New Plaster pool - Water treatment prior to SWG running

Jump to latest Follow Reply
jb2040

jb2040

Member
Apr 19, 2021
12
Phoenix
Pool Size
12000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Hi All,

Build details in signature.

We have a new build that we filled with water March 2nd 2022. The builder came out and did the mechanical startup, added initial chemicals, and orientation shortly after. On March 7th the builder said in 30-40 days they were going to come out and start the salt cell. As of today (March 27th) our levels are"

pH - 8.2
Alkalinity 150
FC - .5
CYA 90 Edited: 35

With the salt cell being turned on in 2-3 weeks do we need to balance the water any differently than the Pool Math app states for a SWG pool our size? What would be the best approach for balancing the water knowing the salt cell will not be turned on for a few weeks?


EDIT: Additional notes i left out.

I did fail to mention that we have a deck chlorinator that was unable to be finalized at startup as there was too much shotcrete in the hole. The builder has to come out and fix that. In the mean time they gave us a chlorine float dispenser which they added 3 pucks (i have no idea of what specifically) and gave us a clear bag of more pucks (which i added 2 to when the 3 were just about dissolved)..

We were told the chlorinator could be used during winter when it is too cold for the SWG.

Thank you!

 
Last edited:
Welcome to TFP.

You want to get your pH down to 7.6-7.8 and your TA 60-80. A high TA can lead to scaling in the SWG.

Read TA - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Lower Total Alkalinity

A lower Total Alkalinity level can help a pool owner stabalize their pH increase. We'll explain how to lower TA with a little help from muriatic acid.
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

What is your CH?

What is the pH and TA of your fill water?

www.troublefreepool.com

What Are My Ideal Pool Levels?

Use our tool to find ideal chemical levels for any swimming pool. Check TFP recommended levels on pH, free chlorine, cyanuric acid, and more.
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
ajw22 said:
What is your CH?

What is the pH and TA of your fill water?

www.troublefreepool.com

What Are My Ideal Pool Levels?

Use our tool to find ideal chemical levels for any swimming pool. Check TFP recommended levels on pH, free chlorine, cyanuric acid, and more.
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
Click to expand...

Thank you for your response!

Pool water CH 300 ( Tested twice as the normal test method was purple before blue... When we were following the normal test steps and the method of adding 5 drops of R-0012 at the beginning, it was turning purple and staying purple before going to blue).

Fill water was from our hose. Confirmed it is not hooked up to whole house water softener. Recordings from the hose are:
PH 7.8
TA 160
 
PoolGate said:
How did your water get to cya of 90 already? What test kit are you using?
Click to expand...

Is it possible the builder added too much of something when starting it up? Ill have to reach out to see exactly what they did.

I did fail to mention that we have a deck chlorinator that was unable to be finalized at startup as there was too much shotcrete in the hole. The builder has to come out and fix that. In the mean time they gave us a chlorine float dispenser which they added 3 pucks (i have no idea of what specifically) and gave us a clear bag of more pucks (which i added 2 to when the 3 were just about dissolved)..

We were told the chlorinator could be used during winter when it is too cold for the SWG.

Ill add these new details to the main post.
 
All of those pucks you are using to chlorinate your pool are adding CYA to your already too high water. You need to stop using the pucks and chlorinate using Liquid Chlorine ASAP.
 
ajw22 said:
All of those pucks you are using to chlorinate your pool are adding CYA to your already too high water. You need to stop using the pucks and chlorinate using Liquid Chlorine ASAP.
Click to expand...

I'm still not seeing how his CYA went from 0 to 90 in a month. The only way that could happen is if CYA (a lot) was added outside the pucks.
 
PoolGate said:
I'm still not seeing how his CYA went from 0 to 90 in a month. The only way that could happen is if CYA (a lot) was added outside the pucks.
Click to expand...
Probably was. But whatever was done is done. My recommendations are for going forward.
 
  • Like
Reactions: PoolGate
Thanks again everyone for your help. I have some updates and a few questions below.

Apologies the CYA is actually 40ish. i ran another test this morning.. I have no idea where we got the 90 from as i even took a pic of yesterdays results and the water level was the same in the measuring tool.

As a sanity check i went to Leslie's and had our water tested and it was pretty close to their results. I explained the situation with the SWG and it seems we were aligned on what to us.. Minus buying their Chlor Brite, but we have out of town guests coming this weekend so paying a little extra for peace of mind this weekend is fine by me..

They gave us:
Muriatic Acid ( 31.45% Hydrochloric Acid). Their instructions said to use 85FL OZ which is higher than the 15oz recommended by the Pool Math App .. pH7.9, target pH 7.6, alkalinity 127 (based on 31.45% - 20 Baume). Is their pool math what we should follow or is that an overestimation of how much product to use? Does this have something to do with the SWG not being hooked up yet?

They also gave me a small 1lb bag of Leslie's Chlor Brite, the instructions say to use 8oz but the associate at the store said to use the whole bag.

All of the above was recommended based on the SWG not going in for a few more weeks (which makes sense because their print out said to add 287lbs of salt which i guess the builder does when they get the SWG up and running?)
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
jb2040 said:
Hi All,

Build details in signature.

We have a new build that we filled with water March 2nd 2022. The builder came out and did the mechanical startup, added initial chemicals, and orientation shortly after. On March 7th the builder said in 30-40 days they were going to come out and start the salt cell. As of today (March 27th) our levels are"

pH - 8.2
Alkalinity 150
FC - .5
CYA 90

With the salt cell being turned on in 2-3 weeks do we need to balance the water any differently than the Pool Math app states for a SWG pool our size? What would be the best approach for balancing the water knowing the salt cell will not be turned on for a few weeks?


EDIT: Additional notes i left out.

I did fail to mention that we have a deck chlorinator that was unable to be finalized at startup as there was too much shotcrete in the hole. The builder has to come out and fix that. In the mean time they gave us a chlorine float dispenser which they added 3 pucks (i have no idea of what specifically) and gave us a clear bag of more pucks (which i added 2 to when the 3 were just about dissolved)..

We were told the chlorinator could be used during winter when it is too cold for the SWG.

Thank you!

Click to expand...
Please share what interior finish you chose. It appears to be a beautiful color. Ellen M
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply