New and need help with saltwater system

[Stormyeyez]

As an early birthday present to us, my mother-in-law got us a 18'x52" AGP with a saltwater system. We got it assembled, filled it, added salt and followed all the instructions. It went unused until we got a deck built beside it because the ladder majorly sucked. At one point last week the water went green. We ran the filter and used the 6 way test strips from wal-mart. The pH was low, as was the TA, hardness, stabilizer, chlorine, etc. We started getting low flow warnings every day. We rinsed and/or replaced the filter and flow would resume for ~24 hrs and then it would alarm again. We added baking soda to raise the pH and TA and calcium to raise the hardness. We also added Cyanuric acid. We followed instructions for running the filter pump 24 hrs after adding the CYA. Then we tried to run the saltwater system, but it keeps getting interrupted by the low flow warnings. The filter is clogging faster than it should be. They are supposed to be replaced every 2 weeks, not every day. I just used a test strip and got the following results:

Hardness- between 100-250
Chlorine- didn't change color
Bromine- didn't change color
pH- high (7.8)
TA- >180 (scale is yellow to green and it turned blue)
Stabilizer- very low. Closer to the 0 color than the 50 color

Should we add bleach to get the chlorine up until we manage to get the thing to successfully run the chlorine producing cycles? I know we need more CYA. What should we do from here (besides get a more precise testing kit). We have gotten in the pool a couple times, being sure to rinse really well afterwards, but knowing there is no sanitized whatsoever creeps me out. Any suggestions on the filter issue? The water is not green anymore, it is mostly clear. There's a very very slight cloudiness I attribute to it needing a bit of a vacuum and the fact it has no chlorine.

 

[RobbieH]

Ignore the bromine test, you don't have a bromine pool and won't measure that.

I strongly suggest a good test kit, but if that isn't a possibility could you take a sample to the pool store for a free test? Just don't buy any of the junk they suggest!

Did you add any chlorine to the pool at all? I don't have a salt pool, but my understanding is you need to jump start the pool with some bleach to bring the chlorine level up to your target then let the SWG maintain that level.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Yeah, add enough chlorine to get to about 3 ppm. The pool Calculator will help you figure out how much. You're also going to need some CYA. How much CYA have you added?

 

[RobbieH]

Can you post a pic of your water? That cloudiness may be the beginning of an algae bloom. You probably better stock up on bleach and take your FC up to shock level now just to get a head start. You are going to need a good test kit to go through the shock process.

 

[Stormyeyez]

About to go pick up hubby now that he is home from his OTR trip. I think he has added 1.8 pounds of CYA in 2 doses (.9 each) but will have to check with him. Once I am back I can take a picture of the water. We are having issues with the wind blowing pine needles and crepe Myrtle blossoms in the pool, but I try to net out as much as possible each day.

 

[Stormyeyez]

My phone doesn't do great photos and it is mostly in the shade now with the position of the sun and all the trees in our yard (heaviest tree concentration on the far side where it looks so dark), but best I could get right now. Still not sure about the total amounts of CYA, it is taking him longer to finish up today.

 

[Stormyeyez]

Ooops I was wrong about the CYA amount. It was 1.75 lbs added both times. The bottle said to add 1lb per 4000 gallons.

 

[RobbieH]

It sure looks to me like you have an algae issue...

 

[Bama Rambler]

You've added about 50 ppm CYA. I wouldn't add any more yet.

 

[Stormyeyez]

My phone made it look a LOT greener than it is. I don't really notice a green tint looking through the water. May see if hubby can get a better pic.