Where to buy salt...and what type

[Mule]

Hello group, Anyone have any suggestions on where to buy salt and what type of
salt to buy? I read that water softener salt is prolly best, and at least 98% or so?
Home Depot has three kinds, but I haven't really found other places. I think Home
Despot will deliver inexpensively. (I'm in Northern Virginia).
I'm just about to prime the water for the SWG installation. Not sure if I shoulda
done this or not, but I bought two bottles of salt test strips to back up the indicator
on the SWG. Do you think that's necessary? Any other advice for the mentally
challenged, self-appointed pool caretaker? Thanks. Mule

 

[Guest]

Home Depot, Pool Salt

 

[JasonLion]

Water softener salt without additives is good. Look for salt that is 99.4% pure or better and doesn't have any rust inhibitor or other additives. The best choices include Diamond Crystal® Solar Salt Extra Coarse Crystals in blue bags, Morton® White Crystal® Water Softener Salt in blue bags, or Diamond Crystal® Sun Gems® Crystals Water Softener Salt in yellow bags. Pool salt is also fine, though in many places it is more expensive.

 

[Mule]

Thanks Jason.

 

[Johnl]

I actually found 40lb bags of pool salt at my local WalMart. It was also cheaper than the solar salt at Home Depot and Lowes.

 

[richmgreen]

Mule, I am about to take the plunge on an RJ45 system also. Please let me know how the install/conversion goes. At the moment, I am using the 3" pucks of Trichlor.

 

[Boeie]

what type of salt should it be? NaCl? of with something else then Na? and as i don't live in the us, i don't think i'll finde those brands of salt. any advice?
i've seen the 99,4%+ and no additives, any thing else i should look after?

 

[JasonLion]

NaCl is the best choice, most common and the least expensive, though you can use Potassium Chloride if that is all you can find.

Yes, anything that is 99.4% salt and doesn't have any additives is fine. Avoid table salt, which has additives that can cause stains.

 

[fairview]

Plain stock salt from the local feed store. $4.50/50lb sack. Has a bit of sand in it but the price is right.

 

[Boeie]

Yesterday i went to the store, and found some salt (99.8%) in large bags (25kg) used for water dehardning (dunno if this is the right translation ) the only probleme is that the chunks are rather big, would it be a probleme if i smash em to tiny pieces?

 

[sonflower]

Yesterday i went to the store, and found some salt (99.8%) in large bags (25kg) used for water dehardning (dunno if this is the right translation ) the only probleme is that the chunks are rather big, would it be a probleme if i smash em to tiny pieces?

You don't need to smash 'em unless that is part of your routine anger management program. My suggestion is to just wait 15 mins, take the telescope and push 'em around to help dissolve.

 

[Boeie]

hehe,

i don't rly get what you mean with the telescope?
I have an intex swg, where i need to add 1kg of salt in a container with water. i think the salt needs to be rather small for that, no? or well it work just fine if i mix it up once and a while?

 

[sonflower]

It sounds like adding salt to water for Intex is very different than what I am used to. So I will refrain from adding to my comment and misguiding you and allow someone with Intex experience to respond.

 

[JasonLion]

As long as the salt fits easily into the bin it is fine. It can be anything from granular to crystals to pellets, all of them will dissolve fairly quickly as needed.

 

[Boeie]

thank you very much

 

[Boeie]

ok, so a couple of days ago i bought a big bag of salt tablets, and i'm having some probleme with them, especially with dosage.
i add the the amount i should be, measured with the cup that goes with the system, but its never rly right. sometimes it works when i add just a little more, sometimes it doesn't even work when I keep adding tablets (allways waiting untill the previous tablets are disolved).
any tips? maybe i should start by smashing the tablets to tiny pieces, would that work?

the pool is starting to turn green now :s It's starting to get frustrating
I'm in desperate need of a decent testing kit, but that's rly a pain for someone from belgium i'll need to get paypal i think, but i also read that the one offerd by tfp isn't shippleable outside the us, is that right?
any tips?

any tips op how i can stop my pool from getting green? i thought about buying some bleach tomorrow (the one advice by the bbb methode ofc) and just add some once and a while (i have plenty of time ) and see what happens (plz note that i just said i still need to buy a desent testing kit, and don't rly know any values exept low fc en ph


sorry if i'm not in the right section, but it seems a little pointless of making a new topic. correct me if i'm wrong

btw i live in belgium, and i have an intex pool wich can contain 24000 litres of water, the one with the inflatable ring. (8.5 metres long and 3.5 metres wide)

 

[hyperchord24]

NaCl is the best choice, most common and the least expensive, though you can use Potassium Chloride if that is all you can find.

Yes, anything that is 99.4% salt and doesn't have any additives is fine. Avoid table salt, which has additives that can cause stains.

Potassium Chloride? Isn't that stuff poisonous?

 

[JasonLion]

Potassium Chloride? Isn't that stuff poisonous?

Yes, it is about the same amount poisonous as common table salt, which is part of why it is sold as a common salt substitute for use on food. Eating too much of just about anything will kill you, salt is no exception.

Boeie, yes you should be adding chlorine regularly. However, without some hint of what your CYA level might be, it is difficult to guess at how much chlorine you need.

 

[Boeie]

and how can i figure out what my cya level is?

 

[Puppiesonacid]

Bringing back the dead... I almost bought some Mortons at costco just for kicks to throw in the pool.. it had one additive, and says for water softeners ONLY... so I didn't buy it till I asked here if it was ok. They only sell the one kind