How much salt and minerals

[Ski-man]

Brand new plunge pool. New water in pool, how much salt and minerals do put in . And when do I switch on the mineral chlorinator?
12000Lpool, concrete and tiled through out.

 

[Newdude]

Hey Ski-man and Welcome !!!!!

What unit do you have because we won't be familiar with the Aussie ones and will need to look it up.

If it's an ionizer it likely adds copper which is no good for pools.

If it's just a salt water chlorine generator then skip the magnesium chloride that they like by you, there's no benefit over plain old salt

You will need to dose per the manufacturers recommendation for salinity. Download PoolMath, setup your pool details, go into settings and 'track salt' to add it to the main page.

Test your baseline salinity before adding. It likely won't be 0 and you could overshoot by hundreds. It only comes out by draining, so you want to get it right, and creep up to the target in case the volume isn't dead on.

 

[mgtfp]

Welcome, mate!

Bit if a hype, those minerals in Australia, don't really see a benefit.

Newdude already covered all the important questions, not much to add for now.

 

[Ski-man]

Good day all. My unit is made by Waterco. And is called .electrochlor mineral chlorinator. It’s world wide. In the manual they reference to it as electrolytic salt cell with a power pack which regulates chlorine production .
Thanks

 

[Newdude]

My unit is made by Waterco. And is called .electrochlor mineral chlorinator

Thank goodness. It's a standard issue SWG, looks to be one that Circupool copied.

Here in the states 'mineral' is often industry code for copper and silver, so we perk up when it's mentioned. Carry on. Nothing to see here.

 

[mgtfp]

Further down in their brochure they refer to the minerals:

Electrochlor was specially designed to work in synergy with Waterco’s Mineral Crystals to transform your pool into a therapeutic oasis.

Magnesium enriched water
Magnesium has been recognised by medical professionals and consumers all over the world for its ability to alleviate a variety of ailments relating to the skin, muscles and nervous system. Absorbing Magnesium, directly through your skin as you swim, provides a range of lifestyle benefits, including
• Reduced muscle aches, pains, cramping and spas
• Healthy skin and reduced outbreaks of eczema and psoriasis

Mineral Crystals
Mineral Crystals not only improves your pool water with a blend of naturally occurring minerals but also moisturises your skin as you swim. In fact, the common effects associated with swimming in a chlorinated pool, including red eyes and dry skin, are significantly relieved with Mineral Crystals. Its gentle formulation that has little to no taste and can be used in any type of pool.

https://www.waterco.com.au/waterco/brochures/pool-spa/chlorination/zzb1920-electrochlor-mineral-chlorinator-single-page.pdf

I'd recommend to stick to plain old NaCl salt without any minerals.

 

[Newdude]

I'd recommend to stick to plain old NaCl salt without any minerals.

Salt is an accepted mineral.

 

[AUSpool]

Brand new plunge pool. New water in pool, how much salt and minerals do put in . And when do I switch on the mineral chlorinator?
12000Lpool, concrete and tiled through out.

Geday Ski-man, welcome to TFP.
According to the manual your chlorinator has a salt range of 4000-6000ppm with the ideal given as 5500ppm. The manual doesn’t give an ideal range or target for magnesium which is odd given it promotes its self as being a magnesium chlorinator.

In 12kL 66kg of regular salt will raise your salt level to 5500ppm. Your tap water probably has about 200ppm salt so in that case 64kg of salt will bring you to 5500ppm.

In small pools it’s best to measure the correct weight or add a half bag at 10kg. Be aware a bag is not an SI measurement, they skipped that one in the last update. Our standard Aussie salts are sold in 20kg bags while the fancy mag salts are sold in 10kg, 12.5kg and 20kg bags which ca cause confusion.

I‘m not a fan of the mag salt, it presents a bunch problems form testing interference to increased staining risk.

If your going WaterCo they suggest the Vitale for a new pool. “Vitale Mineral salts blend is high purity magnesium chloride crystals, pool salts and a proprietary blend of balancing chemicals.” MgCl2, NaCl plus a bunch of stuff their not willing to tell you about. I asked a girl in a pool shop what magnesium level they recommend and was simply told as per the Australian Standard but funny thing, magnesium is not mentioned in the Australian Standard.

There is a dose table for the Vitale on the Vitale brochure if your interested.

The chlorinator is turned on about 12 hours after the salts been added and fully mixed in.

 

[mgtfp]

Salt is an accepted mineral.

I meant "minerals", not minerals...

 

[Ski-man]

Thank you All for that info. Very helpful. Will add my salt this arvo and then a switch on salt cell tomorrow arvo .