New House with Salt Water System - Need chemical help!

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Alrighty, information has been added! (Sorry, I thought I had already done that)

I did notice a waste setting on the filter. So when the time comes to drain the pool, I'll just run it off into the yard correct?

I also assume I would just put a hose back in the pool to fill it? I have a private well... Is there any risk in that?

And last, I have a Pentair Sand Dollar filter, apparently either an SD40 or 60... Not sure how to tell, but the one part number I could find only fits those two.
 
Waste setting is good. Can you only have suction from the floor? If not then you will only be able to drain to near the bottom of the skimmer. I rented a submersible pump.

If your yard can handle all the water, then that is fine.

The well is a bit tricky as often that can have maximum flow rates that affect how much water you can pull out ... you do not want it to run dry. Also, well water may have metals that will require a sequestrant to prevent staining ... have you had it tested for metals?

About the filter. For a 24k gallon pool, we would recommend a 4.3+ sqft sand filter. The SD40 is 1.8 sqft and the SD60 is 2.3 sqft ... so clearly either is much smaller than we would recommend. What that means is you will have to clean it much more often.

What pump do you have? I am not sure what .5-2 HP means.
 
I am not exactly familiar with all the equipment yet, so I am not sure if I can pump from the floor only or not.

I don't think we had it tested for metals, but I will have to double check with my wife on that one. I know in the initial test the pool store ran, they did find Iron.

What do you mean by clean it? Do you mean backwash and/or replace sand? Is it something that is absolutely necessary to change, or could it wait? I'm not 100% sure if the pool is actually 24k gallons, but according to information saved on this location from the previous owner at the pool store, that's what it was.

As for the pump, I put .5-2 HP because it says on the "Additional features" in the manual that it has "1/2 to 2 Hp configurations to accommodate a wide range of applications." So I'm not sure what it currently runs at or how to change it. I don't see anywhere in the Users Guide that indicates a model. It just simply says SuperFlo High Performance Pump.
 
Post up a picture of your equipment.

I meant backwash more often.

That is just the range of pumps available, you need to look at the information on your motor.

Some people can to the sewer. Some people also get water trucked in, you could ask the fire department.

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I will post the pictures of my pool and equipment tomorrow as I'm expecting the test kit either today or tomorrow.

I do have a question though... Should I let the pump run for a bit before I do the water test to make sure everything is nice and circulated?

I'm hoping my CYA levels are at a point to where I don't have to drain any water. As it seems the private well is going to make that much more difficult to deal with. No storm drains, fire hydrants, etc where I'm at I do believe.
 
Here's the test results (Hopefully I did everything correctly). I will include what the pool store results were as well.

Free Chlorine: Did not turn pink at all

Pool Store Result: 0


CYA: Right below the 100 marker, roughly half the distance is from the 90-100

Pool Store Result: 100

I think I heard this affects the cloudiness of the water. When we first got the home, the water was quite clear. It's only fuzzy now because of algae taking over the last 5-6 days.


Alkalinity: Red right away

Pool Store Result: 10 (Adj. amount was 0)


Calcium: Slightly Pink. 28-29 drops (I may have double dropped once)

Pool Store Result: Not measured


pH: Looked just under the last 6.8 color

Pool Store Result: < 6.2

Images are in the album below:

http://imgur.com/a/MYOit
 
So your TA is zero and the pH is very low. You would Raise the TA up with baking soda and then adjust pH. But ... your CYA is too high, so first step would be replacing half the water to lower the CYA.

Posted from my Droid with Tapatalk ... sorry if my response is short ;)
 

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If your CYA test is accurate at 95, replacing half the water isn't going to be needed since you are on a salt system. Maybe some, but not half. In fact, I'd say 95 is maintainable with an SWG, but 70-80 would be better.

I suggest mixing pool water with tap water and running the CYA test again. Although it will be less accurate, the goal is to determine if you are over 100 or not. With the 1/2-1/2 dilution, double the result you get from the test.
 
It's not at 95, but on the vial used to measure, the distance between 90-100 is roughly how far away it was ABOVE 100.

I am on a private well, which is why the draining and refilling is going to be an issue. I can try the CYA test once more the way you suggested though.
 
Missed this was a salt system, sorry.

The CYA test is logarithmic, so you could be approaching 200, thus try the dilution test.

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I tried the Dilution test, and it looked like it was around 80-90, but I'm going to run that test again. I was rushing because it was about to start raining. I confirmed with a neighbor that I should be able to pump out into the field behind us and that there should be absolutely no worry of refilling our water with the well.
 
I have two "filters" at the bottom of the pool. I have pumped some water out, but could not go past the skimmer. Is there a way to use the two at the bottom of the pool? Or are those even used for pumping?

I think I'm going to have to go to Lowe's and get a pump.
 
SportzTawk said:
I tried the Dilution test, and it looked like it was around 80-90, but I'm going to run that test again. I
Click to expand...
If 80-90 was what you got while diluted then multiple by 2 to get your real cya number of 160-180 ppm. You definitely need to drain/refill first, and if 160-180 is right, then you need to drain about half your water.

SportzTawk said:
I have two "filters" at the bottom of the pool. I have pumped some water out, but could not go past the skimmer. Is there a way to use the two at the bottom of the pool? Or are those even used for pumping?
Click to expand...
Sounds like those are floor drains. So you need to figure out how to turn off the line from the skimmer (if you can). Posting pictures of your pad may help.
 
I drained the pool roughly half way, was a little tough to gauge since the majority of water is in the deep end after all... but I have started the refilling process.

I am doing it in spurts to make it easier on my well pump. Doing this over the course of a few days won't affect those CYA levels I'm correcting will it? I would assume not, but figured I'd ask anyway.
 

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