks to get up to 60 but they will lower PH and TA. You may need to aerate to keep your PH above 7.2. As jason mentioned, add enough salt to get to about 2700ppm, you may already have 200-500ppm in your water. The intex is happy with salt levels in the range from 2750 - 3200 ppm. Start of running it for 4hrs, you will likely need to notch it down to 3 hrs, even with CYA at 60.

Also, I tend to just follow the non-swg FC/CYA recommended levels running the intex swg. IMO the Intex adds too much chlorine too fast and does not chlorinate the water over longer periods as the water is flowing through the pump. A typical SWG (operating at 20-50%) will add chlorine slowly over a turnover 4-8hr period, sometimes longer. The intex can only run at 100% for a short period of time. It's worked for me, so I hope that helps you...anytime I attempt to go to the SWG recommended levels, my CC's start kreeping up.

 

[pitmanr2003]

Ok I'm going to just keep lower cya see how it does. Easier to raise then lower. That's why I was thinking of pucks being I need to lower ta a lot. It's 150 now. How long once I get ph to 7.2 and aeratewill it take to get ta where I need it. Or will pucks do it faster