How am I doing with my water chemistry?

[Water Melon]

I am a new pool owner. We have an above ground 21 round salt water pool. I bought the Taylor testing kit.

My results:
free chlorine 4.5
combined chlorine 0.5
pH 7.3
alkalinity 120
calcium hardness 160
CYA 45
Salt 4100 ppm

I overdid the salt when I started because I did not have a good testing method. When I turn on the chlorine generator at level 1 (1-10 options), the chlorine goes up very fast, as high as 14 in no time. Then I turn it off and let the chlorine level come down, but it takes several days. Is it because my salt level overshot? Should I get a time and run the chlorine generator for a short time each day?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[PoolStored]

First, round your CYA up to the next 10. Your CYA is 50.

Second, always follow this (link at the end of the paragraph) for your FC. Your FC should always be in range for your CYA WHEN YOU TEST. Link-->FC/CYA Levels

On the generator, a lot depends on your equipment...Can you fill out your signature with your equipment makes and models...and the volume of your pool and we'll figure out the cell.

Create Your Signature - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Water Melon]

Thank you. I have created a signature with the details of my set up.

 

[PoolStored]

the chlorine goes up very fast, as high as 14 in no time.

What is "no time?"

You cell output 1.15 lbs/day if you have the 25K cell. Running at 10%, 24 hours, would add 1.2ppm FC.

The 4100 is suspect. The test is 200 per drop. How did you get 4100?

If it is 4100, I'd leave it and let it come down with rain and refill...From the manual.

 

[Water Melon]

The salt level was 4200 before a heavy rain. So I estimated 4100 now after the rain and draining the pool a bit. I also used an electronic salt tester that gave the ~4100 level.

I ran the chlorine generator at 10% for 2 hours today and retested. The free chlorine level after 6 swimmers for a couple of hours is still the same 4.5 and the combined chlorine is barely 0.5. Based on what you advised, I will try the chlorine generator overnight at 10% and that should get the free chlorine up just a bit by tomorrow. I will retest free chlorine tomorrow. When I ran the chlorine generator at 20% for many days, the free chlorine was greater than 10, but that measurement was prior to having the proper Taylor testing reagents.

 

[Water Melon]

Should my 2 speed pump be on high when my chlorine generator is on? Does it matter?

 

[Mdragger88]

Should my 2 speed pump be on high when my chlorine generator is on? Does it matter?

Low is fine so long as it engages the swcg & you don’t get a low flow error.
Many run on low all the time unless manually vacuuming.

 

[Water Melon]

Low is fine so long as it engages the swcg & you don’t get a low flow error.
Many run on low all the time unless manually vacuuming.

Thank you. All of this pool maintenance and water chemistry is new to me. It is great to have this forum as a resource!

 

[Water Melon]

I ran my chlorine generator overnight on the lowest 10% setting. The free chlorine level went from 4.5 yesterday to 5.0 today. My CYA today is around 43. What is my next best step? How often should I be running the chlorine generator, and for how long? What is my target free chlorine level for my saltwater pool?

 

[PoolStored]

Always round your CYA up to the next 10. Your CYA is 50. Run the pump and up the % to maintain the FC range for your CYA. Link-->FC/CYA Levels

Use pool math and 1.15lb per day output for your cell output. Adjust the % and pump run time to generate enough FC to keep your FC in range. Start on the high end and reduce pump time/% output as needed.

 

[Mdragger88]

+1 what poolstored said
& in the future if you’re running behind on fc use liquid chlorine to get in target range then just adjust the swcg to maintain. They are great maintainers but are not designed to make up a deficit as they produce slowly over time.
You don’t want funky stuff growing while you wait.

 

[Water Melon]

Always round your CYA? up to the next 10. Your CYA is 50. Run the pump and up the % to maintain the FC range for your CYA. Link-->FC/CYA Levels

Use pool math and 1.15lb per day output for your cell output. Adjust the % and pump run time to generate enough FC to keep your FC in range. Start on the high end and reduce pump time/% output as needed.

Thank you. With a CYA of 50 and a salt water pool, I should target a FC of 3 to 8. So at 5, I am good for now. I will need to figure out how long to run the chlorine generator. For now, I am going to let it run at 10% and check the FC each day to see how high it goes. Since a FC of up to 8 is considered good, I have some room.

The optimal CYA for a salt water pool is 60 to 90, so now I need to figure out what to do to raise the CYA a bit.

 

[PoolStored]

You never want to do a test and have FC below target. Link->FC/CYA Levels

It is ok to run on the higher end of the range for a high FC demand day. Min is lava!