Starting my SWG era, but not quite yet

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tnthudson

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Mar 31, 2008
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Central VA
OK, I've made the switch from Baquacil to BBB (pictures to come soon, I've got them ready to load)...
Here's my dilemma. I added 6 bags of salt before the PB came to install the SWG (Pentair Intellichlor). That was lower than recommended, but he wanted to stick to the low side to be safe, and then test salt levels. We've had an issue with the electrician, so the SWG is installed after my heat pump but has no power, so no SW generation until sometime next week.
Here are my current levels:
FC 0.0 (I added none since my conversion, thinking SWG would be working)
CC 1.0
pH 7.5
CYA I've not added any, assuming 0 but PB read 10 ppm
TA 140
CH 170

So obviously I've got to add some bleach today, the pool does have a slight green tint to it (ALOT of rain this weekend).
Besides that, I'm concerned about 3 things:
1) The TA is high, for SWG I understand I need 70 - 90. The PB recommends their Poolife pH Minus, is that a safe call? (I do have Muriatic Acid if all I needed to do was lower pH).
2) The PB gave me some stuff called Ocean Breeze Salt Support, looks like it's mainly CYA. Is that safe to add, or do I cut my losses and use regular CYA? And do I add that now, before the SWG is operational?
3) They also want me to raise my CH, which I would normally 'poo-poo' with a vinyl pool, but I'm not sure if CH levels matter with a SWG? I've seen recommendations of 400-450 for SWG in this forum.
Thanks as always
 
Todd,

Shock your pool with a large dose of chlorine and run your pump 24/7 until your pool is back to clear. Use Jason's calculator in his signature to calculate enough clorox to get up to 10-15ppm. Put it in in the evening to be most effective.

Just as in your conversion, you MUST hold the chlorine level up high to kill all the algae and get your pool clear. Like the conversion, (but not nearly as bad) you will need to backwash as necessary.

Once the water is clear, I would get some CYA in your pool by hanging it from a sock(s) and letting it dissolve in the pool. (or use the skimmer but you CANNOT backwash). Shoot for 50ppm and plan on going to 60-80ppm as soon as the SWG is up and running.

Look at the ingredients in "ocean breeze" it should be 100% CYA....don't put it in if it's not.

Skip pH, CH, and Alk for now. They're easy to adjust when your pool is clear.

FWIW, You will be conflicted if you try to do both PB's advice and this forum on chemistry. I know the suggestions on this forum work and I suggest you follow a path from here.
 
Ocean Breeze Salt Support by Haviland is exactly the same as Proteam Supreme Plus (also made by Haviland). It is a pH neutral borate product (so it does not require the addition of extra muriatic acid) and is EXCELLENT to add to your pool. According the the MSDS it does not contain CYA so you will still need that.

You will need 56 lbs of the product to reach a 50 ppm borate level in your pool. I RECOMMEND that you do add it but first drop your TA to around 70-80 pm.
I would not worry too much about yor calcium levels UNLESS the PB is requiring the higher calcium levels for warranty coverage, in that case raise them to the minimum they want.

Haviland sells their CYA in both the Ocean Breeze and Proteam brands as "UV Shield", it is a separate product.

The Ocean Breeze line is just Proteam products that Haviland rebranded to make them seem to be "speciality SWG products". Just marketing.

(I know a bit about these products since we are a Proteam dealer where I work.)

The Poollife pH minus (from ARCH Chemical) is just sodium bisulfate or 'dry acid'. It is more expensive than muriatic acid and does add sulfates to the water. It's ok to use but NOT my first choice. Some salt cells are sensitive to sulfate buiidup in the water .
 
THANKS as always, you guys, for the great recommendations.
Waterbear, I do have a question...I looked at the label again, and the Ocean Breeze Salt Support is by Haviland, but the label does say that 5 lbs. will raise CYA 6ppm per 10,000 gallons :?:
So I just want to make sure I do the right thing once I get the water clear.
Thanks again
 
tnthudson said:
THANKS as always, you guys, for the great recommendations.
Waterbear, I do have a question...I looked at the label again, and the Ocean Breeze Salt Support is by Haviland, but the label does say that 5 lbs. will raise CYA 6ppm per 10,000 gallons :?:
So I just want to make sure I do the right thing once I get the water clear.
Thanks again
Click to expand...
Our rep told us that it was exactly the same as Supreme Plus. Guess they are trying to capture the ' Bioguard Mineral Spings' and 'Natural Chemistry Salt Water Magic' markets by making it an 'all in one' like these other two products. You can use it to get your initial CYA and borates up as long as you don't go over 80 ppm CYA. You would need about 84 lbs to get to about 60 ppm CYA but this would probably raise your borates too high. I would use it to adjust the borates and then bring the CYA up the rest of the way with plain stabilizer.
 
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