HELP! Confused

[lukeyn]

Good evening everyone.
After several deployments and military trips I decided to go salt water so my wife would have less maintenance while I am gone. Purchased the Circupool Universal 40 kit. Really easy to install. I ran it without adding salt to see what the meter would read. It stated 0000 and 900 instantaneous salt readings. Since I used to only run chlorine I figured the salt levels would be pretty low so I ran the numbers on poolcalc. Pool is approx 28,000 gallons (L shaped pool, 32ftx16ft=3ft depth, 24ftx16ft goes down to 8ft) after re-doing the measurements several times. The system states to run between 3000-4000 ppm of salt. Figured I would target the high side since I am just opening the pool. I purchased 20 bags of morton pool salt and dumped it in.....Well the system is reading over 5,000 now? How could this be?

Maybe I am jumping the gun, but I emptied 6 inches of water tonight and am in the process of refilling it.

 

[zea3]

When adding things like salt, its best to under shoot the target. Either your pool is smaller than you measured or your salt sensor is a little off. Do you have a salt test?

 

[lukeyn]

I ordered two types of testers, the aqua check strips and the tds style. I figured the unit would be gtg but read some reports on not to trust it.

 

[wireform]

If your pool calculations are right and you have 28000 gallon pool then each 40lb bag will give you 171ppm salt. Now two things to keep in mind is, did you test for salinity before adding the salt as most pools have much more salt then you would know from the additions of chlorine over time. I've seen pools before conversion with almost 2000ppm just from chlorine. Secondly even if it was low in salt before adding the salt it could be a false reading if you didn't wait long enough for the salt to disperse evenly in the water. Get yourself a good test kit such as THIS to confirm what you actually have.

 

[lukeyn]

I hope that is not the case with being 2000 ppm before adding, but I have been using the TFP method of chlorine for years now. Only reason I switched is not having the availability of buying chlorine in bulk containers of 20 gallons at a time. I'll order the sw test kit you linked and attempt to cancel the TDS one coming in the mail. My wife is a scientist and has the gift of doing reagents.

I allowed the salt & system to circulate with the pump running for several days with each day the meter on the control board reading higher and higher.

 

[lukeyn]

Appreciate all the help. Purchased some aquacheck test strips for the time being and the board is reading 700ppm higher than the testing kit indicates. Test strips are reading 4020 ppm. The taylor salt system is in the mail, but with the virus going on, who knows how long that will take.

My readings using the Taylor Kit are
PH: 8.5
FC: 6
CYA: 70

Second question:
Why is my PH through the roof?

I dumped about 1.5 quarts of acid in last-night.....Its 25 degrees outside this morning though so not sure why i am worried about the pool.

 

[zea3]

Running a SWG tends to raise pH, and if you have any water features that splash they aerate the water and may raise pH as well. What is your TA level?

 

[lukeyn]

TA was 70, rechecked PH after adding the acid last night, its at 7.4. Water is still cloudy and the Taylor kit says there is combined chlorine. Guessing because it was so nasty from the start of the season and all the dead algae.


Might add flocculant.

 

[Mdragger88]

TA was 70, rechecked PH after adding the acid last night, its at 7.4. Water is still cloudy and the Taylor kit says there is combined chlorine. Guessing because it was so nasty from the start of the season and all the dead algae.


Might add flocculant.

Noooo! Just liquid chlorine! Slam! Floc will just prolong the inevitable- SLAM - Shock Level and Maintain - Trouble Free Pool

 

[lukeyn]

Noooo! Just liquid chlorine! Slam! Floc will just prolong the inevitable- SLAM - Shock Level and Maintain - Trouble Free Pool

Free chlorine is at 5 still???? What would adding more chlorine do if I have available chlorine?

 

[ajw22]

Let’s take a step back. You got your SWG operational.

If your pool is cloudy due to algae then you need to clear that using the SLAM Process. Floc and filtering does not clear algae problems. At CYA 70 your SLAM FC level using liquid chlorine will be 28 following the FC/CYA Levels



I suggest you read ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry.

To confirm if you have an algae problem turn off your SWG and do the Overnight Chlorine Loss Test

 

[lukeyn]

I had a super green pool due to not shocking it or anything over the winter months. It gets pretty disgusting. I thought though if you have free chlorine, then you should be gtg?

 

[Richard320]

I had a super green pool due to not shocking it or anything over the winter months. It gets pretty disgusting. I thought though if you have free chlorine, then you should be gtg?

No. Algae can reproduce fast. What you want to do is kill it off faster than it grow, lots faster. If you can wait all Summer, you might have clear water at 5 FC. Bump that number up to 20ish and the pool can be clear in a few days. Be aware: things don't actually work better if you go far above shock level. That number was derived by weighing killing speed with solar losses, as it's not a straight line thing. The higher the FC, the higher the percentage lost to the sun. So just take the nuclear option off the table and follow the SLAM Process.

 

[lukeyn]

Should I removed my bubble covers prior to "nuking" the pool? Afraid to damage them with that high of chlorine?

 

[Richard320]

Should I removed my bubble covers prior to "nuking" the pool? Afraid to damage them with that high of chlorine?

Don't nuke. Only to shock level for your CYA.

The high FC won't damage the bubblewrap. It's plastic and the active chlorine is actually low enough to swim in safely. They should get soaked at least a little to kill any algae spores that may be stuck to them. But I wouldn't leave them on the whole time because 1) they'll trap any CC that forms and 2) they'll interfere with brushing and vacuuming and both of those are essential.

Lots of people chuck all the pool toys in to soak as they approach the finish line of a SLAM.

 

[lukeyn]

Rgr that, Thanks. I'll buy about 10 gallons at Aldis today. They have 8.5% for about $2.70 a gallon.

 

[ajw22]

Refer to the FC/CYA Levels. FC levels up to the SLAM level are safe to swim and safe for pool stuff and are not “high chlorine “ levels.

 

[lukeyn]

28 free chlorine is safe to swim in ????

I know I wouldn't be in there unless I wanted blonde hair again.

 

[ajw22]

28 free chlorine is safe to swim in ????

I know I wouldn't be in there unless I wanted blonde hair again.

Yes. You need to understand about the role of CYA and the low level of active chlorine it creates versus reserve chlorine. That is why the safe FC level varies with the CYA level.

Read CYA - Further Reading and CYA Chlorine Relationship - Further Reading and let’s discuss if you want to.

 

[Richard320]

28 free chlorine is safe to swim in ????

I know I wouldn't be in there unless I wanted blonde hair again.

Assuming you did the test right and the CYA is 70, sure. My first season I was stuck with inherited CYA up around 220 and severe water restrictions. I maintained 24 FC and swam in it all the time. I still have those trunks and they're still blue.

If you're good at interpreting graphs, you'll see that 30 FC at 70 CYA is still less reactive than 4 FC and zero CYA.