Crazily high salt level - freaking out

[georgiarose]

I'm new here - awesome forum with so much helpful information! Our first full summer with this pool (house is new to us) so still learning.
It's mid summer here in Australia, but have had pretty wet couple of weeks with also hot days (tropical storms) plus kids staying for a week that spent a lot of time in the pool (3 weeks ago). After they left, pool grew quite a bit of algae, wouldn't really brush off unless with a lot of work. An older test that the previous owners left behind showed me low salt, so I dumped in 2 bags. Then just this past week algae grew really quickly. Ordered the full test kit from Clear Choice Labs, but in meantime decided to shock it with a heap of liquid chlorine. Pump been running 24/7 for a few days now, algae is much better although it seems to have left behind some staining? See pics attached.

CCL kit turned up today and results are as follows:

CYA - <30ppm
FC - 1ppm
CC - 0.5ppm
PH - 7.8 (could be higher but this is as high as my test kit goes)
TA - 70 ppm
CH - 400ppm
Salt - 7200ppm

I tested the salt twice, maybe I'm doing something wrong? Seems way way too high.

Wondering if anyone can give me any advice about what I should be doing? I really don't want to be emptying pool and refilling if I can in any way avoid it!

Many thanks in advance!!

 

[aussieta]

is the salt chlorinator producing chlorine
does it have any warnings on it
salt range is 5,000 to 6,000 so you are only a bit over in the big scheme
looks like you did not need those 2 bags, which would have added around 950ppm salt
verify if your chlorinator is working
then you need to slam your pool

SLAM - Shock Level and Maintain

We’ve all had to deal with a green pool. Clear algae from your pool with a SLAM! Read here to use shock level and maintain to clear your pool.

www.troublefreepool.com

this is different to pool store shock as you only add what your pool needs, not magic potions that make things worse

 

[georgiarose]

The chlorinator looks like its working fine. I've just turned it off, is this the right thing to do? No I obviously didn't need those 2 bags... ugh.
Ok sure, I wondered that. I'll read up about it tonight, and get started tomorrow!!
Many thanks for your help

 

[mgtfp]

I just had a look into the Saltmate manual:

Salt Level 4000ppm - 6000ppm by weight with 5000ppm being ideal (never below 4000ppm). All Saltmate models are over-salt protected and can run with levels higher than 6000ppm (ie: sea water).

And on their webpage they state under "What salt level is required":
Minimum: 4000ppm, Ideal: 5000ppm, Maximum: 35000ppm

I don't think you need to worry, these SWGs seem to be designed to cope with sea water. Let it come down to the ideal range of 5000ppm over winter with rain dilutions, that might be a more comfortable range for swimming. More critical to be too low rather then too high (which seems to be basically impossible, unless your fill water is plumbed to the ocean...).

 

[riley00dog]

Hi, also from Australia. Our pb left us with a salt reading of about the same at handover. I called Astral (our chlorinator manufacturer) and they said over 8000 and they would be a little concerned. I didn’t need to add salt for almost two years lol.

 

[setsailsoon]

Rose,

Welcome to TFP!

Once you get done with your SLAM it would be a good idea to maintain the correct FC and raise your CYA level. Please readABCs of Pool Water Chemistry. Ask any questions you may have. We do it differently than you'll hear about from the pool stores. TFP methods work great and are dirt cheap. A nice thing about TFP is that we don't sell anything. So advice is never conflicted. As you can see there are quite a few TFPers down there in Australia that are very familiar with local suppliers and the different brands available to you.

Good luck and please do keep us posted on your progress.

Chris