new salt water pool owner testing results clarification

[stander]

Type: Salt water Gunite
Size: 20 000 gallons
Surface: In-ground
Pool Pump: Century Two speed 2HP Type:CXPM Frame:Y56Y
Pressure Cleaner Booster Pump: Polaris PB4-60
Filter: Pentair tagelus TA-1000
Salt Chlorination Cell: Hayward T-CELL-15
Valve actuator: Hayward Goldline GVA-24
Pool and Spa Heater: Legacy LRZ

Hi everyone.
I purchase the Taylor K-2006 kit and finally had some time 2 nights ago to perform my first test. Here are my results.

02.26.2017	Total Alkalinity (TA)	70 PPM
	PH	7.5 - 7.6
	Calcium (hardness)	220
	Stabilizer (cyanuric acid)	40
	Free Chlorine	7 PPM
	Combine Chlorine (CC)	0.5 PPM
	Salt level	2800 PPM

1. My TA is below 80PPM which is the recommended pool chemisty posted on my goldline controls box. I have read i need to add sodium bicarbonate, which product is the best and how would i go about doing this?
2. My Free Chlorine is high and I believe should be around 1 - 3 ppm for Free Chlorine. Should i run my filter less or set my Chlorine cell lower than current 60% setting?

Any other information would be greatly appreciated.
thanks

 

[Jimrahbe]

Stander,

Welcome to TFP... A Great resource for all your saltwater pool questions...


Well, if this were my pool I would not be changing anything right away. See this chart for TFP suggested chemical levels... https://www.troublefreepool.com/content/134-recommended-levels

A FC level of 7 is just fine.. Better to be a little high than too low. The recommendation of 1 to 3 ppm will be a surefire way to allow an algae attack.

I do think that 60% is way high for this time of year, but that would depend on how long you are currently running your pump..

Your TA of 70 is almost perfect...

Suggest you read our Pool School for other interesting facts about how we suggest you sanitize your pool... See the link at the top of this page.

Thanks for posting,

Jim R.

 

[stander]

Thanks Jim!
appreciate the feedback.
Under which recommended levels would my pool fall, plaster?
The pool filter is currently schedule to run from 8am to 8pm every day. This was how the previous owner left it but i feel that is way to long for my pool size. I am still trying to figure out what my pumps GPM is so that i can figure out how long i really need to run the filter on daily basis. My pump I believe is FHPM 2.0 - 2 flow pro with motor Century Two speed 2HP Type:CXPM Frame:Y56Y.

 

[Caco]

Hi Stander
you're right, a 12 hour run time is too long, especially for this time of year
Basically ramp down your run time hour by hour, until you notice the water does not look as good, then increase by 1 hour. there is a bit more to it when you have a swg

Below is a post from jimrabe, which i hope helps until someone with a bit more experience jumps in

You generally run a pump for three reasons:

1. To keep surface debris moving and being pushed into the skimmers. The more debris the more often you need to run the pump.

2. If you have a Salt Water Chlorine Generator (SWCG) you'll need to run it long enough to generate the amount of chlorine needed.

3. To circulate the water to ensure the chlorine is effectively distributed throughout the pool. Two or three hours per day is all that is needed for this to happen in most pools.


I suggest that you see how low of an RPM that you can run and still make your SWCG's flow switch close. This is the speed that you should run most of the time that it takes to make the amount of chlorine you need.

Then I suggest you increase the speed for a couple of hours a day to keep the skimmers working.

But each pool is a little different, just play with it to get it to where you are running your pump as slow as possible for the shortest period of time that allows you to accomplish the items listed above.

This link will help too
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/152-determine-pump-run-time

 

[Jimrahbe]

Stander,

A Gunite pool is a Plaster pool. Basically the gunite is the concrete shell and the plaster is what you see and what makes the shell water proof.

Since you have a two speed pump, when running, you should be using the low speed setting most of the time.

Do you know if you are running low or high speed? Do you manually switch between high and low speed or do you have some type of automation that does that for you?

There is really no reason that you need to know GPM, in your situation.. It just does not matter. The only real thing you need to know is "will your salt cell run at your low speed setting". My guess it that it will but something you will need to check.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[stander]

Thanks Jim,
I verified on my remote that pump speed is set to low speed (1).
I left the chlorine cell at 60% and as suggested by Caco for the time being I decreased my filter run time by 2 hours which now runs from 8am to 6pm. I will see how that affects the levels.