Just converted to salt water system

[Breeze540]

I've just converted to salt water system. Before conversion, I drained the pool (concrete, in-ground) and did chlorine wash and cleaned the filters and filled with fresh water.
The manual of the chlorine generator (Breeze 540) says to maintain TA range of 80 ~ 100 PPM and pH range of 7.2 ~ 7.6, and the salt residual of 4,000 ~ 4,500 PPM.
My pool is approximately 20,000 gallons. I have added 360 lbs of pool salt (food quality) so far, although I need to add more.
I added the pool conditioner before I added the salt.
How many pounds of baking soda should I add to the pool for the start up? I guessed it about 30 ~ 40 lbs.
I'd appreciate your input.

Thanks is advance

 

[JasonLion]

Welcome to TFP!

You need to measure your starting levels before adding chemicals. With a fresh fill salt is likely to be fairly low but it won't be zero, while TA can vary all over the place depending on your region.

We don't recommend keeping PH that low, our recommendation is 7.6 to 7.8. Likewise our recommendation for TA is between 60 and 80.

 

[Breeze540]

Thank you Jason,

What test kit do you recommend and where do I measure the chemical levels? (at the skimmer!?)
Sorry for a newbie question.

 

[woodyp]

www.tftestkits.net

That'll fix you up!

 

[Breeze540]

Thanks woodyp,

Just got TF-100.

 

[jblizzle]

Ignore the TA for now. What does the water look like? That CC is concerning and you likely need to SLAM.
And what is the pH?

Uh oh, where did your post go? I deleted one, wonder if another mod deleted the other?

 

[Breeze540]

Thanks jblizzle,

The first test results were the following:

FC - 4
CC - 1
pH - 7.8
CH - 225
TA -120
CYA - 37

Water is crystal clear for now.

 

[jblizzle]

Lower the pH to the Lower 7s then raise the FC up to around 14ppm and do the OCLT to see if the CC drops and you pass.

 

[Breeze540]

Thanks jblizzle,

I bought a gallon of liquid acid. Should I start with adding a half gallon to the pool?

 

[jblizzle]

How much does PoolMath say you should add? Never guess, use the tool.

 

[Breeze540]

Thanks jblizzle,

Hydrochloric acid I bought is labeled as 38% (concentrated).
The pool math calculator doesn't have a selection for 38%,
but using 34.6% option, it came out to be 21 oz.

 

[jblizzle]

If you target was 7.5, then I also got 21oz ... but before the SLAM it is usually good to go lower, like 7.2 which would take 53 oz.

Does not have to be exact, after all is your volume exactly 20k? I would add about 1/3 of a gallon (eyeball it) and then measure after 30 minutes.

 

[Breeze540]

Thanks jblizzle,

Based on the salinity level (I added 120 lbs of pool salt when the salinity level was 3700, and it's 4400 now)
the assumption of my volume was a bit off. I think it's more like 20500 gallons.
My chlorine generator manual recommends between 4000 ~ 4500 ppm.

I have a gallon of liquid chlorine. How much should I add to the pool to raise FC up to 14 ppm after I set the pH at low 7s by adding 1/3 of a gallon of liquid acid (38%)?
(Pool math calculator does not seem to have a selection for liquid chlorine)

Thanks again in advance,

 

[jblizzle]

You just put the % strength of your bleach at the top and it will tell you how much to add.

 

[Breeze540]

TFP recommends CYA between 70 ~ 80 for SWGs, while the manual of my chlorine generator recommends CYA between 30 ~ 60 and that it warns that the range over 60 ppm can lead to algae growth and other problems.
Is there a reason behind the higher CYA recommendation?

 

[woodyp]

Which particular SWG did you get?

 

[Breeze540]

Which particular SWG did you get?

SGS Breeze 540