Installing a SWG this year

[Buckeyemom]

After 15 years of having our pool, and thank God found this site and learned how to take care of it, we decided to install the Hayward Aquarite this year. We have always added solar salt each year to our pool, and it always made the water feel wonderful. We opened the pool today - and it looks pretty good. Balancing the chemicals now, going to let it run awhile and then shut it off and install the AquaRite. I will update as we go along in the process for those that are trying to decide whether to go this route themselves.

Our opening numbers were:
FC 0 putting in a gallon of 10%
ph 6.8 - maybe lower - putting in a pre-dissolved 4 lb box of 20 mule team borax
TA is at 50 - putting in 1 lb of baking soda after I test ph in a little while
CYA 25 - going to put in 3.5 lbs of stabilizer to raise it up to 70
Salt 1480 - going to add 3 (40 lb) bags of solar salt

Any suggestions are welcome.

Having the pool calc app on iphone is a necessity!

 

[Azgirl71]

Welcome! You seem to be on the right track. Definitely get that FC up to recommended levels. What are you testing with?

 

[Divin Dave]

I wouldnt recommend raising the TA on purpose at all. When you get the Ph up, the TA may rise slightly with it though. But thats ok.

With a SWG, the cell makes lots of tiny bubbles while making chlorine. Its basically super-aerating the water in the cell. This in itself has a tendendcy to make Ph rise quicker in SW pools than Non SW pools. This is why the TA on the Recommended Levels chart are slightly lower than non SWG pools.

Keeping your TA in the 50-60 range is pretty good prevention and counter acts the aerating effect of the SWG. There is no reason to go fast with TA. Take that one slow and if you move it, dont move it more than 10. Then give it a couple week so you can see how quick your Ph rises (or not). Then if you think you need to adjust it, then that would be fine.

FWIW, I keep my TA at 50 and I havent had a ph rise of more than .2, ever. Rock Solid at 7.4. Still have a half gallon of MA that is almost 2 years old now.

 

[Buckeyemom]

I have the TF 100 test kit, that I have used - and shown off - for several years. I have converted quite a few locals to the BBB method after they see our pool.

- - - Updated - - -

Good to know about the TA - I really didn't want to move the TA much, but the manual that came with the AquaRite says the TA should be in the 80 - 120 range. That seems high, doesn't it?

 

[Buckeyemom]

We are now 2 months in with our SWG - why didn't we do this years ago? Life is so easy. Testing a couple of times a week, but water is crystal clear and testing #s never change. My only concern is ph stays at 7.8 - doesn't go up. Should I mess with trying to lower it?

Only complaint is the Ohio weather stinks so far this summer - what else is new?

 

[Piolin]

Old question but I will give you my answer anyway, with a SWG is better to run the pH in the 7.5 7.8 range, so if the pH reach above 7.8 then lower to 7.5, if not leave it there...