new SW pool owner

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kunisk

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Jun 30, 2014
16
Old Bethpage NY
Hi --
New to this forum.
I just installed a 20x38 26k gallon salt water pool!
The pool company told me i should never have to put in Sayanayic Acid, that it dilutes the stregnth of the cholorine.
The reason is that with 12 hours of pump run time, you wouldnt need it. By salt water level is 3500ppm.
So i took my first visit to the pool store, and they said that's wrong, and that I should put it in, run my pump less (save myself from having to replace pump and SWG before normal).
Feeling confused now, I called back the pool company that did the install. He said to me, look at your pool. Is it clear? Crystal clear? I said yes (its been two weeks), he said then you dont need it. He said if it were to get cloudy, you could simply run the pump longer or hit boost. He said the point of getting a salt water pool was to avoid having chlorine linger in the pool so why would i put something in there that is going to make chlorine linger? He said if that were the case, just get a chlorine pool.
When I check my levels, my free chrlorine was a bit low, but not much and usually is in the normal range.
So what should I do????
This is like going to the dr, everytime you ask someone you get a different opinion!
HELP!
 
:wave: Welcome to TFP!!!

Your builder does not know what he is talking about ... in fact he is completely clueless about pool chemistry in general.

The stabilizer (cyanuric acid, CYA) protects the FC from the sun, as such your SWG will not have to run as much and will last longer.

If you want to truly understand your pool, you need to invest in one of the Recommended Test Kits and spends some time learning the chemistry. These are a good start:

ABCs of Water Chemistry
Recommended Pool Chemicals
How to Chlorinate Your Pool
Water Balance for SWGs
 
Follow up question.
My SWG settings were set by him when he did the install. If I do put the CYA in, will the SWG automatially adjust its output, or do I need to do that manually? I am thinking about what you said "as such your SWG will not have to run as much and will last longer"
PS--I did read water balance for SWGs as you suggested which is why i posted, i keep getting mixed info.
 
Well, if you want facts about the chemistry you found the right place. If you want marketing speak, go talk to the pool store. If you want non-sense information passed down from generation to generation, go talk to your pool builder.

You will need to adjust the output of the SWG, you should be doing that anyway if you are not keeping adequate FC in the pool.

Running 12 hours a day is also WAY longer than you should need to run the pump which is just wasting electricity. Check out: http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/152-determine-pump-run-time

Get the CYA up to 70-80ppm and you should be able to drastically reduce the SWG production. Also by lowering the SWG output, it would cause less aeration which will keep the pH from rising as fast.
 
Hi again....
I did a water test again yesterday. The results were ZERO free chlorine and about one test level below normal for total chlorine. Fustrated, I called the pool company and they said to be sure you test the water coming out of the jets not other places in the pool. What does this forumn recommend?
Apprectiate your insight.
 
:goodpost:
We recommend you NOT test right in front of the return jet because that is not indicative of the levels in the bulk of the water.

Did you say how you are testing? You can not have 0 FC and a "normal" TC. TC = FC + CC and the CC should be zero.
Did you order a test kit yet?
 
We never trust test strips as they are often inaccurate and may not be consistent. That was my guess based on some of your comments. Throw them away and stop confusing yourself.
 

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I understand the rush to balance your pool completely, but you're saying your pool is crystal clear with 0 FC and 0 CYA? That just doesn't sound right to me, I'd reconsider blindly putting in CYA until you're sure, as lowering your CYA is much harder to do
 
Hi everyone,
Ok so i got an accurate testing kit and here are my test results:
Fc=0.5ppm not near jets and 1.0 near jets
Cc=0
ph=8.0 so i added 2 cups of muriatic acid
Alkalinity is 70ppm
Hardness is 160ppm

I have a 26k vinyl pool put in a month ago. Swg running 12 hours a day with a variable speed pump. Most of the time swg is running at 50% unless water temp goes up and then it automatically adjusts.

PB told me not to add cya as swg always will read low fc levels. Water is crystal clear.
Pool also has a spill over jacuzzi attached and running off same water.

I hear alot of negatives about cya and its safety so trying to avoid if possible.

According to everythjng i read my fc is too low and should be about 1ppm higher. I know cya will help (i have none in pool) but can i avoid by increasing swg percents? Should i add a very small amount?

Appreciate any and all insight!
 
1. PB is wrong.
2. CYA is safe. There's a large discussion about this in another thread, but it is extremely technical.
3. Your FC needs to be up around 5 and you need your CYA up around 70. You need to add plain bleach to get FC up ASAP. Add CYA in a sock in front of a return.

I have never heard of a SWG that automatically adjusts. They have no idea what your CYA or FC levels are, so don't have any way to adjust themselves. You need to turn up the output of the SWG to keep FC in the proper range.
 

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