- May 3, 2014
- 62,729
- Pool Size
- 6000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
There is minor aeration effect from hydrogen. I assume your TA level has been constant.
FC at Zero today!
- Thread starter nikolausp
- Start date
That's a good point, that I wasn't thinking about earlier today when I did it. Too late now, but wish I'd have thought of that.
I've never seen any bubbles from my returns. I don't really like the thought of 2x a week acid additions, when we go to Hawaii for 2 weeks sometimes.
DanF
Silver Supporter
- Mar 17, 2019
- 612
- Pool Size
- 12500
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
I see bubbles from my returns, but only when my pump is running on low speed (1725 rpm). At high speed (3450 rpm) I don't see them.
I'm betting you won't need to SLAM. You might just need to get the FC up quickly with LC and let the SWG take over again.
Nik,
Where are you trying to keep your pH??? Most SWCG pools like a pH of about 7.8.. If you are trying to keep your pH at 7.2, you are just causing yourself a lot more work.
Thanks,
Jim R.
Where are you trying to keep your pH??? Most SWCG pools like a pH of about 7.8.. If you are trying to keep your pH at 7.2, you are just causing yourself a lot more work.
Thanks,
Jim R.
I don't think I typed 7.2... Did I typo a 7.2 somewhere?
The thing is, with constantly raising PH, if I try and keep it at 7.8, I'd be worried I'd be over 8.0 in a day or two, so I typically will lower it to 7.5-7.6, so I at least have a little reprieve from worrying about getting to 8.0.
That being said, perhaps you recall from my other thread about my lame scale issue.... so I'm currently trying to keep the CSI rather low, usually -.3 to -.5 for a while and hopefully that will help me with my scale problem, so for now, I'm not targeting 7.8 at all, usually 7.6 or so, which gives me a nice negative CSI easier than 7.8 does.
(The scale thing was the result of a horrendous start-up of the pool chemistry, performed by the plaster company's recommended dude, and after 3 weeks it still wasn't balanced, things like PH, TA, etc etc all over the rollercoaster, never close to in balance, while I watched in horror and had to keep my lips sealed, since my builder was all about covering his own butt, instead of looking out for my pool, combined with the fact that he is clueless about pool chemistry)
- Jul 17, 2019
- 4,078
- Pool Size
- 13000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
The rate your pH rises is not linear. For mine, it goes up from 7.5 to 7.8 in just a few days, but will take weeks to go from 7.8 to 8.0 before I have to add acid. Give that a try and see if it lessens your headaches with acid.
If you don't want to keep it at 7.8 to 8.0 on a regular basis due to scaling concerns that is fine, but it should lessen your worry that you will come back to a pool with extremely high pH when you come back from vacation.
Thank you so much for posting this, I really appreciate it.
Thank you so much for posting this.
- Jul 17, 2019
- 4,078
- Pool Size
- 13000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
I would say 4-6 weeks between my acid additions. This is my 2nd full season with a pool, and I'm on bottle #3 of muriatic acid since the pool was filled.
One other thought is if you have a floater and some pucks, you can use that as well when you go on vacation. They are acidic and will help keep the pH at bay while you are gone. Just make sure you do not have high CYA already and you should have some wiggle room.
Ok, so I checked FC last night after sunset, and it was 6.2, so I added more to get around 10. (I have no idea how strong my old bottles of Liquid Chlorine are/were, since I haven't used them in a month)... Then before bed, I checked again, and FC was 10.8 FC, and I just checked now around 6:15am, and pool is at 10.0 FC. (I like to do the 25ml / 0.2 test for better accuracy, typically)
CC still looks like zero, zilch. It looks like the FC went from 10.8 to 10.0.
Thoughts? Should I wait it out and do this again every day for a few days? Do I need a SLAM?
(SWCG was off, ever since I added the Liquid Chlorine yesterday afternoon, and is still off , just fyi)
CC still looks like zero, zilch. It looks like the FC went from 10.8 to 10.0.
Thoughts? Should I wait it out and do this again every day for a few days? Do I need a SLAM?
(SWCG was off, ever since I added the Liquid Chlorine yesterday afternoon, and is still off , just fyi)
I'd say go it for one more day just to have the extra insurance then you're good.
Last edited:
+1. It’s way easier to maintain a slam just to be extra sure than it is to start the next one.
to be clear, You don’t *need* to. You passed the 3 criteria. Personally I don’t like to leave anything to chance, even a small chance, when it’s so easy to maintain the FC for an extra day.
to be clear, You don’t *need* to. You passed the 3 criteria. Personally I don’t like to leave anything to chance, even a small chance, when it’s so easy to maintain the FC for an extra day.
What do you mean by "maintain a slam"? I think I'm far below slam levels.
Also, I'm wondering, does going from 10.8 to 10.0 count as passing criteria for the overnight test, as you said? Shouldn't I have wanted it to be 10.8 this morning, not 10.0?
Whoopsie. I got my wires crossed that we were SLAMing. It’s just an OCLT. Apologies.
Up to 1 FC loss is acceptable for test error. You passed.
Ok, I'll maintain it with liquid chlorine throughout today, and do another overnight test and see where we're at tomorrow, then I'll turn the SWG back on if things seem stable.
DanF
Silver Supporter
- Mar 17, 2019
- 612
- Pool Size
- 12500
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
Sounds like a good plan to me. Then you will want to ensure that your SWG is maintaining your FC; this entails knowing your daily FC consumption and the run time/% needed to accommodate that.
Did you ever find out why your FC dropped in the first place?
Did you ever find out why your FC dropped in the first place?
I have no way of knowing, other than guessing my SWG percentage was apparently not high enough, and letting it go on it's own for a week wasn't smart...?
The thing is, i tested it and tweeked it multiple times for the better part of 3 weeks, before deciding to finally ease off and finally let the pool be 'trouble free' for the first time since filling it. And then a week later, 0 FC, lol.
Hopefully it just needed a raise in CYA, like somebody suggested earlier, and perhaps a SWG percentage boost.
It really makes no sense to me, because, like I said in a different thread, I was targeting FC of 7. In my ~3 weeks of tweeking SWG and testing FC, the range was 5.4 to 8.8, depending on how sunny it was on a given day, so it seemed safe. I always tested it between 8:30-9pm
Then all of a sudden, ZERO FC a week later.
I'm hoping it's not a possible problem with the SWG. I guess we'll see.
I have no way of knowing, other than guessing my SWG percentage was apparently not high enough, and letting it go on it's own for a week wasn't smart...?
The thing is, i tested it and tweeked it multiple times for the better part of 3 weeks, before deciding to finally ease off and finally let the pool be 'trouble free' for the first time since filling it. And then a week later, 0 FC, lol.
Hopefully it just needed a raise in CYA, like somebody suggested earlier, and perhaps a SWG percentage boost.
It really makes no sense to me, because, like I said in a different thread, I was targeting FC of 7. In my ~3 weeks of tweeking SWG and testing FC, the range was 5.4 to 8.8, depending on how sunny it was on a given day, so it seemed safe. I always tested it between 8:30-9pm
Then all of a sudden, ZERO FC a week later.
I'm hoping it's not a possible problem with the SWG. I guess we'll see.
Checking in... FC was 10.0 at 11pm, and 9.6 5min ago (6:15am), so ..... Hopefully I'm good. Zero clue how I was Zero FC.
Turning SWG back on now. Hope it's working!