Hi all! Like many of you, I’ve decided to add a SWG to minimize storage of chemicals, save some money and time. In preparation, I balanced the chemicals to ideal levels FC: 5.5, CYA: 50, pH: 7.4, TA: 60, CH: 550, water temp: 76. Then I added Boric acid last night following the method exactly on this site. I did calculations assuming salt level in the pool would be zero and picked up a bunch of 40 lb bags of clean solar salt (and then I’ll just use excess for water softener). I tested salt level a few hours ago using the Taylor K-1766 test kit following instructions exactly (holding bottle vertical and all that), and had to use 41 drops of the reagent, which comes out to 8100 PPM NaCL! I’ve never added salt to this pool, and I’ve lived here for 3 years. I have noticed a precipitate, crusty formation off and on on the tile, looks like salt crystal formation, but right now its the most I’ve seen it. So its entirely possible that its salt and the my salt level truly is that high. My question is, how on earth did it get this high?? And is the only way to bring it down replacing water? One of the photos is of the test right when it changed dramatically to the “brick red” and the others show the mysterious crystal formation on the tile wall between the main part of the pool and the unheated spa.