Four weeks into pool ownership!

[FSI_C-12IP]

Hard to believe I've been doing this for a month already!

Water is CRYSTAL and SPARKLY (extremely inviting!)
Tonight's numbers:
FC 3
CC 0
TC 3
pH 7.5
T/A 120 (down from 180 and going for 80 via MA, aeration and lots of POP)
CH 70
CYA 65 (almost into the recommended 70-80 range for a salt pool)
Salt 3520 (test strip reading, AquaRite says 3000)

Big pool party tomorrow if the weather cooperates. Son is turning 8.

I'm intentionally keeping the chlorine level low until after the party as one of the guests is 'allergic' to chlorine. (His mom says that a salt water pool is ok, though. Didn't bother telling her that chlorine is still the sanitizer in a SW pool.) I plan to use 5 as my chlorine target most times.

Questions: Do you think the very low CH level is contributing to the difference between the salt cell and test strip readings?

What do you think about adding borates to the pool? We don't have any dogs, but young kids may swallow a bit of pool water when swimming.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

I've had three seasons now of BBB and I don't have borates. I have zero issues. It's totally optional and you can have a Trouble-Free Pool without them.

I bet if the chlorine was 10 the "senstive to chlorine" person would not react to your pool. Many folk are misguided about the irritants in a swimming pool and chlorine is almost always blamed.

FC of 3 is fine with your CYA level for an SWG. You can run it higher if you want but you don't have to... It's probably a good idea to start it at 4-5 before a pool party tho...to keep it from getting too low. Esp. when there are kids swimming

 

[anonapersona]

When you see all the "stuff" that so many people are sold to put into their pools, who knows what chemical it was that this child was actually reacting to??

 

[FSI_C-12IP]

Pool party was awesome! The weather was beautiful today. Lots of compliments on the pool. The kids dragged in lots of grass clippings and dirt, but the skimmer and polaris will take care of that (did some manual skimming, too). Even though I have a SWG, I raised the FC to 6 with bleach (left over from the REALLY easy startup thanks to BBB methods).

Talking to my neighbor who also has a pool and is having problems balancing the water. I told him about this site again and that I could give him more reliable test numbers with my kit than the pool store. He seemed interested after how my water looks and how easy it's been so far. I see another convert in the near future!