Interesting smell from water

[jlamb5990]

Just switched to a salt system a few weeks ago and everything seems to be going great. It’s been chilly here and cloudy so the FC loss is minimal throughout the day. Running the cell at 15-20% is more than enough to keep the FC on the high end. I test daily and pretty much get the same results

FC 6.0-7.5
CC 0 (water never turns pink on CC test at all)
PH 7.6-7.8 (sometimes closer to 8 then I add acid)
CH 400
TA 70
CYA 60ish
Salt 4400

I turned the salt down to 10% for the last week and been supplementing with a floater with a couple of tricolor pucks to get my CYA up to 70 and my test results have stayed consistent even during this process with the above logs.

Issue is over the last few days/week I’ve noticed a stronger chlorine like smell from the water. Almost strong enough that it reminds me of an indoor pool. Kind of musty and strong. Water has a salty taste but that smell is definitely present to me. Water is crystal clear to the point where I can see the screws on the drains at all times.

Trying to diagnose this odor as it’s driving me nuts. Is my FC running to high and that’s why I smell the chlorine smell? Am I mistaking a salty smell for chlorine(I know my salt is high)? Do I have some hidden algae creating some chloramines? Confused since my CC reads consistently at 0. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[jlamb5990]

Here’s some pics of the water as reference for clarity. Sorry setting sun doesn’t help

 

[jlamb5990]

Update: whole family just got out the spa so I tested both spa and pool water (even though the overflow and circulate)

Spa
FC 5.5
CC 0.2-.5 (slightest pink hue but I think that’s from literally 4 people just getting out the spa and me testing right away)

Pool
FC 6
CC 0 (crystal clear still after 5 drops)

My wife says I’m nuts and being over sensitive and that it just smells like pool water to her. Want to get the groups opinion though. It’s definitely not a strong smell but if you put your nose to the water, there is a smell. Not entirely odorless

 

[mknauss]

It is cc. It is being off gassed so you are testing very little. The small body of water with lots of bodies in it will crest that. Does your swcg add chlorine to the spa while in Spa mode?

 

[jlamb5990]

It is cc. It is being off gassed so you are testing very little. The small body of water with lots of bodies in it will crest that. Does your swcg add chlorine to the spa while in Spa mode?

I believe so. It’s an IC40 and I set it to 5% spa mode and that seems to have kept the FC at a consistent 5-6.

Is there any setup to be done once the cell is programmed to have it kick of for spa mode?

 

[mknauss]

As long as the swcg is enabled, it is on in spa mode. Next time check to see if it is on when in spa mode.

 

[jlamb5990]

As long as the swcg is enabled, it is on in spa mode. Next time check to see if it is on when in spa mode.

Just checked. Confirmed on in spa mode.

So what’s the recommendation here? Should this dissipate on its own or do I need to SLAM? I don’t understand how it could even get to this since my FC has never been below 5 and barely ever registered and CC with my test kit

 

[mknauss]

It was dissipating. CC is only one indicator of an issue, and only if 1 or higher.

 

[jlamb5990]

As long as the swcg is enabled, it is on in spa mode. Next time check to see if it is on when in spa mode.

Important to note I have done an OCLT and only showed a loss of maybe .5 if that

 

[mknauss]

OCLT or visible algae is the primary indicators of needing to SLAM. CC is not a definitive parameter.

 

[jlamb5990]

It was dissipating. CC is only one indicator of an issue, and only if 1 or higher.

OCLT or visible algae is the primary indicators of needing to SLAM. CC is not a definitive parameter.

Got it. So is this smell just the chlorine working and that’s that? Is it always going to be there? if I lowered my FC level to about 3 or 4 would it be better?

Or could it be something else?

 

[mknauss]

I suspect actually raising your FC a few ppm would eliminate it.

Remember, you just put 4 bodies in ~600 gallons of water. In your 10k pool, that is the same as 64 people in it.

 

[jlamb5990]

I suspect actually raising your FC a few ppm would eliminate it.

Remember, you just put 4 bodies in ~600 gallons of water. In your 10k pool, that is the same as 64 people in it.

Wow, never thought of it that’s and that’s insane! probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to run the spa night now now that it’s empty to beer the numbers back up?

 

[mknauss]

Circulating it to the pool water during the normal process will take care of it.