Dumb founded

[tjca]

Re: New House with Salt Water System - Need chemical help!

I've never added chemicals to my salt water pool, only salt. Run your system for 24 hour. And of course vac out all the gunk.

When the weather start to get hotter and the sides of the pool feel a little slimmy run the system for 2 extra hours a day. I've always have perfect crystal clear water!

Only maintaince Ive done is to add salt, vac, clean filter & cells. $$$ saved!

 

[tjca]

Why would you add chemicals to a salt water pool? I never have and my water has always been crystal clear. I had my system for 5 summers. Beautiful water!! I live in FL, even after it rains or a hot day it was perfect!!!! Loved my system!!!

However, now my system died. So until I can buy a new one I have to look into this chemical thing. Which SUCKS!!! So now I have cloudy water, low ph, high chlorine. Trying to get the Crud to settel to the bottom so I can vacuum it out. Just put sink and sweep in it. I'm trying to open this sucker up but is kicking my butt!

I have shocked it, added water clarifier to it, algacide... This week has been a pain the butt. Oviously I don't know what I am doing and this chemical thing is confusing! My best advice is to get my salt system back. But until then HELP!!!!!!

 

[linen]

Welcome to tfp, tjca

Although using a saltwater chlorine generator (swg) to chlorinate your pool as you have can simplify some aspects of pool care, even with the swg, ignoring simple pool chemistry is a recipe for dishwater. By the way, you are converting your saltwater to another chemical (hypochlorite ions and hydrogen gas) with the swg.

Poolschool can be found through the link at the upper right. I would start with this article: http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/pool_water_chemistry.

Do you know for certain your swg cell is no longer working?

 

[Richard320]

You've been pool stored.

Stop putting stuff in the pool until you have some trustworthy test results. If you don't have a proper test kit, order one. pool-school/ will have all the information you need. Read up on the shock process. Hint: it's a process, not a powder or a one-time megadose.

Assuming you haven't driven the stabilizer levels through the roof with all the snake oil cures, it should be pretty easy to clear the water and get it balanced. But only if you understand the chemistry and can test it yourself.

 

[tjca]

Yes it is dead. It will not even turn on.

I have read the pool school that is what confuses me. I will keep reading....

 

[linen]

I have read the pool school that is what confuses me. I will keep reading....

It can be confusing at first. Probably the best thing you can do is get an appropriate test kit see: http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/pool_test_kit_comparison and ask questions here to help you get started understanding the fairly simple methods.

 

[JasonLion]

There are a wide variety of situations when you need to add something other than salt. For example if the PH is too low, unlikely but possible, you will want to raise the PH to prevent stinging/burning eyes. Similarly if the PH is too high you will want to lower it to avoid calcium scaling and metal stains. There are many more examples, far too many to list here. These are not usually routine chemical additions, instead they are simply keeping the water in balance, which it may or may not do on it's own.

 

[JohnN]

First, you should get yourself a TF-100 or K-2006 from tftestkits.net. While you are waiting, read pool school a few more times. I know you said it was confusing, but reading a few times might make it a little clearer. There is a lot of info there. Hopefully it will make more sense once you get the test kit. After you get the test kit and get results from your water, ask any questions you still have.

 

[Big_kid]

First off: Welcome aboard, you've come to the right place. The help available here is top notch. I speak from experience, here's the proof:
too-cold-for-algae-wrong-swamp-to-sparkle-in10-days-50-t55062.html
I was in my pool today to vacuum.

Read some posts that sound like they describe the same symptoms you have. See what their cures were, and what problems they had in common. To get a handle on your pool, even temporarily until you replace your SWG, you've GOT to have a good test kit to know where your levels are. This will give you a starting point to know which way to go with what treatments, and pool school will explain WHY. I don't have a SWG on my pool, but I don't buy any chemicals (except liquid chlorine, which is just concentrated laundry bleach) at the pool store. I bought stabilizer @ Home Depot when I needed it, and clorox/plain old bleach where ever I could find it. I still have some old algaecide that I'll never use- because when I used it the first time it DIDN'T WORK. In the link above essentially all I did was add chlorine, *checked my chlorine several times a day to keep it above shock level* (why you need a good kit), scoop leaves as best I could without being able to see the bottom, brush the sides every once in a while, backwash the filter when the pressure went up 20%, then once it cleared up I added stabilizer. Part of the reason I waited on adding stabilizer was because I was out of the drops for that test. Another benefit was with the stabilizer being low, I needed less chlorine to reach shock level. The drawback was with low stabilizer, the sun burned off the chlorine faster. I was off work that week, so I just kept up with testing & dosing and I was able to stay ahead of it.


Read pool school but don't expect to understand it all. It takes some time, but you will come to "get it". I read it when I first got here, thought to myself "Jeez, I'll never get the hang of this", but I kept reading posts. After a while I revisited pool school and guess what- it made sense!

Stick around, ask questions as you think of them, and let us know how things progress!