Help me get my salt water in balance.

[grumpy]

Thanks for the answers about why I need more CH in my pool water. Now I understand. I've been reading even more here and have even more questions.

For reference, here are my Taylor K-2006 test results.

FC - 3
CC-0
PH 7.2
TA 40
CH 70
CYA 0
Salt 5590 tested this one twice.
Pool temp is 52F
Intellichlor IC40 currently running at 5% 12 hours per day except when freeze guard kicks in.
The pool is in a screened enclosure so only tiny seeds and airborne dirt/dust get into the water.
The pool gets plenty of shade during the day from surrounding trees. Full sun at a maximum of half of the day.

I'm beginning to wonder how much I need to do while the temperatures are still so low. I have a heater and plan to turn it back on next month. Mechanical reasons caused me to turn it off for the time being.

For now, I plan to add CYA. This is why I no longer have a pool guy. We had a big argument about needing it at all. I also plan to add borax to keep down the increase in PH during the season. My goals are as as follows:

Increase CYA to 60 ppm
Increase Borax from 0 to 50 ppm
If I read correctly, all of the other things that I test for will change when I add these two things. I'll re-test and then add items to get:
TA to 60
CH to 300

Am I wasting my time and effort with the pool so cold? Should I just wait until I begin heating before messing with any of these items?

 

[duraleigh]

The more I think about your pool, I think I'd bring the CYA up to around 40 at first. I'd hold off on 60ppm. The screen enclosure probably eliminates 50% of the UV rays and the shade you describe eliminates even more. In short, you will likely find you can maintain very adequate chlorine levels using much less CYA than most outdoor, full-sun pools.

You could do that now, if you like, or you could wait 'til the water starts to warm some. If there's an advantages to doing it now, I would say it's nice to be ahead of the game when Spring comes and secondly, you will be able to turn down your SWG shortly after adding the CYA. There's really no harm in waiting but it might be convenient to have that project out of the way.

The advantage to 40ppm instead of 60 is you'll be able to use a lower chlorine level. Less is almost always better in all pool chemistry and if the results aren't what you expect, you can always boost to 60ppm easily......going backwards to 40 is quite difficult.

 

[spishex]

The biggest thing that jumps out at me is your salt level. Pentair would like that to be at 4200 max. Let's see what the chem-centric folks have to say about that, but adding Borates and CYA now when you might have to do a 20% drain in the spring would be unfortunate.

 

[duraleigh]

Tim, I think OP mentioned in an earlier post he was planning on a drain to reduce the salt. As you point out, that's first before any additives.

 

[grumpy]

Dave. You've confirmed what I thought about getting ahead of things by adding CYA now. I like the idea of low and slow, that's the way that we do things here in the SC Lowcountry.

Tim. Yes, I know that Salt is way too high. I do plan to drain and replace water before doing anything else.

Thanks again for all the help.

Jim

 

[spishex]

Ahh! I was wondering... :-D

 

[Guest]

I have a screen enclosure on my pool and run my CYA at 70-80 ppm. I have experimented with lower levels and found that it lead to faster pH rise so I would recommend the higher CYA level right off the bat. See this thread for more info:
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=3663
This info is not just based on my own pool but also on the pools of my customers, many who also have screen enclosures.

BUT, getting your salt level in line IS the first step before making other adjustments! :!:
You should find that if you maintain your FC at about 4 ppm you will have no problems once you get the CYA up there.