I have decided to take things into my own hands

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flyboy369

Member
Aug 11, 2024
7
phoenix
I am a longtime pool owner living in Phoenix. We now have a SWG 15000gal pool that is 3 years old and I have never been very happy with the condition of the pool. The water has always been clear but lately have had a ton of white flakes in the pool I can't seem to get a handle on. I would always take my water to leslies for a full test and the results were never too bad except for the Phosphates. We have a 200 acre cotton field behind our house and Leslies has me putting 8oz of no phos in the pool each week and it has never seemed to get the level down. It is super windy this year so maybe that contributes. When the pool was new, I would put salt in untili Leslies' told me the level was ~3800. The Pentair IC40 would always blink saying the salt was high but Leslie's and our pool builder told me that was normal and a lot of SWG aren't calibrated correctly.

I decided to buy a TF-Pro Salt last week and start doing my own testing after reading on here about how off the Leslie's testing can be. Here are the latest test from Leslie's and my own to compare:

Leslies:
FC - 5.58
TC - 5.66
pH - 7.4
TA - 57
CA - 654
CYA - 82
Phosphates - 2159
Salt - 4854

Mine:
FC - 4
TC - 4.5
pH- 7.3
CA - 700
CYA - 70
Salt - 6800 (Performed this 3 times, very careful to let the drop form and fall with gravity). Read it on the first drop to change the color.)

The Salt one is the one that is killing me. I have taken the SWG out and cleaned it and will keep it out until I can get the salt level down by draining and replaced 50% of the water. Leslie's salt values started to rise a few months ago but told me I needed to wait until the temps are below 90 here in Phoenix before I can drain and replace the water. I can't believe I trusted Leslie's.

This is my own fault for not getting my own kit when the pool was new.

I am also planning on adding a stenner tank and pump for the acid this winter to help control the pH. We travel quite a bit and the pH is always spiked when we return. It would be nice to have a system that keeps it in line with some consistency.

The only real issue I have right now is I am dealing with a few black algae spots. I bought a stainless steel brush and have been brushing them everyday and trying to keep the Chlorine level up (I need to get it up to around 10 I think). I put 4 lbs of conditioner in at the beginning of the summer since the sun here is such a tax on the chlorine.
 
You will need to maintain a much higher FC level.

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Black Algae

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You should check for algae by completing an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test. If you fail, complete the SLAM Process.

Acid injection systems are complex and often unnecessary. If you travel and deal with pH rise, you can float a few trichlor tablets. They're acidic and will mitigate pH rise while you're away. I don't see a TA result. Keeping TA on the low side will help to control pH rise as well.
 
Rancho Cost-a-Lotta said:
For the salt test, make sure you're using a 10 mL sample with a 200 ppm multiplier.
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Yep, I filled it to 10ml before putting the magnet in. then ran it the first two times pretty much using the same technique then the last time I took my time and made sure I wasn't squeezing the drops out too fast. I would just lightly squeeze the bottle until a drop formed and dropped due to gravity. I still can't figure out Leslie's is off by so much. I have a bypss tube in place of the SWG right now bc I didn't know if the high salt level would damage the cell. It is a Pentair ic40.
 
Rancho Cost-a-Lotta said:
You should check for algae by completing an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test. If you fail, complete the SLAM Process.

Acid injection systems are complex and often unnecessary. If you travel and deal with pH rise, you can float a few trichlor tablets. They're acidic and will mitigate pH rise while you're away. I don't see a TA result. Keeping TA on the low side will help to control pH rise as well.
Click to expand...
Good info, thanks! Yeah, I failed to put my TA which was 70 in the results above.
 
wireform said:
Leaving for a while with a new acid injection system is not on my recommended list. Too much to go wrong. Hi PH isn't terrible but going too low not good.
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I was planning on waiting to install it when I was going to be here for 3-4 months after installation. Our water is so freaking hard here in Phoenix, if I don't keep the pH in check, I get terrible scaling.
 

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Now that you are armed with your own testing, you will see things turn for the better. It may be a bit of work and elbow grease, but the payoff is worth it.

One thing I have learned at least for salt cells is to keep them happy. My IC40 always reads 600-800 ppm lower on the easy touch panel than my drop kit. So if I am at 3200 ppm tested, the cell might read low salt. Point being, within reason, keep the cell satisfied and verify with testing. That will let you differentiate between variances in cell sensed levels vs testing and actual problems.

I don't see what your pool surface is? I know that CSI moves lower as the temperature drops if I remember correctly, so a higher pH - within reason - is not necessarily something to be managed with an acid pump? I think once you get the pool balanced and find what CH levels you are living with (due to natural fill water hardness) you could examine the effects of those levels on CSI using the calculator to look at different temperatures you see during winter and varying pH?

From my poolmath, with your tested levels reported above, assuming fixed salt to 3600 ppm, even at 8.4 pH you only go above 0.6 CSI above 70°. Below 70°, it's within range, if not ideal. But with 60-70 TA, pH should have a hard time going over 8. AT 8 pH, you are still below 0.6 CSI even at 90°. Going lower in temperature is only better for your CSI given constant CH and pH.

Maybe letting alkalinity get to 60 over time would help. At that level, my pH has been fairly stable at 7.8, and at that pH/alk, even at 700 CH you would be under 0.3 CSI. Even at 100° F. Going lower in temperature only lowers CSI, so as you progress into the colder temperatures, any slight gain in pH would be offset by the temps. Down to temps of 40 degrees, pH at 8.4 still keeps you below the ideal 0.3 CSI. I have a hard time imagining your pH above 8.4 uness your alk somehow drifts up in the winter from fill water or outside contamination.


So unless you pH swings are measurable in the winter to 8.6 or higher, which I would doubt with alk at 60-70, you don't need the acid.

Unless I am missing a fundamental aspect of the equation here, like high TA along with CH in fill water?
 
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flyboy369 said:
Great idea. Our bathroom is on the same wall very close to the pool equipment. My guess is that it would not be hard to pull a line from under the sink to run to the pool filler.
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Just make sure you test both hot and cold in that bathroom before you decide which line you need to tap. Some homes don't soften both lines. Oftentimes it's just the hot side that is soft.
 
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