HELP-Can't get my saltwater pool right!

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BigMouthStrikesAgain

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Aug 30, 2017
50
Las Vegas
Hi,
We built a new pool and opened it in Spring. It's plaster. It's 20x10x4, so I figure 6,000 gal. We have a saltwater gen and I have not been able to balance the chems just right. I can not maintain an adequate level of chlorine for more than 2 days. I feel like I am constantly pouring chemicals in the pool. I gave up in the past and called the #1 pool service in Yelp. Made an appt a week out only to have him tell me he doesn't serve my part pf town but referred me to a former coworker who does. He came by a few days after our appt. He said he did not have proper equipment to test a saltwater pool but dumped powdered chlorine into the pool. This worked. I had chlorine in the pool for over a week! And he never came by again. I am frustrated with the pool.... I never got the chlorine to last long since. So I took a sample to the pool supply store. They said they recommend a drain once your pool has 2500ppm of chems. Apparently it is at 4300ppm! She then sold me a chemical to bring the phosphate level down? I do not know how serious it is - if I need to drain the pool or if I can hold off a few more months. Here are my results if it helps:
FAC 3.5
TAC 3.5
Salt 3100
CH 600
CYA 35
TA 80
pH 7.9
Acid 1
Pho 400

I am in Vegas where the sun is strong and we experience high diurnal variation and occasional strong windy days.

Thank you in advance!
 
Fill out your signature, including pool size and volume, surface type (vinyl, plaster, gunite, fiberglass, etc), above ground or in ground, pump and filter models, SWG model, and anything else you think would be useful knowledge about it. Also check the little box below the reply window that says to show your signature.

I suspect you got a pool store to test your water for you, and they are known for being pretty inaccurate. It'd be best for you to get your own test kit, and the TF-100 is the best one to get for home pools. Link for it is in my signature, and since you have a saltwater pool, getting the drop based salt test from that link would also do you wonders. This way you can know for sure what's actually in your pool. Anyone here will tell you that guess strips and Pool $tore tests are inaccurate and shouldn't be trusted.

What's the model of your SWG? You say your pool is 6k gallons, so your SWG needs to be rated for at least twice your pool size, so you'd need one rated for at least 12k gallons. The SWG ratings are based on running it at 100% 24/7, and don't typically take into account the higher FC needed when you have CYA in your pool. That's why we always recommend a SWG rated for at least twice your pool size.

Also, assuming your Pool $tore test is even remotely accurate, you only have 40ppm CYA, and in a SWG, you need at least 70ppm CYA if you want to keep the sun from burning off your FC quickly. Being in the midwest, you might need even higher CYA than that. However, Pool $tore's do an abysmal job testing CYA and yours could easily be much higher or lower than what they report. Best thing you can do is to get your own kit and test your own water, adding only what's needed. While the kit does cost a bit up front, you'll end up spending hundreds less than if you went to a Pool $tore, and your pool will be clear, sanitary, enjoyable, and cheaper!

While you wait for it to come in, read over Pool School, its got a huge amount of useful information about properly maintaining a pool.
ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
Pool School - What is TFPC?
Pool School - Water Balance for SWGs

- - - Updated - - -

Btw, my pool is roughly the size of yours, and using this method all I do is add 13-20 oz of chlorine a day, and maybe 8 oz of muriatic acid every couple of weeks. Yours being a SWG pool, won't even need to add chlorine to your pool. Once you get your pool balanced using the TFPC (Trouble Free Pool Care) method, its smooth sailing after that. Most here have never seen an algae bloom since they started the TFPC method, and don't add anything to their pools besides chlorine (if not a SWG pool) and acid.
 
Welcome to TFP!!!!

As stated we really can't be sure the pool store tests are accurate, if they are your CYA is way too low for SWG and PH is a little high, but as someone that used to trust my pool store I can tell you they were wrong on many tests (CYA never even close, FC always low, salt low, etc) Can you get a testkit (tf100 or Taylor 2006c) at tftestkits.net or amazon? If so it would really help identify the issues.

Once you can test yourself and truly identify what is really happening with your pool chemistry you won't believe how easy it is to care for your pool and how much less $$$ you will have to spend! In the meantime until we know more about your equipment and what's going on I'd buy some basic bleach and dump half a gallon in to keep your FC up
 
You can figure up an estimate for your CYA based on what you've put in your pool. Have you ever added chlorine tabs or pool shock? Specifically dichlor or trichlor. And how much stabilizer have you added so far? We have to figure out what your CYA is to determine what your FC should be and, if it's low, the sun is probably burning up your FC very quickly. The IC40 should be able to easily keep your pool chlorinated.

You still need to get a decent test though. With a plaster pool, is vital to know your CH to prevent damage to the plaster, need to know FC above 10 if you ever need to SLAM your pool, and you need a good salt test since you have a salt pool. The reading on your SWG will not necessarily be right.
 
BasicTek said:
and wow you have an IC40 for 6K pool, that thing should be capable of drowning that pool in chlorine, as lightmaster said everything is dependent on knowing at least a best guess at your CYA.
Click to expand...

Better to high than to low I guess, lol. Waiting for a post that's says "Help! I've balanced my pool and my SWG is producing chlorine great, but won't stay under 60ppm!"

Honestly, an IC40 is way over kill for a 6k pool. When everything is good, you'll likely have to have your SWG at an insanely low percent to keep your FC loss enough to be in range. That SWG should be used on a 20k pool, roughly 4 times your volume. Better to big than to small though.
 
BigMouthStrikesAgain said:
Hi,
We built a new pool and opened it in Spring. It's plaster. It's 20x10x4, so I figure 6,000 gal. We have a saltwater gen and I have not been able to balance the chems just right. I can not maintain an adequate level of chlorine for more than 2 days. I feel like I am constantly pouring chemicals in the pool. I gave up in the past and called the #1 pool service in Yelp. Made an appt a week out only to have him tell me he doesn't serve my part pf town but referred me to a former coworker who does. He came by a few days after our appt. He said he did not have proper equipment to test a saltwater pool but dumped powdered chlorine into the pool. This worked. I had chlorine in the pool for over a week! And he never came by again. I am frustrated with the pool.... I never got the chlorine to last long since. So I took a sample to the pool supply store. They said they recommend a drain once your pool has 2500ppm of chems. Apparently it is at 4300ppm! She then sold me a chemical to bring the phosphate level down�� I do not know how serious it is - if I need to drain the pool or if I can hold off a few more months. Here are my results if it helps:
FAC 3.5
TAC 3.5
Salt 3100
CH 600
CYA 35
TA 80
pH 7.9
Acid 1
Pho 400

I am in Vegas where the sun is strong and we experience high diurnal variation and occasional strong windy days.

Thank you in advance!
Click to expand...


hahaha this is a new one from pool stores. I have never heard that. Are they saying if you add all your numbers together it should be below 2,500?
 
Noooooo Richierich... that's just pool store mumbo-jumbo :blah::foot: They have no idea of what they're talking about.

Maddie :flower:

- - - Updated - - -

BigMouth- you *really, REALLY* need to get the test kit we recommend so that we're all speaking the same language.

Since you're in Vegas, check out Pool Supplies, Spa Supplies and Parts They're in California so might be the fastest source for the TF-100 kit.

We need to know:
FC
CC
pH
TA
CH
CYA

Maddie :flower:
 

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So you have too many ppm of anything in your pool, but they want to sell you phosphate remover (which doesn't remove phosphates), which would just raise the total ppm even more.... Yea, that makes so much sense.

Btw BigMouth, if you didn't know, phosphates are harmless in a pool. Algae can't survive the proper FC/CYA levels, so they can't eat the phosphates in the first place.
 
Thanks again for the quick replies. I found it interesting that the pool supply store told me to drain the pool then sold me phosphate chems. I bought the bottle in order to save a trip to the store. Needless to say I haven't opened it and still have the receipt. This transaction was really my tipping point and is why I joined this forum.
We run the pump/gen at 20% for 6 hours a day. From 11am-5pm. That is what our pool installer initially set it to and I only occasionally run it at 100% when I am trying to get chlorine up. I put in some stabilizer once. I had been told not to keep adding it...
 
BigMouth- take the phosphate killer back for refund, or at least credit towards something like liquid chlorine or a salt water test (Taylor K-1766) which you probably need also.

My SWG is also oversized (not quite as much as yours) and I rarely have it set over 20%. I do tend to run my pump and filter longer than necessary as I like the skimming action and I have a lot of trees blowing leaves around right now. You can tweak your SWG to lower your pump time (save electricity) if you want. But the only way to know how much or little you can get away with is by testing your water to monitor it.

Can you order the test kit I suggested previously? It really is important for you.

Maddie :flower:
 
BigMouthStrikesAgain said:
Thanks again for the quick replies. I found it interesting that the pool supply store told me to drain the pool then sold me phosphate chems. I bought the bottle in order to save a trip to the store. Needless to say I haven't opened it and still have the receipt. This transaction was really my tipping point and is why I joined this forum.
We run the pump/gen at 20% for 6 hours a day. From 11am-5pm. That is what our pool installer initially set it to and I only occasionally run it at 100% when I am trying to get chlorine up. I put in some stabilizer once. I had been told not to keep adding it...
Click to expand...

You are very lucky you joined this forum before you put in the pool store potions. Most of them cause more damage than they fix, and they rarely even fix anything anyway.
 
BigMouthStrikesAgain said:
I picked up a pool kit from Leslie's. It's made by Taylor. I used it before joining the forum. Can I work with this? It tests for chlorine - free, combined, total; bromine, pH, total alkalinity,
Click to expand...


Pool School - Test Kits Compared


The 2 recommended test kits are the TF-100 and Taylor K-2006C (yes, the C is important). Of the 2 the TF-100 has more of the reagents you'll use more often, and typically costs less.


The K-1766 is a recommened additional test to accurately measure your salt.


As Maddie said, the CYA test is one of the most important, since your target FC is based entirely on your CYA level. If you ever need to slam your pool, or if your CYA is high, you'll have to measure FC accurately up to 16-20+ppm, and that test maxes out at only 5.
 
Easy on the size of SWCG vs pool size -- mine is the same! IC40 with a 6K pool.

In the height of summer I run my SWCG at 45% for 7 hours. I am in southern Nevada also. I find I need close to 5 ppm of FC per day in June and July. As of now, mine is down to 35% for 6 hours, or just over 2 ppm FC per day. I keep my CYA in the 70 range, but it does degrade by 10 ppm or more per month during the summer due to oxidation.

OP -- you do need a proper test kit. The biggest thing you must manage is CSI - or scale will take over your pool. I manage my CSI until my CH hits 1000 ppm, then drain and start again --

Take care.
 

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