Reducing Alkalinity

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TUGreystones

TUGreystones

Member
May 19, 2018
23
Batesville, IN
Pool Size
16000
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
CircuPool RJ-30 Plus
Hey all,

I was out of the country for a month, and a friend watched my pool for me. It’s a SWG that usually runs great without issues. Apparently it went green a week ago and he took a sample to the pool store. They advised him to add 1 gallon of Muriatic Acid and then subsequently another gallon. They also had him hit the superchlorinate button on the SWG. The levels before I left were:

FC: 5
Alkalinity: 110
pH: 7.4
CYA: 50-60

Currently I’m reading:
FC: 1
Alkalinity: 140
pH: 7.5
CYA: 30

I already began slamming and am going to add CYA. My question is how to get alkalinity lower without screwing up the pH. Is that even possible? Am I missing something about why it’s green? To be fair, it’s not a dark green - we can still see the bottom and I think slamming will take care of the issue in a day or two. Water isn’t hazy, either. I’m also a little perplexed as to why it went green in the first place - other than the obvious of not enough chlorine in the water. Thanks for any advice you have to offer.
 
Alkalinity did not cause your pool to go green.

Your CYA dropped and your SWG % that was adequate at CYA 50 probably could not keep up at CYA 30.

In the future if you leave your pool for any amount of time up your % so your FC will increase during your absence. If your CYA drops that increased % will probably keep up with the increased chlorine demand.

Also pour in some liquid chlorine before leaving and let your FC start around 8 to give you a buffer.
 
Those are all helpful. We are on city water and I was just told we’re in a drought - I really don’t understand how CYA dropped so much. I’m going to add to it now.
 
As far as I know, the water temp hasn’t been too high. It’s currently right around 80F. I didn’t know that about CYA, though - really useful for the future because I like the water to be warm! There may have been a heat spell a few weeks back that caused it??
 
Back to your first question. Leave your TA alone. It will naturally go down (slowly). It may take a couple of weeks but it will go down.

If your CYA is still 30.......leave it. That is ideal for a SLAM. If you have already moved it, you will just need a higher level of FC.

Going to the pool store was a big mistake.........lesson learned. :):)
 
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Ha ha! I didn’t go to the pool store - I stopped using them years ago.

I just noticed the salt cell has brown on the side - rust I’m assuming??? I’m going to clean it with a mix of MA and water. Is there anything else I should do to clean it? I’ve never seen rust on it before, and I know it wasn’t there when we left at the end of May.
 

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TUGreystones said:
So I just noticed the salt cell has brown in it - and it looks like it’s coming from one side. If it is rust, how would I get rid of that?
Click to expand...
There is no iron in a SWG cell to rust.

Post pics of what you see.
 
mknauss said:
Your signature does not show what SWCG do you have.
Please do not use MA on the SWCG. Use cleaning vinegar if the scale is that bad.

SWG How It Works - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
Click to expand...
It’s a Circupool RJ 30+. I’ve never cleaned before (had for 2 years) as I’ve been waiting for the cell maint light to come on. Before I saw this reply I used the MA, and the cell is no longer brown or producing brown water. The SLAM does seem to be helping.
 
My family and I were gone for a month on sabbatical, and I left the pool in the care of a friend. Apparently it turned green about a week and a half ago. We got home late Thursday night and I inspected everything. 0 chlorine, SWG was outputting a weird brownish color to the water. My friend had taken a sample to the local pool store, and they had him dump 2 gallons of MA in (at separate times) to reduce pH. I stopped using the pool store years ago, just as an aside.

So I started slamming on Friday morning - and I cleaned the SWG cell with MA and running it at 100%. The pool is definitely clearer, but there’s a strange yellowish hue to it. I’m not sure if it’s an algae or if the substance coming from the SWG stained the liner?? Last night my FC was at 15, and I went ahead and added 1 gallon of 10% chlorine as it has continually used up chlorine. This morning, even with the SWG running 100% I was again at 15 ppm - telling me something is still using chlorine. I’m going to continue slamming and shut off the SWG tonight to do a loss test and see where things are. My question is if this looks like algae or something else? If the liner was stained by the strange brown substance coming from the SWG (iron maybe?? - though someone else said that’s impossible), can I get rid of the stain? Liner is 10 years old, but I’d love to keep it another year or two. Here are my current reads:

FC: 15
TA: 145
pH: 7.8

pH was 7.5 when I started slamming, but I’m guessing the liquid chlorine and constant running of SWG brought it up?

I’m also attaching photos so you can see - normally the pool is a sparkling blue.

IMG_9470.jpeg
 
Brownish stuff + clear green water all looks like iron in the water.
 
TUGreystones said:
My family and I were gone for a month on sabbatical, and I left the pool in the care of a friend. Apparently it turned green about a week and a half ago. We got home late Thursday night and I inspected everything. 0 chlorine, SWG was outputting a weird brownish color to the water. My friend had taken a sample to the local pool store, and they had him dump 2 gallons of MA in (at separate times) to reduce pH. I stopped using the pool store years ago, just as an aside.

So I started slamming on Friday morning - and I cleaned the SWG cell with MA and running it at 100%. The pool is definitely clearer, but there’s a strange yellowish hue to it. I’m not sure if it’s an algae or if the substance coming from the SWG stained the liner?? Last night my FC was at 15, and I went ahead and added 1 gallon of 10% chlorine as it has continually used up chlorine. This morning, even with the SWG running 100% I was again at 15 ppm - telling me something is still using chlorine. I’m going to continue slamming and shut off the SWG tonight to do a loss test and see where things are. My question is if this looks like algae or something else? If the liner was stained by the strange brown substance coming from the SWG (iron maybe?? - though someone else said that’s impossible), can I get rid of the stain? Liner is 10 years old, but I’d love to keep it another year or two. Here are my current reads:

FC: 15
TA: 145
pH: 7.8

pH was 7.5 when I started slamming, but I’m guessing the liquid chlorine and constant running of SWG brought it up?

I’m also attaching photos so you can see - normally the pool is a sparkling blue.

View attachment 509550
Click to expand...
Looks green like algae?
 
Have you had tablets in your rainbow chlorine tablet feeder?
 
Was this the first time you SLAMed this pool water?
 
ajw22 said:
Have you had tablets in your rainbow chlorine tablet feeder?
Click to expand...
There’s no rainbow feeder anymore - it’s SWG.
ajw22 said:
Was this the first time you SLAMed this pool water?
Click to expand...
No, I slammed it when I opened it this year and probably the last 5 years or so??

I’m not home right now, so I’ll post pics of the equipment pad when I get back. Not sure how that would be important?
 

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