Magnesium better than salt for rust on above ground pool?

[Pins]

Hi all,
We have an above ground pool in a new house we have bought. Currently using pucks. I wanted to convert to SWG but pool guy said corrosion is the big issue. He suggested to use magnesium instead of normal salt.
Any thoughts?
Or would I be best to just use a liquid chlorine feeder?
Thanks

 

[Newdude]

Magnesium Chloride (a salt) is more corrosive than Sodium Chloride (another salt) or Calcium Chloride (a third salt) where we use all to melt snow/ice.

Neither matters in the pool environment because they won't be the concentration needed to do so. And in a perfect world, the liner stops the water from ever touching the pool, much less soaking in it.

Liquid chlorine is a salt as well and you'll raise your salt content with each jug. Baking soda and borax too. You'll be good and salty no matter what you do.

 

[wireform]

Hi all,
We have an above ground pool in a new house we have bought. Currently using pucks. I wanted to convert to SWG but pool guy said corrosion is the big issue. He suggested to use magnesium instead of normal salt.
Any thoughts?
Or would I be best to just use a liquid chlorine feeder?
Thanks

Just tell him to get it done the rest isn't his decision.

 

[Mdragger88]

Steel walled pools will rust if continuously exposed to moisture- whether they are holding purposely salty water within their liner or not.
Your best guard against rust is to fix any leaks asap & address any drainage issues that keep the area around the pool wall wet. Along with painting any damage/scratches. These things should be dealt with for the longevity of the pool whether u get a swg or not.
This pool doesn’t look brand new so it’s possible that there’s quite a bit of salt in the water already as all manually added forms of chlorine add salt-( liquid chlorine, trichlor, dichlor, & cal hypo).
Be sure to test it before adding any.

 

[johnnydot]

I have a 7 year old above the ground pool that has been using SWG from the beginning. It has heavy duty aluminium top rails which are not a problem with salt. The problem that I have noticed recently is rusting of the top connecting plates which are galvanized steel. They should have used stainless steel connecting plates. Right now it is just surface rust but I assume in a number of years I will have to replace them. The pool make is Sharkline and was purchased from "Brothers Three Pools" in Long Island, NY. It was a replacement for my old 30 year old that bit the dust. When I spoke to the salesperson, I specified that it was to replace my old pool which was salt and asked if the new one was compatible with salt. Of course she told me " no problem, this was made for salt". Well, I was reading over the warranty a while back { pool has a 60 year warranty -ha ha) and I discovered the warranty exclusion that does not cover damage from using SWG. So there is some issue with corrision. But pro vs. con , the ease and conveniency of the SWG outweighs the con.

 

[Pins]

Magnesium Chloride (a salt) is more corrosive than Sodium Chloride (another salt) or Calcium Chloride (a third salt) where we use all to melt snow/ice.

Neither matters in the pool environment because they won't be the concentration needed to do so. And in a perfect world, the liner stops the water from ever touching the pool, much less soaking in it.

Liquid chlorine is a salt as well and you'll raise your salt content with each jug. Baking soda and borax too. You'll be good and salty no matter what you do.

Gosh it’s so confusing. Thanks so much. It’s probably not a long term pool so I guess I can see how it goes. Seems like Ph and earthing is also a potential big issue. I actually didn’t think to test salt so I’ll do that..I assumed there wouldn’t be any. So much to learn!

 

[Pins]

Steel walled pools will rust if continuously exposed to moisture- whether they are holding purposely salty water within their liner or not.
Your best guard against rust is to fix any leaks asap & address any drainage issues that keep the area around the pool wall wet. Along with painting any damage/scratches. These things should be dealt with for the longevity of the pool whether u get a swg or not.
This pool doesn’t look brand new so it’s possible that there’s quite a bit of salt in the water already as all manually added forms of chlorine add salt-( liquid chlorine, trichlor, dichlor, & cal hypo).
Be sure to test it before adding any.

Wow didn’t think there would be salt in there! I’ll test and see. Ok I’ll just go with my plan. Thanks

 

[Pins]

I have a 7 year old above the ground pool that has been using SWG from the beginning. It has heavy duty aluminium top rails which are not a problem with salt. The problem that I have noticed recently is rusting of the top connecting plates which are galvanized steel. They should have used stainless steel connecting plates. Right now it is just surface rust but I assume in a number of years I will have to replace them. The pool make is Sharkline and was purchased from "Brothers Three Pools" in Long Island, NY. It was a replacement for my old 30 year old that bit the dust. When I spoke to the salesperson, I specified that it was to replace my old pool which was salt and asked if the new one was compatible with salt. Of course she told me " no problem, this was made for salt". Well, I was reading over the warranty a while back { pool has a 60 year warranty -ha ha) and I discovered the warranty exclusion that does not cover damage from using SWG. So there is some issue with corrision. But pro vs. con , the ease and conveniency of the SWG outweighs the con.

As they say in Australia, ‘she’ll be right mate’ when they actually have no idea!

 

[mgtfp]

Seems to be an Aussie hype with magnesium salts.

One big disadvantage of high magnesium concentrations in pools is that it throws off the Taylor (or Clear Choice Labs) CH-test. The Calcium Buffer drops are supposed to remove magnesium interference, but in a magnesium salt pool, the test gets overwhelmed.

See this thread:

Taylor CH, Salt tests and Magnesium Chloride

My pool has a high level of Magnesium Chloride in the salt mix (popular in these parts with SWG for the supposed therapeutic benefits of Mg). I was wondering if this might be throwing out a couple of the Taylor tests. 1. CH is reading very high, 900ppm on a new pool with no additives other than...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Pins]

Seems to be an Aussie hype with magnesium salts.

One big disadvantage of high magnesium concentrations in pools is that it throws off the Taylor (or Clear Choice Labs) CH-test. The Calcium Buffer drops are supposed to remove magnesium interference, but in a magnesium salt pool, the test gets overwhelmed.

See this thread:

Taylor CH, Salt tests and Magnesium Chloride

My pool has a high level of Magnesium Chloride in the salt mix (popular in these parts with SWG for the supposed therapeutic benefits of Mg). I was wondering if this might be throwing out a couple of the Taylor tests. 1. CH is reading very high, 900ppm on a new pool with no additives other than...

www.troublefreepool.com

Yeah thanks for your thoughts and I had read that thread…a few times . I’ll just go with the salt chlorinator. Cheers