The borates cut the pH rise in the SWCG cell roughly in half so would reduce scaling there so the cell would therefore remain more efficient between its polarity reversal cycles that slough off any scale buildup. That might be the effect you are seeing or it could be the small algaecide effect though if one had the right FC/CYA ratio then that delta should be quite small.
Appropriate TA before adding borates
- Thread starter NeedMoreSun
- Start date
Just an update and wrap-up of an old thread and the results 
TA ended up at 60 when going through the process and Ph at 7.2. I aerated until I hit 7.4 and then removed the fountain and aimed the returns back down. That was July 8th. Today Ph is STILL at 7.4 so not crept up at all in over a month. I guess the TA of 60 combined with the borates found me a balanced spot on first try!!! I'll get around to getting borates to 50 one of these days.
Also improved.. Letting mother nature bring my CYA down is still moving along nicely and down to 80 and I can finally stop using the dilution method. With the amount of rainfall here I suspect I'll be trying to maintain it before long. SWG is also done bouncing all over creation and with a total of 5 hour runtime, split up a little to avoid time of use billing, FC fluctuates between 7 and 9 over a 24 hr. period.
Ok, now the problem is I'm bored. All new equipment and a new pad done DIY, conversion to SWG, and now all I have is checking here for entertainment Thanks ALL for the help!
FC - 8
CC - 0
PH - 7.4
TA - 60
CH - 180
CYA - 80
Borate - ~40
TA ended up at 60 when going through the process and Ph at 7.2. I aerated until I hit 7.4 and then removed the fountain and aimed the returns back down. That was July 8th. Today Ph is STILL at 7.4 so not crept up at all in over a month. I guess the TA of 60 combined with the borates found me a balanced spot on first try!!! I'll get around to getting borates to 50 one of these days.
Also improved.. Letting mother nature bring my CYA down is still moving along nicely and down to 80 and I can finally stop using the dilution method. With the amount of rainfall here I suspect I'll be trying to maintain it before long. SWG is also done bouncing all over creation and with a total of 5 hour runtime, split up a little to avoid time of use billing, FC fluctuates between 7 and 9 over a 24 hr. period.
Ok, now the problem is I'm bored. All new equipment and a new pad done DIY, conversion to SWG, and now all I have is checking here for entertainment
Thanks ALL for the help!FC - 8
CC - 0
PH - 7.4
TA - 60
CH - 180
CYA - 80
Borate - ~40
- May 23, 2015
- 24,444
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Ok, now the problem is I'm bored. All new equipment and a new pad done DIY, conversion to SWG, and now all I have is checking here for entertainment
Hahahahaha! Yeah, TFP makes pool care so boring
All we're left with is adult beverage consumption and working on our tans. Glad it worked out for you!! Post a picture of your sparkly pool water when you get a chance. You deserve to show off all the hard work.
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I'm baaaack!!! LOL, something about a few warm days and wishing the water was warmer gets me in the mood to get the pool ready
I left the pool running through our short winter, but otherwise stopped testing anything. With the weather warming I started looking and found today my entirely rebuilt Polaris last year already has an issue. I took it apart only partially and something is binding on the flywheel side. Too lazy to mess with that so I dropped it at the pool store today for them to repair instead. It was picking up fallen leaves until only a few days ago though. The pool also stayed crystal clear the entire winter, until the bad storms this past week finally diluted the salt enough to stop the SWG I have just a hint of cloudiness now after making it all winter due to not paying attention! That was also corrected this morning and a nice steady stream of bubbles now and on super-chlorinate and hopefully not too late.
Right now I'm only getting chlorine levels up and will start testing and adjusting anything otherwise in a week or two. While at the store though I figured I'd get a free never accurate test of everything and looks pretty good for a Winter off
FC - 1 (should be rising again now)
PH - 7.5
TA - 50
CH - 70
CYA - 40
Since my TA was at 60 when last checked, and my top-off water is 50 with free storm top-off at zero the TA is likely pretty accurate. CYA if reading through this and my past posts started probably near 300 but had already been dropping well just due to backwashes or draining off after storms so "may" be close to accurate. Other than the hint of cloudiness having me worried I'm pretty pleased with how it survided, seeing friends pools that are green and waiting for a Spring Green to Clean dump of chemicals!! They also tried to sell me Phosfree due a 200ppm phosphate of course, lmao, as well as things to bring up TA and CH but I didn't point out that I am quite happy with a TA of 50, thank you very much
Back to work on it soon though, other than some physical cleanup and getting FC back up. I'm also considering adding a heat pump, just to get it swim ready sooner and extend it further into the fall. I replaced EVERYTHING last year, so I must have something to add or mess with, right?
I left the pool running through our short winter, but otherwise stopped testing anything. With the weather warming I started looking and found today my entirely rebuilt Polaris last year already has an issue. I took it apart only partially and something is binding on the flywheel side. Too lazy to mess with that so I dropped it at the pool store today for them to repair instead. It was picking up fallen leaves until only a few days ago though. The pool also stayed crystal clear the entire winter, until the bad storms this past week finally diluted the salt enough to stop the SWG
I have just a hint of cloudiness now after making it all winter due to not paying attention! That was also corrected this morning and a nice steady stream of bubbles now and on super-chlorinate and hopefully not too late.Right now I'm only getting chlorine levels up and will start testing and adjusting anything otherwise in a week or two. While at the store though I figured I'd get a free never accurate test of everything and looks pretty good for a Winter off
FC - 1 (should be rising again now)
PH - 7.5
TA - 50
CH - 70
CYA - 40
Since my TA was at 60 when last checked, and my top-off water is 50 with free storm top-off at zero the TA is likely pretty accurate. CYA if reading through this and my past posts started probably near 300 but had already been dropping well just due to backwashes or draining off after storms so "may" be close to accurate. Other than the hint of cloudiness having me worried I'm pretty pleased with how it survided, seeing friends pools that are green and waiting for a Spring Green to Clean dump of chemicals!! They also tried to sell me Phosfree due a 200ppm phosphate of course, lmao, as well as things to bring up TA and CH but I didn't point out that I am quite happy with a TA of 50, thank you very much
Back to work on it soon though, other than some physical cleanup and getting FC back up. I'm also considering adding a heat pump, just to get it swim ready sooner and extend it further into the fall. I replaced EVERYTHING last year, so I must have something to add or mess with, right?
- May 23, 2015
- 24,444
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Their test results are likely all wrong so you'd be better off testing yourself and going from there. Nothing wrong with shopping in a pool store but using their test services and trying to base pool care off of them is basically akin to playing Russian Roulette.
Super-chlorinate mode should be renamed "best way to shorten the lifetime of your cell" mode. It is nothing more than a marketing turn-of-phrase. There's nothing "super" about it - the mode simply runs the pump and SWG for 24 hrs straight on 100% output. You'd be better off testing your FC level and then adding bleach to get to some kind of shock level, super chlorinate doesn't really do much other than over burden the cell.
Cloudiness + no winter care = possible algae bloom (it doesn't have to be green to be loaded with algae). You should raise your FC to the target level for your CYA and then perform an overnight chlorine loss test. If the cloudiness is from an algae bloom about to happen then you'll see a loss greater than 1ppm. Super chlorinating with the SWG will not help, you will need to SLAM your pool to get it back to normal.
Post a "real" set of test results and we'll be happy to advise.
Super-chlorinate mode should be renamed "best way to shorten the lifetime of your cell" mode. It is nothing more than a marketing turn-of-phrase. There's nothing "super" about it - the mode simply runs the pump and SWG for 24 hrs straight on 100% output. You'd be better off testing your FC level and then adding bleach to get to some kind of shock level, super chlorinate doesn't really do much other than over burden the cell.
Cloudiness + no winter care = possible algae bloom (it doesn't have to be green to be loaded with algae). You should raise your FC to the target level for your CYA and then perform an overnight chlorine loss test. If the cloudiness is from an algae bloom about to happen then you'll see a loss greater than 1ppm. Super chlorinating with the SWG will not help, you will need to SLAM your pool to get it back to normal.
Post a "real" set of test results and we'll be happy to advise.
LOL, you missed my "never accurate" part about pool store tests
I'm bummed though that it hung in there all Winter and one storm finally pushed it over the edge diluting the salt and adding leaves to the mix, after $300 in re-screening the enclosure to boot. Neighbor thinks I'm nuts and that it's clear, but I know what it has always looked like otherwise and know something isn't right and likely looking at a SLAM I don't mind using a little of the cell lifetime though to get FC up to at least normal after 3-4 days of not working. It's also oversized being a T-15 for a 14k pool and in an enclosure. All last summer it ran 25% for three hours a day and FC still ran higher than I needed for my CYA levels at the time. I certainly don't want to leave FC at near zero even if not yet trying to get it swim ready. I thought I had some bleach in the garage for backup/emergency use but appears it was all used up for laundry or cleaning purposes
It will be next weekend likely either way before I jump on worrying about a SLAM. I still need to get a few more leaves out, want to clean up the deck, and with FC back up some at least I'll be able to check the overnight loss.
I'm bummed though that it hung in there all Winter and one storm finally pushed it over the edge diluting the salt and adding leaves to the mix, after $300 in re-screening the enclosure to boot. Neighbor thinks I'm nuts and that it's clear, but I know what it has always looked like otherwise and know something isn't right and likely looking at a SLAM
I don't mind using a little of the cell lifetime though to get FC up to at least normal after 3-4 days of not working. It's also oversized being a T-15 for a 14k pool and in an enclosure. All last summer it ran 25% for three hours a day and FC still ran higher than I needed for my CYA levels at the time. I certainly don't want to leave FC at near zero even if not yet trying to get it swim ready. I thought I had some bleach in the garage for backup/emergency use but appears it was all used up for laundry or cleaning purposes It will be next weekend likely either way before I jump on worrying about a SLAM. I still need to get a few more leaves out, want to clean up the deck, and with FC back up some at least I'll be able to check the overnight loss.
- May 23, 2015
- 24,444
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Have you pulled the cell and inspected it?
Normally rain water can't dilute the salt enough to cause it to shutdown. Sure, you can get a layer of rain water on the surface that is unmixed and make the cell act a little wonky, but once the pump runs for a bit then it should be all mixed again. Unless you're replacing huge quantities of pool water with rain water, then the effect is minimal.
Pull your cell and inspect the plates for any calcium scale. Scale on the plates reduces the effective area for chlorine production which makes the cell report as low salt. Also, you should get a salt test kit of you don't have one to confirm your salt levels. The salinity meter on the cell is not the most accurate.
Normally rain water can't dilute the salt enough to cause it to shutdown. Sure, you can get a layer of rain water on the surface that is unmixed and make the cell act a little wonky, but once the pump runs for a bit then it should be all mixed again. Unless you're replacing huge quantities of pool water with rain water, then the effect is minimal.
Pull your cell and inspect the plates for any calcium scale. Scale on the plates reduces the effective area for chlorine production which makes the cell report as low salt. Also, you should get a salt test kit of you don't have one to confirm your salt levels. The salinity meter on the cell is not the most accurate.
LOL, nevermind, I may be ok!!! My step-son just made an observation. Anywhere the sun is hitting and shining through the older screen panels it's crystal clear. The greenish tint I thought I was seeing it now obviously only where the sun is shining through the new screens, and clear dividers made by the support beam shadows.
I still swear it looked green!! Will still be doing an overnight loss test soon, but back to just getting physical stuff done now. Also, even if "never accurate" I'm still pretty happy it came through so well I should have checked the salt the morning after the storm like I would have if in the Summer and worried about swimming
- - - Updated - - -
I cleaned the cell in the Fall and that was on my list to do tomorrow regardless. However, we got about 6-8 inches of rain and that was on top of knowing it was already running a little low due to storms just a couple weeks prior. This week we were mostly ducking and hoping the tornadoes went elsewhere and got missed by 15 miles. Only loss was about half the screen of the enclosure and pulled down my fence gate. Average 64 inches of rain a year and we're off to a rapid above average start so far.
As for salt, my aquachek strip, the controller, and the pool store all came to within 200ppm of each other. A better salt test is something I still need to add though, since I have everything else now. Seems weird using strips for anything Oh, well, I have strips for borate as well I suppose
I still swear it looked green!! Will still be doing an overnight loss test soon, but back to just getting physical stuff done now. Also, even if "never accurate" I'm still pretty happy it came through so well
I should have checked the salt the morning after the storm like I would have if in the Summer and worried about swimming - - - Updated - - -
I cleaned the cell in the Fall and that was on my list to do tomorrow regardless. However, we got about 6-8 inches of rain and that was on top of knowing it was already running a little low due to storms just a couple weeks prior. This week we were mostly ducking and hoping the tornadoes went elsewhere and got missed by 15 miles. Only loss was about half the screen of the enclosure and pulled down my fence gate. Average 64 inches of rain a year and we're off to a rapid above average start so far.
As for salt, my aquachek strip, the controller, and the pool store all came to within 200ppm of each other. A better salt test is something I still need to add though, since I have everything else now. Seems weird using strips for anything
Oh, well, I have strips for borate as well I suppose