High salt

[Hollybody]

Hello all!
Here in northeast FL, our weather has been fluctuating from warm to cool back to warm and then cold again. My pool has stayed crystal clear and relatively stable. I struggle with pH, TA and salt. My salt level has been on the higher side since day one (roughly 3 months ago) and is hovering around 4000. In reading some articles here on TFP, I found this-

I guess I have no idea how to adjust the salt level. I assumed that was done hand in hand with the chlorine settings when adjusting the percentage on the SWC. Mine is currently set to 35% with the pump running at 1950RPM from 8AM -12AM daily. My CYA is at 80 and my FC is 5.5 ( a little low for my liking). Am I missing something as far as a salt adjustment? Do I need to drain water and add fresh? My SWG is the Jandy Truclear salt chlorinator. Any help is much appreciated!

 

[Mdragger88]

You add salt to the water- the settings on the swg have nothing to do with it. That only controls how much fc the unit produces.
Here’s approximately what your current settings will provide.

The average algae free residential pool consumes around 2-4ppm fc /day
(less in cooler low uv times & more in warmer high uv times)
You should dose to target
FC/CYA Levels
or preferably, a scootch above with liquid chlorine & see how it maintains on its current setting.
Use
PoolMath to calculate amounts.
If it doesn’t maintain your desired fc level, dose with liquid chlorine again & increase the percentage output on the cell.
Your cc of 1 is concerning. Try cleaning your test tube with alcohol/windex & rinsing it well before your next test. If that doesn’t resolve it you should do an
Overnight Chlorine Loss Test to rule out organics.
Do you use a cover on the pool? They can trap cc’s as well.

About the salt,
The only way to lower the salt level is to replace the salty water with fresh. This will also lower cya & ch.
Is this salt level from your salt test or the read out on the unit?
If it is from your test & the unit is happily producing chlorine without alarms then just leave it alone.
The salt level doesn’t have to be exact (it won’t be & the two numbers will likely never match)
the swg just needs to be happy. If yours is, let it ride
Here’s some more info to help you understand the system you have

Jandy TruClear SWG - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

About your ta/ph,
With your ta being 100 you will have a little quicker ph rise. No worries, just lower ph into the mid 7’s with Muriatic acid when it rises to 8.0 , as you continue to do this the ta will lower overtime resulting in a slower ph rise. Many find that once ta gets around 60/70 the ph becomes much more stable.
If you have any water features that run regularly you may want to reduce their runtime to reduce their effects on ph rise.
Any ph in the 7’s is A OK there’s no perfect ph persay or ta for that matter. A ta of 100 harms nothing, it just means ph rises more quickly.

 

[Hollybody]

Thank you for the info. I do not use a cover. I re-tested after cleaning with alcohol and I am happy to report 0 CC. My FC is at 7.
The measured salt is from the TFP-Pro salt test, I have no idea where there is a salt readout on my system (if any). I do have a small water feature that runs the entire time the pool does. I will regulate that to help slow pH rise and I will add some acid to get that pH back down.

As far as adding liquid chlorine, what is recommended? Although I think I am ok at 7FC.

 

[Mdragger88]

That’s great
You’re good for now but if you need to add fc quickly in the future you want liquid chlorine/pool chlorinating liquid found at Walmart, lowes, Home Depot, ace hardware etc. (some pool stores also have it)
or
unadulterated, not splashless, no fabric enhancers, no flavors, no cloromax technology, plain household bleach (which is getting hard to find)

Where to find Liquid Chlorine

We want to help you with your pool and maintain your water. Help users find a quality source of Chlorine around them or find a source for your pool.

www.troublefreepool.com