Hello all, I've been searching the site for answers, but I haven't found anything about my situation.
Background: About a month ago we replaced our pool liner due to age and a hole. At the same time (more or less) I moved all our pool equipment about 20 feet away and during the move process, since I was re-plumbing everything, I ordered and installed in a new Circupool RJ+60. I refilled the pool from our tap (TA:230, CH:210) and added in CYA, salt and liquid bleach until I had the pool ready to turn on the SWG.
I turn on the SWG on Monday, July 11th and it works like a champ - now time to get it set for the optimum chlorine level. On July 15th, I noticed there was some scaling in the cell (the body of the SWG is clear - and I like to take a peek!) so I investigated and found that if the Saturation index is off, it may cause some scaling. I don't recall my exact numbers because my wife cleaned my desk - but my TA was something like 230 since it was from the tap. I followed the direction on the TFP site and built a fountain to aerate from my return in the deep end
Full image of Fountain from the side
and
Full image of Fountain from the front
drop PH to 7.2 and aerate until 7.6, then repeat the process. I will admit, the fountain works WAY better than I thought it would and it will increase PH VERY QUICKLY and there were some times it was at 7.6-8.2 before I was able to hit it with the acid. I was out on a business trip the week of the 18th, and when I returned on the July 22nd, there was so much scaling on the cell that I can literally see the some of the channels were blocked. Saturday morning (7/23/16) I used the 1-4 water/muriatic acid mix called for in the manual to descale the cell, reinstalled, and it powered right up. I've been able to get TA down to 190 so far - but it seems like it's taking forever. With the fountain, I need a gallon of muriatic acid per day to keep up with the PH increase.
By Sunday night (July 24th) the walls of the cells are now starting to get scaling again and as of today (July 26th) you can definitely see the scaling again:
Full image of the cell
My water values today were:
PH: 7.2
TA: 190
FC: 7.5
CC: 0
Salt: 4200
CYA: 60
CH 210
TEMP: 88°F
which, when I plug this into PoolMath - I get a CSI of -.31
I'm trying to get my numbers within the Water balance for SWG guidelines, and struggling. So my questions are:
1) Does it take this long to decrease TA? It seems like a gallon of muriatic acid per day is a bit excessive, no? Is this normal?
2) Am I following the right path here - correct salt level -> Correct CYA level ->correct TA -> Adjust PH -> Add Borates?
3) From someone who has been in my shoes, is it obvious where I am screwing up? I have a feeling I'm letting my PH rise too high (i.e. above 8), too often - which is causing the scaling? How long does it need to be above 8 for scaling to start? I currently have been adding the acid in the morning, then checking again at night - do I need to do a noon check as well to keep the PH trend more even?
Thanks in advance, just going a bit nuts over here!
Background: About a month ago we replaced our pool liner due to age and a hole. At the same time (more or less) I moved all our pool equipment about 20 feet away and during the move process, since I was re-plumbing everything, I ordered and installed in a new Circupool RJ+60. I refilled the pool from our tap (TA:230, CH:210) and added in CYA, salt and liquid bleach until I had the pool ready to turn on the SWG.
I turn on the SWG on Monday, July 11th and it works like a champ - now time to get it set for the optimum chlorine level. On July 15th, I noticed there was some scaling in the cell (the body of the SWG is clear - and I like to take a peek!) so I investigated and found that if the Saturation index is off, it may cause some scaling. I don't recall my exact numbers because my wife cleaned my desk - but my TA was something like 230 since it was from the tap. I followed the direction on the TFP site and built a fountain to aerate from my return in the deep end
Full image of Fountain from the side
and
Full image of Fountain from the front
drop PH to 7.2 and aerate until 7.6, then repeat the process. I will admit, the fountain works WAY better than I thought it would and it will increase PH VERY QUICKLY and there were some times it was at 7.6-8.2 before I was able to hit it with the acid. I was out on a business trip the week of the 18th, and when I returned on the July 22nd, there was so much scaling on the cell that I can literally see the some of the channels were blocked. Saturday morning (7/23/16) I used the 1-4 water/muriatic acid mix called for in the manual to descale the cell, reinstalled, and it powered right up. I've been able to get TA down to 190 so far - but it seems like it's taking forever. With the fountain, I need a gallon of muriatic acid per day to keep up with the PH increase.
By Sunday night (July 24th) the walls of the cells are now starting to get scaling again and as of today (July 26th) you can definitely see the scaling again:
Full image of the cell
My water values today were:
PH: 7.2
TA: 190
FC: 7.5
CC: 0
Salt: 4200
CYA: 60
CH 210
TEMP: 88°F
which, when I plug this into PoolMath - I get a CSI of -.31
I'm trying to get my numbers within the Water balance for SWG guidelines, and struggling. So my questions are:
1) Does it take this long to decrease TA? It seems like a gallon of muriatic acid per day is a bit excessive, no? Is this normal?
2) Am I following the right path here - correct salt level -> Correct CYA level ->correct TA -> Adjust PH -> Add Borates?
3) From someone who has been in my shoes, is it obvious where I am screwing up? I have a feeling I'm letting my PH rise too high (i.e. above 8), too often - which is causing the scaling? How long does it need to be above 8 for scaling to start? I currently have been adding the acid in the morning, then checking again at night - do I need to do a noon check as well to keep the PH trend more even?
Thanks in advance, just going a bit nuts over here!