Test Results - Now What?

Your CYA is 60. The spacing between lines is logarithmic, not linear and halfway between lines is not 5. So you can not eyeball valvyes between lines. That is why if the dot disappears between 60 and 50 we round up and call it 60.

Your FC is low and your salt is high.

The salt is not consumed when it is converted to chlorine. The only way salt levels decrease is due to draining water or splash out.

What % generation is your iChlor set for?

Increase the IChlor % to get more FC.

Nizinski said:

Tested with Taylor K-2006 Salt Complete (FAS-DPD chlorine).

I have a gallon of Liquid CYA, but confused how my salt level is higher than last time, and we haven’t added salt. Is it because the SWG isn’t converting the salt to chlorine (hence the low FC?)

Any suggestions what to do next? I typically run my VSP pump at around 2500 24 hours a day trying to get this pollen moving and caught in skimmer sock (we change it 2-3 times a day and it’s nasty).

Thanks in advance.

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The salt test has a test tolerance of +\- 200ppm (I think?) so there can be a difference of 400ppm between two tests.

Nizinski said:

It is set to 20%….does it matter that I run the VSP 24/7?

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20% running for 24 hours in your 20,000 gallon pool will only give you 1.2 ppm FC/day.

You need about 3 ppm.

Turn up your iChlor to 60%.

ajw22 said:

The only way salt levels decrease is due to draining water or splash out.

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This.

Unless you're adding chemicals (salt, bleach, a few others) salt levels only rise when water evaporates.
Splash out and draining do remove salt from the pool, but the remaining water retains the same concentration. The new salt amount is unknown until fresh water dilutes the remaining pool water up to the original volume.

Nizinski said:

I think we (my daughter and I) need to try and be more precise with our salt testing with the Taylor kit. Always seems high when we test, but Leslie’s says it is spot on!

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More likely that Leslie’s needs to do a better job.

In my opinion, the salt test is the easiest to get right with the Taylor kit. Your saltwater generator electric display is an estimation of salinity based on capacitance or resistivity and not as accurate as the drop test (which has an error tolerance of +\- 200ppm. In reality that’s about all you need for accuracy in this case anyway.)

Take a look through some of the threads in this site on how inaccurate the results from them (Leslie’s) can be. So much so that if you take the same water sample to another store, you may find you get a different set of results. Do yourself a favor and don’t even bother having them test anything.

Bperry said:

Do yourself a favor and don’t even bother having them test anything.

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This. Even when all I had was dippy strips and pool store testing, the numbers were so wildly varying it wasn't worth putting much confidence in them. Pool store testing is a free service they offer to get you in front of a confident sounding salesperson whose only purpose is to sell you overpriced treatments.

To your original question about how your salt could have increased, I'd encourage you to check your pool level. I have noticed as the weather warms up, our pool temp is fluctuating quite a lot. If it's warm in the afternoon (or for a few days), then the air temp drops below the pool temp at night (or a cool front blows thru), you're going to get evaporation as the pool temp drops. Evaporation raises the concentration of salt in your pool, but when the pool volume returns back to normal via garden hose or rainfall, the salinity also drops back down. If you're noticing after getting it back to normal fill levels the salt PPM is still too high, you might need to drain some water and refill with fresh water.