I switched over to SWG in my pool 13 years ago. But I remodeled it 7 years ago and it's taken a bit of toll on my nice travertine coping. I'm on my third salt cell (still going strong), but my SWG board went out. So, better late than never, I've decided this is a good time to trial a simple chorine pool using TFPC method.
So here's my latest chemistry:
FC 3.4
pH 7.8
TA 70
CYA 55
Ca 660 (I know it's high, my tap water reads 240. I don't know. Should I change it?)
NaCl 3600 (This was because I was using a SWG until it crapped out a few months back.)
So here's my plan:
I'm adding a little liquid chlorine to bump it up to around 5-6 (I like a higher number so I only need to adjust once a week. Sorry guys, but water testing once a week is what I consider reasonable as a pool owner. If it needs more attention than that, I'll never get anything else done around the house!) I'll also drop my pH to around 7.4-7.5 (more effective range for chlorine to work without getting overly corrosive). I'm thinking TA and CYA look about right. I'm figuring I'll leave the Ca high. Does high Ca cause problems with travertine? I know you can get a bit of scaling, which I can see a little on the blue ceramic water level tile. But how does Ca show on white travertine? I just notice the travertine has some holes and pitting. Could the travertine erosion be causing my high Ca levels?
So here's the REAL question ...
I know I shouldn't be listening to the local pool store guys, but this "self-proclaimed expert" states that I need to lower my salt as it "interferes" with the chemistry of my pool. So why is this? I figured I could keep the salt level where it is for two reasons - 1) I could easily revert back to SWG if I decide and 2) the salt serves as a softener, so keep a nice feel to swimmers. But if I need to lower the salt, the only way would be a pool drain, which gets really expensive, not to mention messy, out here in southern California.
So here's my latest chemistry:
FC 3.4
pH 7.8
TA 70
CYA 55
Ca 660 (I know it's high, my tap water reads 240. I don't know. Should I change it?)
NaCl 3600 (This was because I was using a SWG until it crapped out a few months back.)
So here's my plan:
I'm adding a little liquid chlorine to bump it up to around 5-6 (I like a higher number so I only need to adjust once a week. Sorry guys, but water testing once a week is what I consider reasonable as a pool owner. If it needs more attention than that, I'll never get anything else done around the house!) I'll also drop my pH to around 7.4-7.5 (more effective range for chlorine to work without getting overly corrosive). I'm thinking TA and CYA look about right. I'm figuring I'll leave the Ca high. Does high Ca cause problems with travertine? I know you can get a bit of scaling, which I can see a little on the blue ceramic water level tile. But how does Ca show on white travertine? I just notice the travertine has some holes and pitting. Could the travertine erosion be causing my high Ca levels?
So here's the REAL question ...
I know I shouldn't be listening to the local pool store guys, but this "self-proclaimed expert" states that I need to lower my salt as it "interferes" with the chemistry of my pool. So why is this? I figured I could keep the salt level where it is for two reasons - 1) I could easily revert back to SWG if I decide and 2) the salt serves as a softener, so keep a nice feel to swimmers. But if I need to lower the salt, the only way would be a pool drain, which gets really expensive, not to mention messy, out here in southern California.