I started with a nasty green swamp and thanks to TFP I have absolutely crystal clear water. After shocking the pool, my FC level slowly dropped to almost zero in about three weeks. I added enough bleach to bring it to FC 3.5 ppm. I then inspected my ECO-matic ESC 36 and discovered a lot of scale. I realized it was not producing chlorine. After cleaning it in a diluted muriatic solution, it started working again just fine. I began running it at 100% for 5 hours per night (3:00 AM to 8:00 AM since electricity rates are so high here in Los Angeles). After a week, my FC level was up to 13.5 ppm. I reduced the run time to 4.5 hours and waited a week. I was up to 18.0 ppm. I then reduced it to 4 hours and now I am up to 18.5 ppm. Tonight I dropped the run time to 3 hours. My salt levels are high, but I am not sure how high. My Aquachek salt strips are giving me erratic results. Sometimes they say 4500 ppm (which is, believe it or not, ECO-matic's recommended minimum), other times they say 7000 ppm. I am going to buy the Taylor K-1766 in order to get more accurate readings, but in the meantime I am wondering why I am getting such excessive CH levels. I do have a small pool at 9000 gallons, but 4 hours a night of run time is not so great. Based on my pumps GPM, I recently read that 1.5 hours would turn the water over once per night (I have 15 feet of head). Am I approaching this the right way by decreasing the run time by half an hour a week? I did just drop it by an hour tonight, but if ECO-matic suggests an FC level of 1.0 to 3.0 ppm, I at way, way over that. Any thoughts? We're swimming in the pool just fine but my eyes are feeling a little bit of burning in the evenings. The kids don't feel a thing. Any thoughts are appreciated.
