New Hayward SWG and my levels

[ctfortner]

Hello, I built a 20x40 (8.5' deep end, 3.4' shallow end) recently and finally got it converted to salt with aqua plus and salt cell. I dumped about 800 pounds in and its been running for about 48 hours now. I just had the water tested by a pool place and this is where I am.

Salt - 3000ppm (according to aqua plus reading)
Alk - 90
PH - 7.8
FC - 2
CYA - 50

Currently the pump is running 24/7 with chlorinator at 50%. Running 24/7 because still having work done around pool, sodding etc.. so trying to keep it clean.

I have been reading through pool school. The pool place said everything is within range for what they like to see.

Now my thoughts are from reading is that the PH is OK, the Alk is 10-20 high, CYA is about 20-30 low, FC is a little low, and I should bring the salt level up 400 ppm to 3400 total (hayward recommends 3200).

I am a first time pool owner, so from the folks that know this stuff, if it were yours what would you do from here? If you suggest adding or removing anything, please tell me what (product) and amount you recommend for doing so. 35,000 gallons.

if I need more FC, should I try the superchloriate option in aqua plus, or use shock?

Thanks

 

[linen]

Hello ctfortner!

I just had the water tested by a pool place and this is where I am.

Best thing you can do for yourself and your pool chemistry is get a good test kit. Pool stores testing tends to be unreliable and not when you need it. See my sig for link discussing a good test kit.

Now my thoughts are from reading is that the PH is OK, the Alk is 10-20 high, CYA is about 20-30 low, FC is a little low, and I should bring the salt level up 400 ppm to 3400 total (hayward recommends 3200).

FC is right on the low end for a swg at your cya level. You can use poolcalculator.com specifically the "suggested" row (you first need to enter you CYA) to get recommendations for your CYA level. You may want to bump up your % abit.

You will probably need lower pH soon, since a swg tends to raise ph. Use muratic acid to do that. I wouldn't adjust your alkalinity at this point, the need for muratic acid to lower ph should also bring TA down slowly.

CYA is a little low, but I would wait until you have a better test kit before moving it.

Salt, not sure on this one, maybe someone else who has your swg can answer. Mine runs fine at that level. I would not change it until you have the test kit (see a theme here).

 

[ctfortner]

Hello, thanks for the detailed info! BTW I see your in MN, I am in TN, but my wife is from Brained MN, we visit 1-2 times a year.

I do plan to get a good test kit, but honestly thought I would ride out the free ones at the store for this year, since I will likely close it in a month. The pool place is using a drop kit, not the strips, so I assumed it was sufficient for now.

So did I fall into the trap? I bought some PH down, actually not at the pool store, but at walmart, because my friend with SWG for several years said lower it a tad and he uses PH Down. Is that OK to use this time, or should I go acid route.

What is confusing to me is that if I am running pump 24/7 now and set at 50%, when I switch to the "10-12 hour" routine, wouldnt my % need to be much higher to maintain the same level?

Oh and the salt level, I just said raising it to 3400ppm because the Water Balance page said to run it 200-400 above the manufactures recommended setting. pool-school/water_balance_saltwater_generator

 

[linen]

Hello, thanks for the detailed info! BTW I see your in MN, I am in TN, but my wife is from Brained MN, we visit 1-2 times a year.

Brainerd is a beautiful area, lakes and all!

I do plan to get a good test kit, but honestly thought I would ride out the free ones at the store for this year, since I will likely close it in a month.

It may work for you if you do not run into trouble, but the reagents in a good test kit store fine.

The pool place is using a drop kit, not the strips, so I assumed it was sufficient for now.

May be better than nothing, or maybe not if they are off by too much

So did I fall into the trap? I bought some PH down, actually not at the pool store, but at walmart, because my friend with SWG for several years said lower it a tad and he uses PH Down. Is that OK to use this time, or should I go acid route.

That is Dry Acid and is fine to use, it just tends to cost more. From pool school:

Dry acid is best added by pre-dissolving it in a bucket of water and then pouring that slowly in front of a return.

What is confusing to me is that if I am running pump 24/7 now and set at 50%, when I switch to the "10-12 hour" routine, wouldnt my % need to be much higher to maintain the same level?

As I understand it, Yes. You do have a pretty big pool.

Oh and the salt level, I just said raising it to 3400ppm because the Water Balance page said to run it 200-400 above the manufactures recommended setting. pool-school/water_balance_saltwater_generator

I do not have that swg, but it will not hurt it to go to 3400, I just don't know if you need too. Again, maybe someone with that swg can speak up?

 

[Dalandlord]

When I get below 3000ppm I dump a bag of salt in the pool.

 

[ctfortner]

So I have another question here. My pool was nice and clear, now its kind of cloudy. I do have a lot of dirt around the pool still, its not all sodded yet. I brushed and manually vacuumed the pool yesterday, it took forever, but the whole bottom seemed to have a thin layer of dirt on it. I run my polaris 280 at least 2 hours a day, and I have 4 wall returns, 2 skimmers, and 2 main drains and the pump is running 24/7 right now.

It seems like this thing is always dirty and not doing anything. Can you feel any suction on the main drains, because i felt them yesterday and I cant feel anything. Could I just be getting that much dirt in the pool it cant clean it or what? I thought you brush it and run polaris everyday and things stayed pretty clean?

Here is a crude drawing of my setup. How would you adjust the returns? All 4 of them are currently pointed upward and toward the skimmers, and make ripples on the top of the water. Should I do something to make sure main drains are working?

 

[linen]

What is your filter pressure? And can you put your pool/equipment details in your sig? If you are getting a lot of dirt in the pool, and your FC is running low, your primed for an algae outbreak. An OCLT might be on order. See: http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/overnight_fc_test. Note that you do this with the swg off. Also if your FC is really low, this will not be a valid test. I would raise the FC level up to shocking level for your CYA concentration and then do the OCLT. Let us know if you have questions.

 

[ctfortner]

Hey. I added my specs to the sig.

Well I had turned up the chlorination to 60% (was at 50%) 2 days ago since the FC was reading low. I talked to friends with pools and they recommended a much more reliable test place so I took them water today. They did a very thorough test, using a taylor kit. So here are the readings from today.

Salt - 3400 ( i added 2 more bags a couple days ago)
Alk - 100
PH - 7.8
FC - 7.8
TC - 8.0
CYA - 28

My filter pressure is in the mid 20's when I looked the last several times. So my FC is definitely not to low. My test strips at home were showing it wasnt low either. So their recommendation were to lower PH by adding some acid or PH down, and crank the % down to 40% and then retest in a couple of days.

Now another thing, he asked if I was using manual vac in waste mode because I said it gets dirty everyday. I am not, just running in filter mode. He said dont do that because the fine particles will just come back in through the filter. Well I dont have sewer, so I have to waste into the back 40. Not a problem, but doing that I would drop a LOT of water, then the chems would be all hosed again, well worse than now. I vacuumed the steps minty clean last night, this morning the have a fine layer of dirt all over them. I just dont know why, it wasnt windy at all last night. Which is why I asked if the drains are working, I wonder if the polaris is stirring it all up but nothing is actually leaving. Both skimmers have suction and are working, I just dont know if the drains are since I cant feel any suction.

 

[linen]

My filter pressure is in the mid 20's when I looked the last several times.

That is pretty high pressure, it may be why you do not feel much suction. Do you know what your clean filter pressure is. Most people clean their filter after is goes up 5-8 psi. When is the last time you backwashed the filter?

So my FC is definitely not to low. My test strips at home were showing it wasnt low either. So their recommendation were to lower PH by adding some acid or PH down, and crank the % down to 40% and then retest in a couple of days.

I would do the OCLT as mentioned in my post before (with the swg off)...I am suspicious that you need to go through the shocking process. How does the water look? Is it perfectly clear? Your CYA level is very low for the swg, 70-80 ppm is recommended here.

 

[ctfortner]

I actually havent backwashed it ever. Its a new pool just built, and its only been alive for about 3 weeks with water in the pool. Water is a little cloudy. I dont know what the clean filter pressure was, I was actually out of town when they first got it all up and running.

 

[linen]

I actually havent backwashed it ever. Its a new pool just built, and its only been alive for about 3 weeks with water in the pool. Water is a little cloudy. I dont know what the clean filter pressure was, I was actually out of town when they first got it all up and running.

Time to backwash and find out. This link should help: http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/cleaning pool filters

How about doing that OCLT?

Let us know if you have any questions.