Ultra mineral control?

[Scottamus]

Hi,

I’m relatively new here and have used all the great advice here to get my pool into a good zone consistently, and my CSI in a good spot.

Just for fun, I went back to pinch a penny to have them test my water and see what they say. Their results were a little off but they were doing a hard push for their suncoast ultra mineral control again. They used to have me putting in a quart every 3 months.

When I would put in a quart, it would make my pool very cloudy for days, and then my filter would be full of this gray stuff and my psi would be too high and I’d have to rinse the filter off etc.

They keep saying how important it is, and I’ve read the article and forum posts here about how you only need it with a new pool or if your metals are actually high.

Does anyone know what it’s doing? It’s clearly doing something. Something is precipitating out of the water and clogging up the filter. Is it really not necessary to do that every so often? And why not?

Scott

 

[ajw22]

Why don't you ask them what it is doing other then taking your money?

Have them explain why you need it.

Oh, they cannot which is why you are asking here.

Is your pool water chemistry fine without it?

 

[PoolStored]

suncoast ultra mineral control

This is Phosphonic Acid...a sequestrant. Why do you think you need that? Further reading...

Sequestrant - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Bperry]

Does anyone know what it’s doing? It’s clearly doing something. Something is precipitating out of the water and clogging up the filter. Is it really not necessary to do that every so often? And why not?

Its clouding up your water, then clogging up your filter and forcing you to clean it. That doesnt mean it did anything useful.

 

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

I went back to pinch a penny to have them test my water and see what they say

 

[Scottamus]

Why don't you ask them what it is doing other then taking your money?

Have them explain why you need it.

Oh, they cannot which is why you are asking here.

Is your pool water chemistry fine without it?

Yep, it’s been fine without it. I was just curious about what it’s actually doing and if it’s possible it does anything worthwhile at all.

 

[Scottamus]

This is Phosphonic Acid...a sequestrant. Why do you think you need that? Further reading...

Sequestrant - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Thanks - sounds like I really don’t need it

 

[PoolStored]

Thanks - sounds like I really don’t need it

^^^This.

 

[Scottamus]

Why is this bad? I got to this site because I started going in daily, and then at least twice a day, and the results were wildly different. I knew there had to be a better way, and I found this site, and got a good test system etc. I was just curious what their “test” would say

 

[PoolStored]

I was just curious what their “test” would say

 

[Scottamus]

Thanks for the helpful help and advice and pointing me to that article about sequestrants! Not sure why all the head slamming into brick emojis but ok.

 

[Donldson]

Not sure why all the head slamming into brick emojis but ok.

Because you decided to take a sample to the pool store "for fun" and ended up getting a hard sell that got you questioning everything.

You went to a salesperson for a worthless test and got a sales pitch. What part of that was fun for you? There are better ways to waste your time.

 

[dfwnoob]

While the head slamming emote might be blunt, I think their point is that there really is no reason to step foot in a place that has repeatedly scammed you into buying magic potions where:

1. The potions don't work.
2. They can't explain how they're supposed to work.
3. They can't explain why you need them.
4. When you add the potions it makes your water worse.
5. They have inconsistent and poor test results, even given your own experience.

Pool stores exist for one reason and one reason only: to make money. No other reason. Testing isn't "free" because they're just really generous people. It's free because they're trying to sell you stuff you don't need. I imagine that's why you're getting the head slamming.

As for why a phosphonic acid sequestrant is clogging your filter, I don't really have a good answer for you. It shouldn't, unless it's kicking off an invisible algae bloom from the amount of phosphates getting added to the water. With a CYA of 70 and a FC of only 3.5 you're flirting with disaster, so that's my hypothesis - you're already floating at the minumum recommended FC. A really hot day or massive water dilution happens and your FC dips. You add a bunch of algae food at once, then boom: algae bloom and clogged filter shortly thereafter. Or there's something else undocumented in the product that's causing it to clog. Either way, I'd stop using it unless you have some genuine reason to. And even if you did (high metals), I'd probably drain and refill before buying maintenance doses of magic potions every few months.

 

[Scottamus]

While the head slamming emote might be blunt, I think their point is that there really is no reason to step foot in a place that has repeatedly scammed you into buying magic potions where:

1. The potions don't work.
2. They can't explain how they're supposed to work.
3. They can't explain why you need them.
4. When you add the potions it makes your water worse.
5. They have inconsistent and poor test results, even given your own experience.

Pool stores exist for one reason and one reason only: to make money. No other reason. Testing isn't "free" because they're just really generous people. It's free because they're trying to sell you stuff you don't need. I imagine that's why you're getting the head slamming.

As for why a phosphonic acid sequestrant is clogging your filter, I don't really have a good answer for you. It shouldn't, unless it's kicking off an invisible algae bloom from the amount of phosphates getting added to the water. With a CYA of 70 and a FC of only 3.5 you're flirting with disaster, so that's my hypothesis - you're already floating at the minumum recommended FC. A really hot day or massive water dilution happens and your FC dips. You add a bunch of algae food at once, then boom: algae bloom and clogged filter shortly thereafter. Or there's something else undocumented in the product that's causing it to clog. Either way, I'd stop using it unless you have some genuine reason to. And even if you did (high metals), I'd probably drain and refill before buying maintenance doses of magic potions every few months.

Yep, thanks! That’s what I was trying to figure out - it really shouldn’t, right? I couldn’t get that question out of my head. And yeah, my CYA isn’t really that low - I added the recommended amount immediately after that reading on Sunday, but I haven’t retested yet so the app doesn’t have the real amount.

Yeah, the chlorine is definitely low, which is interesting. I don’t run it that low normally, and I’m about to add some more because I tested again just now to see if it continued to drop and it’s at 3.5 still, which is good, but still low. Odd, but it’s been hot and sunny here in Florida. Maybe I need to crank up my SWG a little, or add salt since it seems low to me (2800). I should note that my salt cell says I have 3200. Not sure which to believe there. The pool store also said 3200. I’ll probably add enough to raise it 200ppm or so just to be safe.

 

[dfwnoob]

SWCG salt levels are rough estimates, not an exact number. If the cell is happy and generating and not giving any "low salt" errors, I would leave the salt level alone.

 

[Scottamus]

SWCG salt levels are rough estimates, not an exact number. If the cell is happy and generating and not giving any "low salt" errors, I would leave the salt level alone.

The Taylor test kit says my salt is 2800. Every time. It used to say 3000 until recently. What if my chlorine is a little low now because the salt cell doesn’t have enough salt to maintain my normal chlorine levels? I guess, would my salt cell be more efficient if it wasn’t at the low end of how much salt I should have?

 

[PoolStored]

You should match your pool salt content (using Taylor kit) to match the cell manual's recommended salt level.

The ONLY caveat to that is if the salt cell is so far of, as to shut down.

If it is low, YES, it can lower production.

 

[cwswifty]

And yeah, my CYA isn’t really that low - I added the recommended amount immediately after that reading on Sunday, but I haven’t retested yet so the app doesn’t have the real amount.

If your CYA isn’t really as low as 70 then what is it? If it’s 80 your 3.5 FC is already below minimum. Also being in FL you are begging for a swamp. Hopefully it hasn’t already started.
FC/CYA Levels

 

[Scottamus]

If your CYA isn’t really as low as 70 then what is it? If it’s 80 your 3.5 FC is already below minimum. Also being in FL you are begging for a swamp. Hopefully it hasn’t already started.
FC/CYA Levels

I’m not testing everything every day since it seems like I’d go through the chemicals very quickly for not much value. When I tested CYA yesterday it was 65 (water line in between 60-70). The app recommended adding 13oz of stabilizer so that’s what I did. That’s been working great for a while now. Note that this thread wasn’t about chlorine or CYA or any of that. If it was, I would’ve retested and posted, but the test is only a day old.

 

[ajw22]

What if my chlorine is a little low now because the salt cell doesn’t have enough salt to maintain my normal chlorine levels?

That is not the way a SWG works.

I guess, would my salt cell be more efficient if it wasn’t at the low end of how much salt I should have?

Chlorine output varies little once the SWG has above its minimum salinity.