New Pool Need Guidance with chemicals

[SunnyP2000]

Yes. 20-30 ppm TA worth of baking soda is a good idea. It will raise your pH a point or two.

I am back on track . Here are my results:
FC 7.5
CC .5
PH 7.8
TA 90
CH 50
CYA 40
SALT 4000

i have to work on raising CYA more, for some reason i did try to raise it by 10 but doesnt seem like it worked . i will have to test again tomorrow to confirm. My TA went high because of lot rain and just before it rained i also added water because levels were low. I do have 2 question:
1. what's the correct SALT level ? PoolMath doesn't say anything about it .
2. PoolMath suggest FC levels range of 2.0 -7.0 . What # should i be aiming for normal day to day use (1-2 hrs for swimming ) . i have read for parties raise up FC by 2 before and after party which in my case will be 9. i am trying to keep my daily levels around 8. what you think?

another thing i noticed on my omnilogic app about swg , even though i have it scheduled to run for about 10 hrs but every half hr its just says "ON" but not chlorinating. i can see cell amp is 0. is it suppose to do that work for 30 min and then stay idle for 30? I am still playing around with SWG to figure out daily amount needed.

 

[SunnyP2000]

I am back on track . Here are my results:
FC 7.5
CC .5
PH 7.8
TA 90
CH 50
CYA 40
SALT 4000

i have to work on raising CYA more, for some reason i did try to raise it by 10 but doesnt seem like it worked . i will have to test again tomorrow to confirm. My TA went high because of lot rain and just before it rained i also added water because levels were low. I do have 2 question:
1. what's the correct SALT level ? PoolMath doesn't say anything about it .
2. PoolMath suggest FC levels range of 2.0 -7.0 . What # should i be aiming for normal day to day use (1-2 hrs for swimming ) . i have read for parties raise up FC by 2 before and after party which in my case will be 9. i am trying to keep my daily levels around 8. what you think?

another thing i noticed on my omnilogic app about swg , even though i have it scheduled to run for about 10 hrs but every half hr its just says "ON" but not chlorinating. i can see cell amp is 0. is it suppose to do that work for 30 min and then stay idle for 30? I am still playing around with SWG to figure out daily amount needed.

hello @mknauss what you think? thank you.

 

[mknauss]

1. what's the correct SALT level ? PoolMath doesn't say anything about it .

Depends on your SWCG. Typically Hayward SWCG is best to keep in low 3000 range. High salt can overheat a component on the control board and it can fail prematurely.

2. PoolMath suggest FC levels range of 2.0 -7.0 . What # should i be aiming for normal day to day use (1-2 hrs for swimming ) . i have read for parties raise up FC by 2 before and after party which in my case will be 9. i am trying to keep my daily levels around 8. what you think?

Aim for high in the range. For daily use, start with generating 3 ppm FC per day with your SWCG. Then by testing see if that is enough or not.

 

[SunnyP2000]

Depends on your SWCG. Typically Hayward SWCG is best to keep in low 3000 range. High salt can overheat a component on the control board and it can fail prematurely.

Aim for high in the range. For daily use, start with generating 3 ppm FC per day with your SWCG. Then by testing see if that is enough or not.

any way to lower salt? PB put 10 bag of salt initially and said have fun..

 

[Newdude]

any way to lower salt

Unfortunately, only by draining. Or enough rain to fill 12.5% of your water to get you to 3500.

Or you could drain half of that to 3750 and let the rest drift down on its own.

 

[SunnyP2000]

Unfortunately, only by draining. Or enough rain to fill 12.5% of your water to get you to 3500.

Or you could drain half of that to 3750 and let the rest drift down on its own.

yeah i was just reading few posts and thats my only option. i think i'll wait a bit for that it suppose to rain a lot over the weekend. i will test my salt again next week. if i drain now, my cya will go down and all other chemicals as well.

 

[Newdude]

i think i'll wait a bit for that it suppose to rain a lot over the weekend

You are misjudging the proportion of rain to the pool. We won’t get 1 inch this weekend total, but if we did it would be about 1.5% of your pool volume. Which will lower your 4000 salt content by 60. So it’s a slow process.

With all you’ve been through I completely understand not wanting to deviate from things going well.

 

[SunnyP2000]

You are misjudging the proportion of rain to the pool. We won’t get 1 inch this weekend total, but if we did it would be about 1.5% of your pool volume. Which will lower your 4000 salt content by 60. So it’s a slow process.

With all you’ve been through I completely understand not wanting to deviate from things going well.

I see ur point rain in not going to do much.I’ll see how it goes maybe I’ll drain few inches every week. I do have to raise my cya anyway. I have ordered some stabilizer from amazon but it’s backordered should be here next week. Thanks for your guidance.

 

[Teald024]

I see ur point rain in not going to do much.I’ll see how it goes maybe I’ll drain few inches every week. I do have to raise my cya anyway. I have ordered some stabilizer from amazon but it’s backordered should be here next week. Thanks for your guidance.

Its more annoying draining weekly and it gets less and less effective as the salt level drops. Just bite the bullet and drain down enough to get where you want to be, refill and then rebalance and get CYA back up.

 

[SunnyP2000]

Its more annoying draining weekly and it gets less and less effective as the salt level drops. Just bite the bullet and drain down enough to get where you want to be, refill and then rebalance and get CYA back up.

I think thats what I’ll do next week.

 

[SunnyP2000]

Unfortunately, only by draining. Or enough rain to fill 12.5% of your water to get you to 3500.

Or you could drain half of that to 3750 and let the rest drift down on its own.

whats the best way to figure out how many inches of water i should drain?

 

[mknauss]

whats the best way to figure out how many inches of water i should drain?

Since it is a relatively small amount of the total water, you can use surface area. Roughly determine the surface area of your pool. Then convert the gallons of water you need to drain to cubic feet. From that, you can determine how many inches to drain to equate to that amount of cubic feet.

 

[SunnyP2000]

Since it is a relatively small amount of the total water, you can use surface area. Roughly determine the surface area of your pool. Then convert the gallons of water you need to drain to cubic feet. From that, you can determine how many inches to drain to equate to that amount of cubic feet.

oh boy seems little tricky. i will try to figure it out. goal is to drain and refill today.

 

[mknauss]

oh boy seems little tricky. i will try to figure it out. goal is to drain and refill today.

Your signature shows 16' by 32'. That is 512 sf. It was stated above you needed to exchange 2160 gallons. That is 288 cf. 288 divided by 512 is 0.564 feet. About 7 inches.

 

[SunnyP2000]

Your signature shows 16' by 32'. That is 512 sf. It was stated above you needed to exchange 2160 gallons. That is 288 cf. 288 divided by 512 is 0.564 feet. About 7 inches.

Thank you so much.

 

[SunnyP2000]

Your signature shows 16' by 32'. That is 512 sf. It was stated above you needed to exchange 2160 gallons. That is 288 cf. 288 divided by 512 is 0.564 feet. About 7 inches.

GM Marty, I drained and refilled yesterday and here are my test results as of this morning . i wasn't paying attention I drained little over 7 inches.

FC 9
CC 0
PH 7.8
TA 90
CH 50
SALT 3000
TEMP 62

I did get lot of rain last 2 days and more rain today. I am assuming I have to add little SALT? my TA also seems high. i will have to check my CYA which i will check on a sunny day.

 

[Newdude]

Don’t add any salt, until the SWG complains. If the unit stops working, use your test to verify what the unit is saying. Even though your test is more accurate, you’ll have to go by the SWGs #s.

But. Creep up on the # and give it just enough to make it happy. Once that light goes green, that is all you need to know during your weekly equipment check. Is the SWG happy ? Yes !! *move along and don’t question it*.

 

[SunnyP2000]

Don’t add any salt, until the SWG complains. If the unit stops working, use your test to verify what the unit is saying. Even though your test is more accurate, you’ll have to go by the SWGs #s.

But. Creep up on the # and give it just enough to make it happy. Once that light goes green, that is all you need to know during your weekly equipment check. Is the SWG happy ? Yes !! *move along and don’t question it*.

great thanks. only fellow New Yorker will be up this early

BTW SWG is reporting salt at 3200

 

[Newdude]

Then it’s probably happy as a clam. People drive themselves nuts chasing a perceived ideal salt level. Regardless of what the actual salinity is, the SWG will either like it or not. If it’s happy, You’re happy. Turn that part of the brain off and allow ignorance to be bliss.

If you really REALLY have to, because the curiosity is killing you, test the salt every month just for fun. Then *immediately* turn that part of the brain back off.

P.S. you need some calcium. Over 100 with Vinyl and 150 would give you some splash out / rain wiggle room.

 

[SunnyP2000]

Then it’s probably happy as a clam. People drive themselves nuts chasing a perceived ideal salt level. Regardless of what the actual salinity is, the SWG will either like it or not. If it’s happy, You’re happy. Turn that part of the brain off and allow ignorance to be bliss.

If you really REALLY have to, because the curiosity is killing you, test the salt every month just for fun. Then *immediately* turn that part of the brain back off.

P.S. you need some calcium. Over 100 with Vinyl and 150 would give you some splash out / rain wiggle room.

thanks @Newdude any calcium you recommend? never bought before . Pool MATH suggests 11lbs of calcium chloride dihydrate or 8lbs of calcium chloride to reach 100.