Been using the BBB method for 10 months on a new water fill. Over this time the TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) has grown to 2400ppm. Pool store says this is from the liquid chlorine (Liq chlorine has a bunch of junk in it?). This has risen the saturation index to -0.44. Pool store says the only way to reduce it is to drain half the pool??
High TDS
- Thread starter Derosa
- Start date
What type pool do you have? In fact it'd be nice if that info was in your sig.
Please post a full set of test results?
Have you had the salt content tested?
In essence, don't worry about it.
Bleach, regardless of the concentration has water and salt in it. That's about all it adds to your pool. Your TDS goes up from the salt. It's nothing to be concerned about. People with swg's typically run a TDS of 3,000 to 6,000 ppm or higher and it's not given a second thought.
My salt content usually runs about 2,000 ppm and I use nothing but bleach. I don't know or care what my TDS is. It's just something the pool store uses to try to confuse the customer.
Please post a full set of test results?
Have you had the salt content tested?
In essence, don't worry about it.
Bleach, regardless of the concentration has water and salt in it. That's about all it adds to your pool. Your TDS goes up from the salt. It's nothing to be concerned about. People with swg's typically run a TDS of 3,000 to 6,000 ppm or higher and it's not given a second thought.
My salt content usually runs about 2,000 ppm and I use nothing but bleach. I don't know or care what my TDS is. It's just something the pool store uses to try to confuse the customer.
To clarify the pool store employee's misinformation: Liquid chlorine adds chlorine and salt. Calcium hypochlorite adds chlorine, calcium and a little salt. Trichlor and Dichlor add chlorine, CYA and a salt. While salt is mostly benign calcium can cause scaling if levels are too high and CYA can build up causing overstabilization.
This "advice" is just one of many reasons to get your own test kit and do your own testing.
This "advice" is just one of many reasons to get your own test kit and do your own testing.
Do my own testing with Taylor kit but had the store check it cause i needed to talk about another issue i have with the plaster.
-chlorine pool
Test results
FC 4
TC 4
CC 0
PH 7.2
Hardness 410
AKL 80
CYA 30
Copper 0
iron 0
TDS 2400
-chlorine pool
Test results
FC 4
TC 4
CC 0
PH 7.2
Hardness 410
AKL 80
CYA 30
Copper 0
iron 0
TDS 2400
One can use winter rains to dilute the pool water or if you winterize the pool then you will be doing a partial drain anyway.
If you use 2 ppm FC per day, then the salt buildup from bleach or chlorinating liquid will be 100 ppm per month so if the TDS number they gave you was accurate, then your TDS was probably higher to begin with.
With Trichlor tabs/pucks, you would buildup 50 ppm salt per month, so half the rate, BUT you would also build up 36 ppm Cyanuric Acid (CYA) per month and that is far worse than salt since it significantly reduces chlorine effectiveness unless you proportionately raise the FC level. So you can end up getting algae growth, cloudy water, and other problems. ALL forms of chlorine end up increasing salt levels because when the chlorine is used/consumed it becomes chloride (salt). As others have noted, salt is the least innocuous side effect from chlorine. Increasing CYA is much worse.
With Cal-Hypo, the salt buildup is in between that of Trichlor and bleach or chlorinating liquid, BUT you would also build up at least 42 ppm Calcium Hardness (CH) which is OK if you have a vinyl pool where you start with low CH from tap water, but would not be good in a plaster pool or other pool already saturated with calcium carbonate to protect plaster surfaces (i.e. where the CH was already high enough).
If you use 2 ppm FC per day, then the salt buildup from bleach or chlorinating liquid will be 100 ppm per month so if the TDS number they gave you was accurate, then your TDS was probably higher to begin with.
With Trichlor tabs/pucks, you would buildup 50 ppm salt per month, so half the rate, BUT you would also build up 36 ppm Cyanuric Acid (CYA) per month and that is far worse than salt since it significantly reduces chlorine effectiveness unless you proportionately raise the FC level. So you can end up getting algae growth, cloudy water, and other problems. ALL forms of chlorine end up increasing salt levels because when the chlorine is used/consumed it becomes chloride (salt). As others have noted, salt is the least innocuous side effect from chlorine. Increasing CYA is much worse.
With Cal-Hypo, the salt buildup is in between that of Trichlor and bleach or chlorinating liquid, BUT you would also build up at least 42 ppm Calcium Hardness (CH) which is OK if you have a vinyl pool where you start with low CH from tap water, but would not be good in a plaster pool or other pool already saturated with calcium carbonate to protect plaster surfaces (i.e. where the CH was already high enough).