Saltwater Pool with .1 PPM chlorine

[richierich]

Hi all - 1st time poster. I've lurked on your forum for awhile and you guys are all great.

I have a question. I have a saltwater filter for a 14'x42" intex pool and leave it on the recommended 5 hours per day. However lately I've been noticing some brownish algae so I tested the water at the pool place and it was .1 PPM

My results were

.1 chlorine
7.4 PH
10 stabilizer
2730 salt

What I was going to do was add some stabilizer then shock the pool. Is that ok? Any suggestions? Can I use household chlorox bleach instead of shock? Should I add more salt and boost my chlorine production. Thank you!

 

[msgtdan]

Welcome,

You need to follow the SLAM process.
Add enough CYA to get you up to 30 ppm while you're SLAMing, then once clear take it up high to help protect from the sun. Absolutely use bleach, unscented regular/ultra bleach.

 

[RobbieH]

Yep, no splash proof or outdoor bleach.

 

[linen]

Welcome to tfp, richierich

I am not aware of any accurate test kits that can measure cya (stabilizer) down to 10 ppm. Have you used any stabilizer, or any trichlor pucks or dichlor powdered chlorine? They also contain cya. If in the end you/we are uncertain of your cya level, a drain/refill might be most efficient.

 

[richierich]

Welcome,

You need to follow the SLAM process.
Add enough CYA to get you up to 30 ppm while you're SLAMing, then once clear take it up high to help protect from the sun. Absolutely use bleach, unscented regular/ultra bleach.

so use stabilizer first then once its 30 ppm then shock the pool with Clorox household bleach? I guess I was quite naïve, I thought the salt water filter eliminated the use for any chemicals at all, but I guess that's not true. Do I need to add salt also? I guess using the "boost" function won't bring my chlorine up enough.

 

[Richard320]

Welcome,

You need to follow the SLAM process.
Add enough CYA to get you up to 30 ppm while you're SLAMing, then once clear take it up high to help protect from the sun. Absolutely use bleach, unscented regular/ultra bleach.

so use stabilizer first then once its 30 ppm then shock the pool with Clorox household bleach? I guess I was quite naïve, I thought the salt water filter eliminated the use for any chemicals at all, but I guess that's not true. Do I need to add salt also? I guess using the "boost" function won't bring my chlorine up enough.

The only thing the Saltwater generator does is create the free chlorine on-site, rather than at a chlorox factory. Everything else is the same as a bleach pool.

Have you read Pool School at all? There's tons of information in there, from really basic to advanced, depending on how many pages in you want to go. It can answer questions you haven't even thought to ask yet.

What has happened is that your stabilizer level was too low, so the sun got to the chlorine before the chlorine could get to the organics, which let the chlorine level get too low, and now algae has taken hold. So now you have to kill it, completely, and raise the stabilizer level in two steps. First to about 30 so you can keep bleach in there long enough to kill algae (SLAM) and when it's all clear, up to 70ish.

It will be a rough couple days for you, maybe even a week, but after that, you'll understand it all and your water can stay clear and sparkly for the rest of the season.

 

[richierich]

Welcome,

You need to follow the SLAM process.
Add enough CYA to get you up to 30 ppm while you're SLAMing, then once clear take it up high to help protect from the sun. Absolutely use bleach, unscented regular/ultra bleach.

so use stabilizer first then once its 30 ppm then shock the pool with Clorox household bleach? I guess I was quite naïve, I thought the salt water filter eliminated the use for any chemicals at all, but I guess that's not true. Do I need to add salt also? I guess using the "boost" function won't bring my chlorine up enough.

The only thing the Saltwater generator does is create the free chlorine on-site, rather than at a chlorox factory. Everything else is the same as a bleach pool.

Have you read Pool School at all? There's tons of information in there, from really basic to advanced, depending on how many pages in you want to go. It can answer questions you haven't even thought to ask yet.

What has happened is that your stabilizer level was too low, so the sun got to the chlorine before the chlorine could get to the organics, which let the chlorine level get too low, and now algae has taken hold. So now you have to kill it, completely, and raise the stabilizer level in two steps. First to about 30 so you can keep bleach in there long enough to kill algae (SLAM) and when it's all clear, up to 70ish.

It will be a rough couple days for you, maybe even a week, but after that, you'll understand it all and your water can stay clear and sparkly for the rest of the season.

Ok thanks for the help. I understand after reading the links. Stabilizer first, then shock it. 2 more questions though, should I add a small amount of salt to bring my PPM up to 3000 and I know the shock gives you a guide on what to add but how much should you add for Clorox bleach, I have 3,500 galloon intex metal frame pool

 

[pwrstrk]

You need to be at 13 ppm for shock level with a CYA level of 30 ppm. To get to 13 ppm of FC pool calc says to add 3 qt's of bleach. Remember to set your PH to 7.2.

I'd wait to add salt after slamming.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk.

 

[msgtdan]

Pool Calculator

Can help you with dosage levels, set your pool volume at the top, and other pool info at the bottom. Then what you readings are now in the left column, where you want to be in the right column.

 

[Isaac-1]

All your SWG does is create a slow trickle of chlorine on site instead of using bleach, at the moment you need to use bleach in jugs to kill off all the algae, once things are back under control you can get your chemicals balanced and switch back to the SWG for daily chlorination. Even with an SWG you need to test and balance your pool chemistry, there is a lot more than just chlorine to a correctly balanced pool, you also need to keep your pH, TA, CYA stabilizer, and Salt levels under control, and at least be generally aware of your CH level (CH is not much of an issue with vinyl pools).

Ike