Hey everyone! New member to the boards! Found this forum after some internet searching! Looks like a great community!
After reading some stickies I cant answer all of the questions but this is what I do know.
We just took possession of a house with a saltwater pool here in Houston, Tx. Built by aqua blue pools and meticulously serviced by them up until 2 weeks ago. Size not exactly sure of the gallon count will be getting that info from the owner in the next couple of days. Pebbletec finish, sandstone surround and water fall. All hayward equipment including a salt cell generator. With all the rain we have experienced lately salt was down to 2600ppm I added 3 bags of salt from Leslies to get it up to 3000ppm. SWG seems to be in line now and generating properly. SWG was cleaned last month.
Previous owners left some test strips which before the salt addition had the pH at 8.4 (high), alk was off, chlorine was low both of the 2 measurable values on the strip (low salt was probably to blame along with the neighborhood kids splashing in and out before we took possession). Forgive me I don't know which was which on the chlorine. This is our first pool. Sidenote: I am highly experienced in reef aquariums so I am comfortable with parameters. Although with the quotes we received for service I feel confident we can maintain this ourselves.
Pool is equipped with a polaris unit that seems to be working well. I cleaned the skimmer baskets and emptied the filter on the polaris. No big deal today. Will need to get a hose to hook the vacuum up so I can sweep the pool. Owners were great about getting people to keep up with it.
Since I am new, salt stickies or advice would be great! Recommendation on test kits would be awesome! Looking also to know what are the critical values required to really maintain the pool. Everything looks relatively great, clear water, no algae (I would assume phosphates are decently under control). There are some areas that are brown, some rust looking areas around one of the ports in the pool and maybe 1 in the hot tub. I have read about the Vitamin C tabs to try and clean those areas. But there is some scaling (light hardwater) around the edge of the pool on the tile. I attribute this to the high pH?
If anyone that lives in hot water climates can help me get started and make sure that we can do this ourselves that would be great!!
After reading some stickies I cant answer all of the questions but this is what I do know.
We just took possession of a house with a saltwater pool here in Houston, Tx. Built by aqua blue pools and meticulously serviced by them up until 2 weeks ago. Size not exactly sure of the gallon count will be getting that info from the owner in the next couple of days. Pebbletec finish, sandstone surround and water fall. All hayward equipment including a salt cell generator. With all the rain we have experienced lately salt was down to 2600ppm I added 3 bags of salt from Leslies to get it up to 3000ppm. SWG seems to be in line now and generating properly. SWG was cleaned last month.
Previous owners left some test strips which before the salt addition had the pH at 8.4 (high), alk was off, chlorine was low both of the 2 measurable values on the strip (low salt was probably to blame along with the neighborhood kids splashing in and out before we took possession). Forgive me I don't know which was which on the chlorine. This is our first pool. Sidenote: I am highly experienced in reef aquariums so I am comfortable with parameters. Although with the quotes we received for service I feel confident we can maintain this ourselves.
Pool is equipped with a polaris unit that seems to be working well. I cleaned the skimmer baskets and emptied the filter on the polaris. No big deal today. Will need to get a hose to hook the vacuum up so I can sweep the pool. Owners were great about getting people to keep up with it.
Since I am new, salt stickies or advice would be great! Recommendation on test kits would be awesome! Looking also to know what are the critical values required to really maintain the pool. Everything looks relatively great, clear water, no algae (I would assume phosphates are decently under control). There are some areas that are brown, some rust looking areas around one of the ports in the pool and maybe 1 in the hot tub. I have read about the Vitamin C tabs to try and clean those areas. But there is some scaling (light hardwater) around the edge of the pool on the tile. I attribute this to the high pH?
If anyone that lives in hot water climates can help me get started and make sure that we can do this ourselves that would be great!!