First Test...

[Simearl]

Do my number look ok for a salt water pool?
FC- 5
CC- 0
TC- 5
pH- 7.5
T/A- 90
CH- 100
CYA- 30
Temp- 70
Salt- 2800

I add a little more Stabilizer this afternoon will test again tomorrow at the same time. Also I have my Autopilot set on power 2 at 50%. Checked it just now and it is reading at 76% is this normal? How can you tell if the Autopilot is working properly (producing enough cholrine)?

Right now I have a lot of pollen in the water making it look cloudy because to the pine tree close to the pool hopfully this won't last too much longer. I plan to have these trees removed when the ground dries up some more.

 

[JasonLion]

Your numbers look fairly good. You want to adjust CYA to between 60 and 80. Other than that you just need to do the normal monitoring of PH.

The AutoPilot units are temperature compensated, which means they will change the percentage on their own to adjust for the water temperature. Normally you can just let them adjust as they want and things will work out.

To get everything balanced you need to measure the FC level each day in the evening for a couple of days and adjust the percentage on the SWG based on the FC reading. If FC is too low then turn the percentage up a little. If the FC is too high then turn the percentage down a little. Keep in mind that the percentage will need to be adjusted when you add CYA and as the CYA dissolves. Don't worry about the percentage changing on it's own, just turn it up or down from wherever it is based on the evenings FC level. Once you have the CYA level stable and the FC level goes to where you want it a couple of days in a row then you can stop testing FC daily and only test FC every week or two or when you suspect trouble.

 

[Simearl]

Thanks for the info I'll be checking the FC daily for the next two weeks.

 

[Simearl]

Numbers after second test are
FC- 6
CC- 0
TC- 6
pH- 7.3
T/A- 90
CH- 110
CYA- 55
Temp- 66
Salt- 2900 (Maybe closer to 3000ppm)

Looks like the Auto pilot is working well. I put the cell power on 1 at 50% I'm going to let it run like this to for the rest of the week keeping and I on the FC.

Question about the Salt level reading on the Auto pilot. Will the unit change the salt read on its on or do I have to calibrate it each time the the readings are different from what I get when manually checking it?

Also the Auto pilot show 2900 which is what I got when I checked the water, but it is telling me I need to add 28lbs of salt. 2900ppm should be enough salt why is the AP telling me to add more salt?

 

[JasonLion]

You should only need to calibrate the salt once, or maybe once a year. After that it should track fairly closely. Don't worry about small errors in the reading.

The AutoPilot always tells you how much salt to add to get to 3000 ppm, which they consider ideal. Salt will tend to go down over time because of splash out and backwashing (if you need to backwash), so it is often best to aim a little high just at first. On the other hand it will work just fine at 2800-2900 so there is no need to worry about the salt level right now.