New Pool Owner, tests are in

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Update.

Well, we overchlorinated the pool.. I asked my wife to put chlorine in and she misunderstood the quantity. We woke up on Saturday morning with FC at 16, so I just left it uncovered for a few hours under the sun. I tested again Saturday evening for an FC of 14 and then again on Sunday evening and FC was at 12.5. I tested again a few minutes ago and am at 12.5. The SWG has been off since Saturday morning, by the way.

It looks like I’ve passed the overnight test. Now what?!
 
I think I’ll continue to monitor it for a few days just to be certain. With a covered pool, what is a good expectation for natural loss of CL every day? Assuming there is no longer algae or other organics present.
 
SecoSteve said:
I see your numbers from your test, but I don't see a salt reading. Have you tested for salt? The SWCG will not work if the level is low and that may be the reason for your low FC reading and algae.
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I have not, I will do that tonight when I test CL again.

Post edit: I just noticed that I do not have what I need for salinity test... or at least I don’t think that I do. It’s not included with the TF100 kit, I don’t believe. I’ll have to order? That said, the SWG has a red light that says ”low salt”

This surprises me since we added 10 bags of salt just a week or so ago.
 
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calebmallen said:
Well, we overchlorinated the pool.. I asked my wife to put chlorine in and she misunderstood the quantity. We woke up on Saturday morning with FC at 16, so I just left it uncovered for a few hours under the sun.
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Don't worry about going over the SLAM level in the future unless you're swimming in the water. There's no harm that will come of it, so no need to uncover it.
 
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Bperry said:
How sure are you about the 40k gallons?
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Fairly certain. I used a couple of volume calculators that pegged me at around 38,000 and then the people who owned the home before me and built the pool said it was 42,000. I’d guess we are within about ~2000 gallons of the correct volume. That said, I’ve never drained it and filled it, so I’m just doing the best I can with what I got.

By the way, I just measured it again to be certain and it’s def 45’x20’. The shallow end is 3’ deep and the deep end is 8.5’.
 
calebmallen said:
I have not, I will do that tonight when I test CL again.

Post edit: I just noticed that I do not have what I need for salinity test... or at least I don’t think that I do. It’s not included with the TF100 kit, I don’t believe. I’ll have to order? That said, the SWG has a red light that says ”low salt”

This surprises me since we added 10 bags of salt just a week or so ago.
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K-1766 is the salt drop test
 
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SecoSteve said:
One other thing...What made you add 10 bags of salt a week ago? Was the "low salt" light on then?
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I didn’t make that call, my pool guy buddy did. He said that I would likely be adding about a gallon of acid every week & a bag or two of salt, depending on the chemistry. It was very low, I forget how many ppm it was. I’ll order the salinity tester this week and see what’s up. The low salt light was on, however.

UPDATE:

Tested FC again today, still right at 12.5. Looks like that problem is squared away. Can someone either explain to me how and when I will need to set up the SWG? I’ll update this with the salinity test once the kit comes in and I’ve tested. I might swing by my local brick and mortar pool store tomorrow to get a drop tester if they have one.
 
calebmallen said:
Can someone either explain to me how and when I will need to set up the SWG?
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Based on how much liquid you've been adding, you may have a rough idea of how many ppm you have been adding each day for this time of year. You can use the PoolMath "effects of adding" feature to calculate the pump run time and SWG run time % parameters and then set it accordingly. The SWG will do your daily dosing of chlorine all by itself. Tweak % and/or runtime thereafter as you see fit based on your routine testing and as the seasons and sunlight hours change.
 
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Morning, guys. I wanted to update everyone that the cloudy issue has been completely resolved. I’ve maintained a 12ppm CL level for a week now and haven’t lost any chlorine at all. The water is crystal clear, obviously SLAM works - so THANK YOU!

I did test salinity and it’s a little low, so I’ve got about 400lbs of granulated salt on order. Once I’ve got it added I’ll then the SWG on. I’m waiting for a nice sunny afternoon to open the cover and let some of the chlorine burn off now. Hopefully I can bring it down to 6ppm and maintain that with the SWG.

Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks for the help from everyone.
 
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calebmallen said:
Morning, guys. I wanted to update everyone that the cloudy issue has been completely resolved. I’ve maintained a 12ppm CL level for a week now and haven’t lost any chlorine at all. The water is crystal clear, obviously SLAM works - so THANK YOU!

I did test salinity and it’s a little low, so I’ve got about 400lbs of granulated salt on order. Once I’ve got it added I’ll then the SWG on. I’m waiting for a nice sunny afternoon to open the cover and let some of the chlorine burn off now. Hopefully I can bring it down to 6ppm and maintain that with the SWG.

Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks for the help from everyone.
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👍 just don’t overshoot your salt now!
 
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