Came back from vacation...

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MathFamily

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Jun 12, 2014
6
Grafton, OH
Just got back from a week and a half away from our pool. We had our pump set to turn on for 8 hours a day with our Creepy-Crawly running while we were out of town. The water doesn't look bad, but is there anything extra special I should do since we found a mole and a rabbit who had jumped to their deaths while we were away? I ran the pool calculator after my numbers from my drop kit test:
FC: 0
CC: 0
pH: 7.3
TA: 110
CH: 110
CYA: less than 30
Temp: 79 F
If I did everything correct, it seems like I need to add Balance Pak 200, Balance Pak 300, Stabilizer, and more bleach.
It seems like maybe the new cell in the SWG is not doing its job? I thought I wouldn't have to keep adding bleach if the SWG was working properly.
I did turn on the Boost mode - maybe that will help?
Thanks for the help - first summer with a pool and a spa!
 
Welcome to TFP!

Those balance packs are not something we use around here usually. You can maintain your pool with ordinary products you find at the grocery store, WalMart, etc.

When FC drops low while using an SWG, it means the SWG isn't working, the pump run time is too low, SWG percentage is too low, salt level off, or some or all of the above. I will also mention your CYA of 30 or lower is too low for a salt pool. I recommend you get that up to the 70-80 range AFTER YOU SOLVE THE PROBLEM. Don't do it yet, because you may need to SLAM the pool.

My recommendation is to perform an overnight chlorine loss test. I would do so at shock level, since you need to bring it up to shock level anyway due to dead animals in the pool and an FC of 0.

http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/136-perform-the-overnight-fc-chlorine-loss-test-oclt
 
Don't know what Balance Paks are, but I doubt you need it. Get some bleach in the pool right away. Pour a gallon in manually, don't rely on the SWG to raise it at the moment.

Then, check your SWG. Perhaps it had an error while you were gone and stopped producing. What is the salt level? Any error lights?
 
I am guessing the others here will advise against the balance paks. I would not use them.

If your water is clear, job 1 is to get bleach in...now, then do an overnight chlorine lose test. If you lose more than 1 ppm of FC overnight, you have organics (algea etc) alive in the water and need to SLAM.

If water is not clear, go right to a SLAM.

SLAM - http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/125-slam-shock-level-and-maintain-shockingl

If your water is clear, and you pass the overnight test, bring your water in line with the salt water chemistry guide on this site.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/138-water-balance-for-swg-saltwater-chlorine-generator
 
:wave: Welcome to TFP!!!

The Balance Pak are just over priced chemicals. The same stuff is available much cheaper elsewhere. See: Recommended Pool Chemicals

Since you are new to the forum, I would suggest you read this to make sure we are speaking the same language: ABCs of Water Chemistry

Given the lack of FC and the mention of dead animals, I would suggest jumping right into the ShockLevelAndMAINTAIN Process. After that, worry about the CYA and dialing in the SWG.
 
Okay, just to clarify...
I added one jug of bleach and now my FC is 1.0 and CC is 1.5 while my pump is on and in Boost mode.

Should I do the overnight chlorine test or just go straight to a SLAM?
If I go straight to the SLAM, the CYA/Shock level chart doesn't appear to have an entry in the table for what I need: SWG with CYA < 30. Should I read off the other chart for the non-SWG and use a shock level of 12?

Heading out to grab some more bleach!

Again - thanks for all the help...
At some point this all gets easier, right???
 
I don't know what Boost mode is, but if that is on the SWG, just turn it off for now.

Have we established what test kit you have?

With the high CC, you should just go right to the SLAM process. Use the non-SWG chart for the shock level as they are the same. Are you using PoolMath to calculate dosages?
 
Okay, SWG off.
I have the Taylor 2006 test kit.
Using PoolMath, it looks like I need 4.5 (96 oz) jugs of 8.25% bleach to get it to shock level 12.
From reading other threads, during a SLAM process I only need to concern myself with FC and CC, right?
The SLAM process page is pretty clear - hoping this works!
 
BE sure to lower your PH to about 7.2 before raising the FC.

MathFamily said:
Okay, SWG off.
I have the Taylor 2006 test kit.
Using PoolMath, it looks like I need 4.5 (96 oz) jugs of 8.25% bleach to get it to shock level 12.
From reading other threads, during a SLAM process I only need to concern myself with FC and CC, right?
The SLAM process page is pretty clear - hoping this works!
Click to expand...
 

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Hooray! After a couple rounds of bleach, my FC is 6.4 and CC is 0.2.
This means I should now try to raise my CYA, right?

From the Water Balance for Salt Water Pools page, this is what I'm aiming for...
To summarize:
FC 4-6 ppm
PH 7.5-7.8
TA 60-80
CH 50-300 for vinyl
CYA 70-80
Salt 200-400 ppm ABOVE recommended optimum level

So now, I just plug in my current numbers and these goal number to Pool Math and voila?
Should I run a full battery of tests to find current numbers or use the ones from yesterday?
On a similar note, how variable are some of these numbers? Are they likely to change a LOT day to day? Or only certain ones can change a lot?
 
Oops!
I missed step 2 :(
Okay - will do that tonight and hopefully have good news in the morning.
For the rest of the afternoon, should I keep checking the FC and CC to keep it at the recommended level of 12ish?
If so, I'm headed for the store...
Thanks again - first SLAM experience!
 
You should keep it at shock level as well as you can.

I imagine you will pass the OCLT and be done right away as it sounded like the pool was not that bad to start with. But, you need to learn the follow the entire process.
 
What percentage was your SWG set at when you were gone on vacation? Being that it's a new salt cell something just doesn't sound right. What is the salt level? Was the SWG working properly before you left for your vacation? I know these are quite a few questions but knowledge is key for us to help you correctly.

On a side note, I just came back from a week of vacation and my pool was as sparkly as when I left. Last night I ran a full battery of tests and the results are as follows:
FC-5.5
CC-0.0
PH-7.8
TA-80
CH-325
CYA-80
Salt-3,400
Borates-50

These numbers were achieved by running my SWG at 60% for 8 hours each day. I didn't add any dichlor or trichlor pucks at all during the vacation. The pool was maintained in this ideal state merely by the SWG alone. So it can be done without any added chemicals at all. I love my SWG! I didn't even have to get out the leaf rake!
 
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