Maintenace of my new salt wanter indoor pool

[rseelinger]

We just changed our pool from bromine to salt water for our indoor pool. Some people have told me that I need to buy all sorts of chemicals (ph plus and minus, algacides, scumballs, shock) but others told me that I do not need to do anything until the light says needs more salt. Can someone advise?
Rebeka Seelinger, Erie PA

 

[JohnT]

Welcome to TFP! The true answer is somewhere in between. You'll probably need muriatic acid for pH control. You can't rely on the salt light isn't a great indicator of salt level. A good test kit is the key. Check out PoolSchool pool-school/ for info.

 

[257WbyMag]

It is unlikely that you will need pH plus. The salt system will cause pH to trend upward on its own and this will call for you to lower the pH using muriatic acid.

Like JohnT said, a good test kit is a must have item. The TF-100 from www.tftestkits.net is a great one. A Taylor K-2006 is pretty good too.

 

[Aquatica]

congratulations!

You will need a lot of muriatic acid to keep pH under control. Acid also lowers TA and the lower the TA goes the less acid you will need to use. I've been watching my pools and around TA of 50-60 is where the pH really locks in place. But do it gradually. You don't want the TA to get too low. Just adjust pH down to 7.2. Keep doing that (daily if you want) until pH levels off at around 7.6 which is good. Then test your TA and it will be around 50-70.

You will need stabilizer, salt, calcium and if you have a DE filter ..DE powder. Keep some of this on hand as you will need some of it from time to time.

Like advised you should get a Taylor K2006 test kit and I would recommend a Taylor salt test kit. I hardly use the salt test kit unless there is a problem or if starting up a swg. If the swg is generating chlorine and the salt reading is ok on the panel then no need to test. But before you start up the system you should test the salt level and see where its at. Then you will know how much salt to add to get started.

Test everything at startup and keep testing and balancing is the key. Balance here: http://www.poolcalculator.com

 

[bobodaclown]

I don't think indoor pools need stabilizer.

 

[racket]

I don't think indoor pools need stabilizer.

You are correct. Not does it just not need it, but I would discourage adding it.

 

[Bama Rambler]

The usual recommendation is to use about 20 ppm cya in an indoor pool to moderate the chlorine. Keep in mind that some jurisdictions don't allow it.

 

[duraleigh]

Ditto what bama just said.....20ppm CYA (but not more) is a good thing for an indoor pool.

 

[Aquatica]

actually finding it hard to balance at TA of 50 with water temp below 80F so I wouldn't recommend a TA lower than 60. and if you had borates added to you water then you can run a higher TA like 80 and pH wont budge. so 60-80 is good.

I wouldn't bother adding cya to indoor pool. doesn't make sense unless some sun hits the water. there is no uv rays to burn the chlorine off. I have an outside sort of enclosed pool and it hardly gets sun. Its got 80ppm of cya in it and I have to run the T15 cell at like 10%. and the pool is 25,000 gallons.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Do a search of some of Chem Geeks posts on the subject and you'll see exactly why it does make sense.

 

[Aquatica]

Do a search of some of Chem Geeks posts on the subject and you'll see exactly why it does make sense.

if Chem says 20ppm of cya so it shall be. Chem goes real deep and I trust his advice 1,000%. just don't have the time to read up on it right now. thanks.