First time pool owner—questions on water chemistry

[Melly Mel]

New first time pool owner here and have read the ABCs of Pool Chemistry—thank you for that resource! So I fired my pool guy 10 days ago (after a few months of him coming about 12 minutes each week!) because the water has been out of balance and he just wouldn’t do anything about it, despite my asking. The day after that I used the Taylor K-2006 and my results were as follows:

FC 0 (weird because water has been clear)
CC 0
CYA 40
pH 8.2
TA 160
CH 500
Salt 3300 ppm
SWCG running at 80%

Since then, I have added MA (about 4 gallons) as well as 4 lbs of stabilizer. My results today are:

FC 6.8
CC 0.2
CYA 50
pH 7.8
TA 130
CH 360
Salt 3400 ppm
SWCG still running at 80%

So looking at the pool math calculator, I think what I need to do is the following but I would love any feedback:
—Add 70 oz of MA to get the pH closer to 7.2
—Add 4 lbs of stabilizer to raise the CYA to 70

Since my FC is 6.8, can I cut my SWCG from 80% to 60%? I currently run the pump from 7:30 am to 4:30 pm daily.

Also, my SWCG lists an “ideal” salt content of 3600 ppm so should I add the 40 lb bag of salt or is the 3400 ppm okay?

Thank you!

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum!

Water Balance for SWGs

Saltwater pools are becoming more and more popular. We discuss How salt generators work and water balance tips for SWGs to run them.

www.troublefreepool.com

I assume you have done an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test to be sure you have no issues. If not, do it now, before raising your CYA to 70 ppm.
I would not bother with more salt if your IC is generating. You will actually gain in salt level as your acid, etc adds salt.

I would suggest you set the IC40 to add 4.5ppm FC per day. Let it run like that for a few days, especially after adding the CYA to 70 ppm, and see if you are gaining or losing FC. Adjust as necessary.

 

[Melly Mel]

thank you for your quick response.
I had not done the overnight chlorine loss test so I did that last night after reading your message. Followed the directions in the link (thank you!) and last night the free chlorine was 7. Measured it again this morning at 6.4 so sounds like I am okay there.

You said “I would suggest you set the IC40 to add 4.5ppm FC per day”. I’m not really sure what that means and I searched the site to no avail. If you can point me in the right direction that would be great. Or is it more trial and error, so set the IC40 to 60% and measure the FC. if still above 4.5 then go to 40%?

Thank you for your help and suggestions.

 

[mknauss]

You said “I would suggest you set the IC40 to add 4.5ppm FC per day”.

Use PoolMath. Effects of Adding Chemicals.
At a 100% generation setting for your IC40, you need to run the pump and SWCG for 16 hours a day to generate 4.5 ppm FC.