We just recently had a in ground salt water pool built. They gave us pool school and all that jazz. At the time I felt like I had a good grasp of everything we went over. I went out and bought a nice testing kit that seems to test just about everything. I just have a few questions to put myself at ease.
1. During pool school out instructor said they if we keep up with the Chlorine, PH, and Alkalinity we would be in good shape. Another words those 3 were pretty much all we had to worry about and our other numbers would fall in line. Is this true? We have had the pool for almost 3 months and I plan to maintain it weekly. Alkalinity has always been between 90 and 100. PH seems to need adjusting weekly. So that brings my next question.
2. Is it normal for the PH level to need weekly adjusting? I am using Muratic Acid to lower it when I do. I have spoke to other people with saltwater pools and they say Muratic Acid to lower PH is their biggest expense. I am usually pretty close to the 7.4 - 7.6 range. I would say around 7.8. The colors don't always match up exactly.
3. When I try to test chlorine my kit has 2 steps where you subtract on from another. I think I might be messing it up somehow. To me the colors of both tests always seem to be the same. As a backup I have some strips that came with my start up kit. They always show my PPM levels to be good. As a backup I went to the local pool store and they said everything looked good. If they are coming out the same color am I screwing up?
Sorry to go on and on, but I pretty anal about things. I just want to make sure I am doing things right and prevent a huge mess on down the road. If it matters to pool is crytal clear. It is 15,200 gallons. I have been adding Clarifier and Algae Preventer per the product directions. Anything else I should be doing? Your answers and advice is greatly appreciated.
1. During pool school out instructor said they if we keep up with the Chlorine, PH, and Alkalinity we would be in good shape. Another words those 3 were pretty much all we had to worry about and our other numbers would fall in line. Is this true? We have had the pool for almost 3 months and I plan to maintain it weekly. Alkalinity has always been between 90 and 100. PH seems to need adjusting weekly. So that brings my next question.
2. Is it normal for the PH level to need weekly adjusting? I am using Muratic Acid to lower it when I do. I have spoke to other people with saltwater pools and they say Muratic Acid to lower PH is their biggest expense. I am usually pretty close to the 7.4 - 7.6 range. I would say around 7.8. The colors don't always match up exactly.
3. When I try to test chlorine my kit has 2 steps where you subtract on from another. I think I might be messing it up somehow. To me the colors of both tests always seem to be the same. As a backup I have some strips that came with my start up kit. They always show my PPM levels to be good. As a backup I went to the local pool store and they said everything looked good. If they are coming out the same color am I screwing up?
Sorry to go on and on, but I pretty anal about things. I just want to make sure I am doing things right and prevent a huge mess on down the road. If it matters to pool is crytal clear. It is 15,200 gallons. I have been adding Clarifier and Algae Preventer per the product directions. Anything else I should be doing? Your answers and advice is greatly appreciated.