Preparing Water for SWG

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sailor21

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Jul 11, 2013
76
Puerto Rico
Hi!
I'm getting ready to balance the pool before putting in the salt and will be going for the levels suggested at the Pool School.

Questions:
- For Free Chlorine, would it be easier/faster to just use bleach? I am at 1ppm and need at least 3ppm on 6500gal pool.
- on Cacium Hardness I have 180ppm and suggestion is at least 250ppm, what is best to achieve it?

Thanks in advance!
 
Certainly use bleach whenever you need to quickly raise the FC level.
According to this: pool-school/recommended_pool_chemicals
you need calcium chloride or calcium chloride dihydrate to raise the CH. Now since you are not on the main land, do you have access to cal-hypo? That too could be used to add FC and slowly raise the CH.

BTW, there is no reason you have to wait for the CH before you add the salt and get the SWG running.
 
Start using the poolcalculator.com that is linked in my signature.

For 6500 gallons to get a 2ppm rise would take 20oz of 8.25% bleach or 27 oz of 6%. Just find plain old bleach that has the % strength on the label.
 
Get your FC up in the 5-6 range. The target of 3 is at the low end, and it is too easy to fall below your recommended amount. Also, you want to make sure your TA is around 70, if it is too high you'll be fighting the pH drift with muriatic acid constantly. Once your salt system is running, you'll want to get CYA up in the 70-80 range also.
 
Thanks!

I tried entering the 5 on the Pool Calculator but didn't work. Just did it again and worked. Made a desktop shortcut.

The brand I have for the bleach is Clorox. Pretty much the only brand in the island. Anyway, it is the original formula, no floral stuff.

I'll have to wait a week to activate the SWG (gotta travel) so will update when doing so. I will just balance and dump the salt in.
J
 

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Ok,

Yesterday I raised the Alkalinity to 140ppm,got the PH to 7.4ppm got the chlorine to 3ppm, and CyA to 80ppm, then dropped 1gal of 5% bleach and 160lbs of salt.

Today the CL dropped to 0.5ppm, all the others are at pretty much same levels as yesterday and now Salt is to 860ppm.

Why such a drop in CL and why is the Salt so low when I put in almost all the sale required for the gallons of water?

Any ideas?

Thanks!

J
 
sailor21 said:
esterday I raised the Alkalinity to 140ppm,
Click to expand...
Why? For swg we recommend a TA of 60-80 ppm. Please review this pool school article:http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/water_balance_saltwater_generator

What kit are you using for your tests?

sailor21 said:
Why such a drop in CL
Click to expand...
Clorine gets used up by organics and the sun and must be replenished. Additinally, if you have algae, then it will use even more chlorine. How does your water look?

sailor21 said:
why is the Salt so low when I put in almost all the sale required for the gallons of water?
Click to expand...
How are you measuring the salt level?
 
Thanks for replying!

Ok, this is what Hayward requires before running their SWG:
Salt = 2700-3400ppm
FC = 1-3ppm
PH = 7.2-7.8ppm
CyA = 60-80ppm
TA = 80-120ppm
Cal Hardness = 200-400ppm

This is what our Forum Recommends:
Salt = 3600-3800ppm
FC = 3-5ppm
PH = 7.5-7.8ppm
CyA = 70-80ppm
TA = 60-80ppm
Cal Hardness = 300ppm (plaster)

This is what I tested after dropping 8lbs of Alkalinity increaser, but before 1 gal of 5% Bleach and 160lbs of Salt (according to my pool size, I should drop 175lbs):
Salt = 0ppm
FC = 3ppm
PH = 7.4ppm
CyA = 80ppm
TA = 140ppm
Cal Hardness = 180ppm

After dumping the bleach & salt, pump ran for 5 hours. Brushed every hour to help dissolve salt.

This is what I tested today with Taylor K-2005 and Aqua Chek Salt Strips (right after the message I posted before):
Salt = 860ppm
FC = 0ppm
PH = 7.8ppm
CyA = 80ppm
TA = 120ppm
Cal Hardness = 200ppm

Attached is a picture of the Salt Test Strip. I based my reading on the clearest area, which is a 3. Compared to chart is 860ppm. Now, notice there is a not so clear area that goes up to about 7 (that would be 3620ppm) and the rest of the strip is dark as you see when unused.

Now we have a clearer picture.

What do you think?

J
 
Well, now your TA is higher than anyone's recommendations ... although there is not reason it would have dropped from 140 to 120 ... so one of those tests was wrong.

That amount of salt added about 3000ppm ... so the 860 is impossible. How sure are you that the salt was 0 to start with? You could pretty easily be up around 3600ppm. What does the SWG think the salt level is? ... but circulate the water for 24 hours after the salt is dissolved before you turn it on.
 
Thanks!

I'll run the pool all night & test again in the morning.

I tested the water with the same Aqua Chek strips and reading was 0.

I will be installing the SWG between tomorrow and Friday. I just want to have it at the levels before starting the SWG.

Should I drop more Bleach in?
What is the fastest way to reduce the TA?
 
The picture you posted is blurry, but the very top of the yellow "spike" that shows up is where your salt level is (so it looks to me like you salt level is much higher probably in the 3600 range you mentioned...but again the picture is blurry).

The K-2005 does not have the most important FAS-DPD test (not to be confused with the DPD test that the K-2005 does have). The DPD test you have is not real accurate and can only read up to 10 ppm FC.

Use some more bleach to get the FC up to at least 4 ppm FC. For a cya of 80 ppm you never want to drop below 4 ppm. Test in one hour, and if it has dropped significantly add some more to get it up above 4 ppm...if the chlorine is going away within an hour (or even reducing by 1-2 ppm in an hour) then it is likely you have something growing in your water and need to do the SLAM process.
 
I just tested the Salt with an Insta Check Strip (the colored square) and it shows between 3000 and 3500ppm which does make sense.

Will go buy a new salt test kit tomorrow as the Insta Check was just a couple of strips they sent with the SWG.

Will drop in another gallon of Bleach and let her run all night.

Thanks for the help!
 

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