Hello all,
I must say I'm very thankful to the site and all of you for your help and assistance. I've learned a great deal (I think) in the past (almost) year that I've been reading here.
Our family decided to take the 'plunge' and have our pool installed late last year. I hope the pool details appear in the signature.
After the pool builder finished start-up, I was taking our pool water into Leslie's each week for testing (this was early this year as start-up occurred in mid-January).
During this colder part of the year (we live in the Dallas area) our SWG was set to 50% with FC testing at ~5ppm and CYA levels were testing from 40-60ppm. I lowered the SWG output to 35% since it was still cold early this year and the FC dropped back to ~ 3ppm. The pump run time was only 5 hours/day.
Around the first of April, I received my TF100 test kit and began performing the pool testing myself. My FC was essentially the same at ~3ppm (used the OTO test as it wasn't terribly critical with the colder water. My CYA levels were also essentially the same at around 45-50ppm
As it began to get warmer this spring, I began trying to raise the CYA level by adding Di-chlor (mainly because I liked the idea of it dissolving quickly and I could leave the SWG alone or turn it off with the additional chlorine added).
After adding 8 lbs of Di-chlor, I was surprised to find that my CYA hadn't changed - in fact it was closer to 40ppm than 50ppm.
Later in April/early May, I turned up the pump run time to 8 hours/day but left the SWG output at 35%. FC seemed to remain fine at ~3ppm. I began adding granular CYA and have now added about 5 lbs -- now my CYA test has returned to around 50ppm (where it was earlier in the year). But I've added more than enough to go from 40ppm to 75ppm. I made sure not to backwash the filter for at least a week after CYA additions, so I don't believe I'm losing any that way.
Out of curiosity I took a sample back to Leslie's and had them test the CYA -- they too reported 50ppm.
Since it is now 90-100 degrees here, I've had trouble keeping the FC in the pool, I've now turned up the pump run time to 10 hours/day and the SWG output has been turned up to 50%. I'm seeing 2-2.5ppm FC (FAS-DPD) in the late evening around sundown and 1.5ppm FC first thing in the morning. Most days the bather load is quite low as our two daughters are just beginning to learn to swim.
The salt level has also dropped from around 3400ppm upon start-up to about 2900ppm last weekend. I've added 50 lbs of salt and it is back up to reading 3200ppm. I get the feeling that there might be a leak due to the odd CYA behavior and the drop in salt concentration, but I'm also unsure about the SWG performance.
One additional bit of information is that the Jandy wireless PDA which allows you to control the equipment remotely has shown on numerous occasions a "No Flow" error on its screen. There certainly is flow when this occurs or the pool wouldn't be circulating. I've had the cell apart and cleaned the sensors even though they looked as shiny as a silver spoon. The error would go away for a few days and then return. Lately I've noticed that when this error occurs I can turn off the pool pump for a few minutes and then turn it back on and it has the same effect (error goes away for a few days to a week). I've even watched the PDA screen as it cycles from "Equipment Status" to "AquaPure Output"... One time the AquaPure Output will show "50%" as it should when it is working normally and the next time it cycles it will show "No Flow".
It seems odd to me that the SWG would report "No Flow", but I can see how if this happens during the day that the SWG would never be generating any chlorine. Is this perhaps just low CYA causing the lack of FC, or should the SWG be running even more?
All in all, the pool has looked great from day 1 with one exception after a huge rain about 3 months ago. The water was very cloudy/murky, but some additional bleach and running the pump 24/7 cleared it up.
Any opinions or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
My latest numbers:
===============
FC: 2 ppm
CC: 0 ppm
pH: 7.5
CYA: 50 ppm
CH: 200 ppm
TA: 100
Salt: 3200ppm
Temp: 88 F
Sun: Full sun from ~10am till 6:00pm
I must say I'm very thankful to the site and all of you for your help and assistance. I've learned a great deal (I think) in the past (almost) year that I've been reading here.
Our family decided to take the 'plunge' and have our pool installed late last year. I hope the pool details appear in the signature.
After the pool builder finished start-up, I was taking our pool water into Leslie's each week for testing (this was early this year as start-up occurred in mid-January).
During this colder part of the year (we live in the Dallas area) our SWG was set to 50% with FC testing at ~5ppm and CYA levels were testing from 40-60ppm. I lowered the SWG output to 35% since it was still cold early this year and the FC dropped back to ~ 3ppm. The pump run time was only 5 hours/day.
Around the first of April, I received my TF100 test kit and began performing the pool testing myself. My FC was essentially the same at ~3ppm (used the OTO test as it wasn't terribly critical with the colder water. My CYA levels were also essentially the same at around 45-50ppm
As it began to get warmer this spring, I began trying to raise the CYA level by adding Di-chlor (mainly because I liked the idea of it dissolving quickly and I could leave the SWG alone or turn it off with the additional chlorine added).
After adding 8 lbs of Di-chlor, I was surprised to find that my CYA hadn't changed - in fact it was closer to 40ppm than 50ppm.
Later in April/early May, I turned up the pump run time to 8 hours/day but left the SWG output at 35%. FC seemed to remain fine at ~3ppm. I began adding granular CYA and have now added about 5 lbs -- now my CYA test has returned to around 50ppm (where it was earlier in the year). But I've added more than enough to go from 40ppm to 75ppm. I made sure not to backwash the filter for at least a week after CYA additions, so I don't believe I'm losing any that way.
Out of curiosity I took a sample back to Leslie's and had them test the CYA -- they too reported 50ppm.
Since it is now 90-100 degrees here, I've had trouble keeping the FC in the pool, I've now turned up the pump run time to 10 hours/day and the SWG output has been turned up to 50%. I'm seeing 2-2.5ppm FC (FAS-DPD) in the late evening around sundown and 1.5ppm FC first thing in the morning. Most days the bather load is quite low as our two daughters are just beginning to learn to swim.
The salt level has also dropped from around 3400ppm upon start-up to about 2900ppm last weekend. I've added 50 lbs of salt and it is back up to reading 3200ppm. I get the feeling that there might be a leak due to the odd CYA behavior and the drop in salt concentration, but I'm also unsure about the SWG performance.
One additional bit of information is that the Jandy wireless PDA which allows you to control the equipment remotely has shown on numerous occasions a "No Flow" error on its screen. There certainly is flow when this occurs or the pool wouldn't be circulating. I've had the cell apart and cleaned the sensors even though they looked as shiny as a silver spoon. The error would go away for a few days and then return. Lately I've noticed that when this error occurs I can turn off the pool pump for a few minutes and then turn it back on and it has the same effect (error goes away for a few days to a week). I've even watched the PDA screen as it cycles from "Equipment Status" to "AquaPure Output"... One time the AquaPure Output will show "50%" as it should when it is working normally and the next time it cycles it will show "No Flow".
It seems odd to me that the SWG would report "No Flow", but I can see how if this happens during the day that the SWG would never be generating any chlorine. Is this perhaps just low CYA causing the lack of FC, or should the SWG be running even more?
All in all, the pool has looked great from day 1 with one exception after a huge rain about 3 months ago. The water was very cloudy/murky, but some additional bleach and running the pump 24/7 cleared it up.
Any opinions or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
My latest numbers:
===============
FC: 2 ppm
CC: 0 ppm
pH: 7.5
CYA: 50 ppm
CH: 200 ppm
TA: 100
Salt: 3200ppm
Temp: 88 F
Sun: Full sun from ~10am till 6:00pm
