Just got my refresher, re Pool Store testing...

[sacredcow]

I have a brand spanking new SWG and I've been working towards adding the salt and adjusting everything else that needs tweaking. Last week (since I didn't have a way to test salt yet), I went to the pool store to get a rough idea of my starting point. They told me 2000 ppm, which seemed likely. They also told me my CYA was 20, which was also probably about right, honestly- I hadn't added any over the winter and the rain likely diluted it that much. I went home, added the salt in stages over the next few days and also found the remainders of a 10 lb bag of CYA- My kitchen scale said it was just over a pound. Went ahead and added it as well as a couple of leftover tablets since I need to raise that up anyway.

As of this morning, the pucks have barely dissolved (I had the floater set to the smallest opening). Tested my CYA and was getting in the 40-50 range- reasonable for the 1 lb and some tablet dissolution. Brought another sample to the pool store (I still haven't received my salt test kit). They said my salt was 3000 (probably about right) and that my CYA was 100. Um, OK.

 

[Newdude]

They said my salt was 3000 (probably about right) and that my CYA was 100. Um, OK.

.......‘You’ll need to drain about 30% of your pool and then come back and buy all these chemicals to treat the fill water. But don’t dare buy the $5 generic bags at the grocery store, you need our $50 bags that are optimized 6 in 1 conditioners. See right there it says Blue on the bag. You want your water to be blue, right????’

 

[sacredcow]

.......‘You’ll need to drain about 30% of your pool and then come back and buy all these chemicals to treat the fill water. But don’t dare buy the $5 generic bags at the grocery store, you need our $50 bags that are optimized 6 in 1 conditioners. See right there it says Blue on the bag. You want your water to be blue, right????’

My tongue is still bleeding from biting it so hard... Some of the other values they gave me were wrong, too- Just not as insanely wrong.

 

[sacredcow]

Was just throwing away the sheets this morning. I missed that a week ago, my alkalinity was high at 140 and 7 days later (with a total of 8 ounces of acid added) it was low at 50.

My salt strips are coming tomorrow, so I won't need to subject myself to this again. They're really nice there, and they have helped me a number of times with equipment stuff and are a convenient and reliable source of 2.5 gallon jugs of bleach. This was actually the first time I had them test my water, and I was secretly hoping they'd be better at it than their competition. That's what I get for hoping. LOL

 

[Mdragger88]

Just went in today to swap out my empty jugs from last season & i took a sample to test my salt before i add more ( i used a strip but wanted a little confirmation). It’s my turn & i say - “can u check my salt level for me?” He says- “well can you tell me what your water looks like? What does your swg say?” (As i hold a mason jar of gin clear pool water)
Was he going to diagnose my salt level by my description ? I say “ it looks fine my swg only has high & low lights” & then he gets out his salt probe & says “Its low 250” so i have to press for info “is that 2500 ppm?” Yes he says “ add a couple bags” mind u he has no idea my pool volume. My daughter had a laugh when we got to the car- she said he just wanted to sell me stuff besides liquid chlorine. Smart girl!

 

[sacredcow]

(As i hold a mason jar of gin clear pool water)

Loving that you used gin as your descriptive of clear....

Gin martini, kick the vermouth in the side with a steel-toed boot!