Greetings fellow pool junkies!
First, a fun little diddy before I dive into my question. I believe I found one of the only honest employees at the "L" store today! OK, in fairness, most are not dishonest but rather uninformed and taught the "pool store way" (meaning $$$ for their overlords) instead of the proper way. I took some water in to be tested. Yeah, I know, but it has been almost a decade since I have done that, am about to pull the trigger on a SWCG, and the reagents in my Taylor K-2006 are getting in that age gray area (2-3 years old). So, one, I wanted to compare my latest results from Friday's testing to confirm if my reagents are giving me accurate results, and, two, I wanted to see the numbers I cannot test for--iron, copper, phosphates, TDS. I didn't realize they test for salt until after he had dumped the remaining water, but he apologized and said to bring some more water up and he will test it for me. Not a biggie, I plan to get my own test kit for that--although I will probably let them test it as a comparison on my first test with the Taylor salt kit. Anyhow, this guy was really nice, ran my water through their electronic testing station, gave me the results, and other than asking if there was anything else I needed, did not try to push me to buy product. I am happy to report that other than the free and total chlorine, the results were very similar to what I got with my test kit two days ago. Numbers are below:
Test--My Result--L Result
Free Chlorine--3--1.1
Total Chlorine--3--1.1
Ph--7.8--8.1
TA--90--81
CH--240--216
CYA--70--68
Iron--N/A--0
Copper--N/A--0
Phosphates--N/A--1254
TDS--N/A--2400
So really, only the Ph and CH were off and not measurably so. I attribute it partially to my color blindness, especially the Ph. But neither matters, as I was already going to (have now) add Muriatic Acid to lower that to 7.4 and CH is well within range. But I will probably replace the Ph, CH, Chlorine, and CYA (almost out of the last two) reagents when I get the salt test kit. The discrepancy in Chlorine is because I tested Friday night and knew I had to double-dose tonight (gone until late last night).
I have settled on the CircuPool RJ-45 PLUS Salt Chlorine Generator. I debated between SJ and Universal models but the longer warranty, (hopefully) longer salt cell life, plus the salinity and water temperature readouts seem like nice features. With a 21.5K gallon pool, I am more than doubling the size of the unit, so unless there is a compelling reason to go even bigger, the 45K model seems to fit the bill.
But my main question is the age-old debate about phosphates. Since I have been on the BBB/TFP method (~2014), I never worried about it because I kept my chlorine levels at 3-5 ppm and my CYA around 50. Actually, never thought about it because I never took water in for testing! My CYA is up a bit because at the end of last summer (September/October), I was forced into using pucks to supplement chlorination as there was no liquid chlorine and little cal-hypo powder (backup plan) to be had in my neck of the woods. But I will be solving that dilemma with the SWCG! I suspect the phosphates rose after the deep freeze and a week without power in February 2021 killed my filter. Supply chain issues caused nearly a three-month delay in a replacement, and the pool fell into swamp-like conditions that required massive cleanup and introduced black algae into the mix, which took me nearly two seasons to eradicate.
Should I drive the phosphates down with some SeaKlear or Orenda BEFORE installing the new SWCG? It seems close to zero phosphates is what the manufacturers want, especially if warranty work becomes necessary. Or should I wait and see how the SWCG performs and if it is not producing adequately, then consider using a phosphate remover? I tend to err on being proactive rather than reactive, especially as having a few days of cloudy water before swimming season begins is less of an issue than not being able to use the pool when the water finally warms a month from now. I also do not want to descale the salt cell on my brand new chlorinator because I should have pushed the phosphates down before installing. The pool water is sparking and clear right now, other than some lingering dirt on the bottom from recent heavy rains and high winds. But a couple of sweeps with my Pentair Dolphin and that will be gone.
Just looking for some advice, as I expect I will have the SWCG by next weekend (ordering tonight/tomorrow) and barring the unforeseen, have it installed within a week.
Thanks in advance, as always, for any guidance.
First, a fun little diddy before I dive into my question. I believe I found one of the only honest employees at the "L" store today! OK, in fairness, most are not dishonest but rather uninformed and taught the "pool store way" (meaning $$$ for their overlords) instead of the proper way. I took some water in to be tested. Yeah, I know, but it has been almost a decade since I have done that, am about to pull the trigger on a SWCG, and the reagents in my Taylor K-2006 are getting in that age gray area (2-3 years old). So, one, I wanted to compare my latest results from Friday's testing to confirm if my reagents are giving me accurate results, and, two, I wanted to see the numbers I cannot test for--iron, copper, phosphates, TDS. I didn't realize they test for salt until after he had dumped the remaining water, but he apologized and said to bring some more water up and he will test it for me. Not a biggie, I plan to get my own test kit for that--although I will probably let them test it as a comparison on my first test with the Taylor salt kit. Anyhow, this guy was really nice, ran my water through their electronic testing station, gave me the results, and other than asking if there was anything else I needed, did not try to push me to buy product. I am happy to report that other than the free and total chlorine, the results were very similar to what I got with my test kit two days ago. Numbers are below:
Test--My Result--L Result
Free Chlorine--3--1.1
Total Chlorine--3--1.1
Ph--7.8--8.1
TA--90--81
CH--240--216
CYA--70--68
Iron--N/A--0
Copper--N/A--0
Phosphates--N/A--1254
TDS--N/A--2400
So really, only the Ph and CH were off and not measurably so. I attribute it partially to my color blindness, especially the Ph. But neither matters, as I was already going to (have now) add Muriatic Acid to lower that to 7.4 and CH is well within range. But I will probably replace the Ph, CH, Chlorine, and CYA (almost out of the last two) reagents when I get the salt test kit. The discrepancy in Chlorine is because I tested Friday night and knew I had to double-dose tonight (gone until late last night).
I have settled on the CircuPool RJ-45 PLUS Salt Chlorine Generator. I debated between SJ and Universal models but the longer warranty, (hopefully) longer salt cell life, plus the salinity and water temperature readouts seem like nice features. With a 21.5K gallon pool, I am more than doubling the size of the unit, so unless there is a compelling reason to go even bigger, the 45K model seems to fit the bill.
But my main question is the age-old debate about phosphates. Since I have been on the BBB/TFP method (~2014), I never worried about it because I kept my chlorine levels at 3-5 ppm and my CYA around 50. Actually, never thought about it because I never took water in for testing! My CYA is up a bit because at the end of last summer (September/October), I was forced into using pucks to supplement chlorination as there was no liquid chlorine and little cal-hypo powder (backup plan) to be had in my neck of the woods. But I will be solving that dilemma with the SWCG! I suspect the phosphates rose after the deep freeze and a week without power in February 2021 killed my filter. Supply chain issues caused nearly a three-month delay in a replacement, and the pool fell into swamp-like conditions that required massive cleanup and introduced black algae into the mix, which took me nearly two seasons to eradicate.
Should I drive the phosphates down with some SeaKlear or Orenda BEFORE installing the new SWCG? It seems close to zero phosphates is what the manufacturers want, especially if warranty work becomes necessary. Or should I wait and see how the SWCG performs and if it is not producing adequately, then consider using a phosphate remover? I tend to err on being proactive rather than reactive, especially as having a few days of cloudy water before swimming season begins is less of an issue than not being able to use the pool when the water finally warms a month from now. I also do not want to descale the salt cell on my brand new chlorinator because I should have pushed the phosphates down before installing. The pool water is sparking and clear right now, other than some lingering dirt on the bottom from recent heavy rains and high winds. But a couple of sweeps with my Pentair Dolphin and that will be gone.
Just looking for some advice, as I expect I will have the SWCG by next weekend (ordering tonight/tomorrow) and barring the unforeseen, have it installed within a week.
Thanks in advance, as always, for any guidance.
