Initial Pool Chemistry

[kaymaza]

It's a common theme amongst beginners, which included myself, that won't really understand the importance of the TA and CH values. This is largely because of what is recommended in PoolMath.

PoolMath shows that CH should be between 250-650 in a plaster pool with SWCG. It's not obvious for newcomers that this will rise to be in range naturally and doesn't need intervention. Perhaps this can be added to Pool School?

Totally agree. I didn't understand it at first until mknauss explained it which makes sense especially living here in the Las Vegas/Henderson area where it gets brutally hot in the summer. I guess it's not worth it then to check the calcium hardness levels until perhaps the spring? If only I came across this site sooner then I would've been able to tell my pool builder to have the water fill come from the water softener.

 

[kaymaza]

So, let's start with FC. You are in the off season, so no big deal. But, CYA of 30 is really low for SWG. You are ok for now, but in the spring, get ready to raise it to 60-70. FC up to 12, with CYA of 30 is completely safe to swim and safe for your pool. No worries.

On the "ideal" FC, for SWG and CYA of 70 (a nice target for you in henderson), you can easily run your pool 6-9FC with no worries. It is better to error on the high side as this will absorb high FC demand days (sun and swimmers). Running on the low end of FC and getting to miminums is LAVA. Running at 6-9, you will never notice, is completely safe.

Awesome. Thank you so much for the explanation!

 

[kaymaza]

I would not add salt until your pool water temperature is consistently above 55f.

Is that because the salt water generator isn't even working unless the water temperature is consistently above 55 deg F? Just curious to know the reason why we should hold off on waiting to add salt.

 

[mknauss]

Correct. No need for the salt until you can use the swcg.