advice to substitute for "Beginnings"

[bcs124]

Hello,

newbie here for sure and i apologize if others have touched on this subject before. Right now I have a mineral springs pool, about 16,000 gallons in the charming city of Manassas, VA. Oh and it's white plaster, in-ground.

This year, yet again, my initial testing showed I need a lot of "Beginnings" to get my mineral levels correct. I honestly don't mind so much the weekly cost of "renewals" but these beginnings costs suck. Yes, I know there are alternate ways to do "renewals" too but one step at a time here.

So let me ask the experts out there... assume my pool water levels are optimal right now (because they are), minus the mineral levels (currently about 1700). What are my alternatives to "beginnings" at this point? Can I just buy the Morton salt bags I saw at Walmart for $6.00 and then continue using renewals after that?

Please advise...and I really do appreciate the input.

Thanks

 

[JasonLion]

Welcome to TFP!

Both of those products are essentially salt and CYA. You can use salt sold for water softeners and get CYA at a pool store for much less money. When buying salt look for salt that is 99.4% pure or better and doesn't have any rust inhibitor or other additives. The best choices include Diamond Crystal® Solar Salt Extra Coarse Crystals in blue bags, Morton® White Crystal® Water Softener Salt in blue bags, or Diamond Crystal® Sun Gems® Crystals Water Softener Salt in yellow bags.

 

[waste]

Welcome to TFP!!

[strike]As long as all your other numbers are good [/strike]-- scratch that, let me start again...

Whether or not your other numbers are good, the 'mineral' portion of the "Beginnings" pak is salt (99.5% pure with no yellow prucite, iodine or anti-caking agents - as long as the Morton's says it's for pools, you should be fine) - you'd need ~200 lbs to raise 16,000 gallons from 1700 ppm to 3200 ppm. I'm assuming 40lbs/ bag, so you'd need 5 but only add the first 3 initially and wait overnight to see how much the salinity increased and add the rest accordingly.

Please post your 'optimal' levels and how you came by them