New to TFP- can I ask a few questions?

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This story is a good example for you, and others, never to take your water to a pool store, and more importantly, never to trust pool store tests, especially since you have the gold standard of test kits.

First, their "recommended levels" are not what we look at following the TFP method. A chlorine recommendation of 1-4?!?!? But more importantly, it shows why they provide "free testing". They give you a number (which is highly suspect to begin with), and then list a crazy amount of chemicals to add to "fix" the pool. Then you empty your wallet, and then chase your tail as these things ultimately do not work and you rinse and repeat.

According to their test page, you need to add these to your pool (I looked them up for fun)...

BioGuard Oxysheen. This is a non-chlorine pool shock treatment. This packet is $8.99 and they want you to add 9 pounds, which is over $80!
BioGuard Burnout 73 is a superchlorinator at $10.99 each.
Why do we add a non-chlorine product, then another "super chlorinator" to get no results is pure pool store garbage.

Worse even, they want you to add...
Banish. This is Copper (metallic): 3.3% and only costs $38.99. As if the price wasn't bad enough, never add copper to your pool! Then they will test your water and tell you that there is copper in your pool, and they have another magic potion for that.

No wonder you have had to empty the pool and start over each year. The good news is you have a great test kit and a lot of smart people here to keep you on the right track. You have a SWCG, though it is likely too small for a 41k gallon pool, but, as long as you run that full out, and add only liquid chlorine to supplement any gaps, that is all you will need to keep your chlorine in check.

Also, just to recap what the others have said to keep it simple going forward...

Mdragger88 said:
You should raise your cya to the 70’s to help protect more of the fc your swg makes from the sun.
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This is a great first step. Look up adding CYA via the sock method and get your CYA up.

Bperry said:
The TA will come down on its own
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This is true as long as you keep your PH in check. If you keep reading here, you will see PH is important to keep in the 7s. Keeping it there with additions of muriatic acid when it rises will keep your TA at a level that should come in line with the ideal number. If not, sometimes your pool is perfectly happy with TA at 100 or 120, but leave it be. Trying to tweak the TA when PH should be your focus could also keep you going in circles. My fill water is especially high in TA and find my pool is very happy around 100-120. Not far off, and don't let that one result get to you. Chlorine and PH for now while you get used to your testing.

tacotory said:
should I bump our percentage up on our SWG? It is currently at around 55%.
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I would bump that and see how the chlorine holds. As noted above, even at 100%, you may not get all the chlorine you need if you start burning off 5ppm on high heat and high usage days.

Bperry said:
The electronic pH meters are a pain to maintain so I’d count on using the drop test long term
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I like to use both of them, especially in the begining. I have a digital PH meter that I have gotten comfortable with it being as accurate (or very close) as the chemical tests, and by doing both tests at the same time, you can get there. I calibrate my tester once a month and use it now exclusively for my PH readings and my pool looks to be very happy!

Great looking pool by the way, hope it does stay trouble free for you going forward!
 
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Good morning All.

Thanks so much to everyone for the great advice and encouragement.

So far this year, with the help of TFP and the test kit, our pool is looking great. Really the only thing we have had to add is CYA. Our SWG has been easily keeping our chlorine levels in the green.

My one question about our results is that our TA is inching up- now at 120. PM app says to lower TA I need to add acid to lower the ph to 7.0-7.2 and then aerate to increase pH. I am reluctant to mess with the pH with everything looking so good right now. Thoughts on this? How concerned should I be about the TA? Advice?
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If your SWCG is not spitting out calcium scale flakes, leave the TA alone. When ph gets to 7.8 or 8, lower it to 7.4 or so.
 
tacotory said:
Thank you. So should I be taking by SWG cell off weekly and checking it?
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No reason. The cell will start to spit out calcium scale flakes if there is any build up starting. Just adjust the TA lower and the scale will stop.
 
tacotory said:
I'm guessing this is a calculation based on the other tests since I don't see a test for it in the test kit instructions?
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That is correct. When you click on tracking of CSI, it is a calculation the app does based on the other inputs. Important to keep an eye on to prevent the white flakes as @mknauss mentioned.

tacotory said:
My one question about our results is that our TA is inching up- now at 120
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Some pools just settle in on a higher TA level than "ideal" but if everything else is in line, let it be happy. My TA likes to stay anywhere from 100 to 120, but the chlorine is stable, PH remains stable, no white flakes, and the pool is crystal clear. I have done the, lower PH, aerate, then repeat to get my TA down to 90, but eventually it goes back to 100-120 so I stopped fretting about that. No white flakes, and I have normally higher TA in my fill water, so I just let the pool be happy in that range.
 
gingrbredman said:
That is correct. When you click on tracking of CSI, it is a calculation the app does based on the other inputs. Important to keep an eye on to prevent the white flakes as @mknauss mentioned.


Some pools just settle in on a higher TA level than "ideal" but if everything else is in line, let it be happy. My TA likes to stay anywhere from 100 to 120, but the chlorine is stable, PH remains stable, no white flakes, and the pool is crystal clear. I have done the, lower PH, aerate, then repeat to get my TA down to 90, but eventually it goes back to 100-120 so I stopped fretting about that. No white flakes, and I have normally higher TA in my fill water, so I just let the pool be happy in that range.
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Thank you. Good to know on both fronts.
 
Quick question for everyone on my salt levels. Per the test kit, salt numbers are good. On the readout for the SWG says 2500 and is flashing lights to add salt. So, is it possible to calibrate the SWG so it matches better with the test kit, or just don't worry about it? Will the SWG stop working at some point if it thinks the levels have gotten too low?

PS- I added acid after this test per the recommendations.

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Mdragger88 said:
Here’s the how to

How To Recalibrate the Salt Level on a Hayward Aqua Rite - INYOPools.com

How To Recalibrate the Salt Level on a Hayward Aqua Rite
www.inyopools.com www.inyopools.com
How old is your cell?
Have you recently added salt?
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Thank you for the link.

Salt cell was new in the late summer last year. Controller box is a year older than that. I have not added salt since the beginning of the summer. My levels are going down on the test kit, so guessing I will need to add some soon. Ideal is 2800-3000- correct?
 
The salinity test is +/- 200 so I would say the aquarite is on the money here. Add salt to the shallow end along with the back and forth push with the pool brush. For just two or three bags the overnight hours with the cell off should be sufficient then in the morning brush the area well to be sure there isn't residual salt left and it probably would be safe to tun back on.
 
wireform said:
The salinity test is +/- 200 so I would say the aquarite is on the money here. Add salt to the shallow end along with the back and forth push with the pool brush. For just two or three bags the overnight hours with the cell off should be sufficient then in the morning brush the area well to be sure there isn't residual salt left and it probably would be safe to tun back on.
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Got it. I will add some salt to make the Aquarite happy.

In the past I have never shut off my SWG when I added salt. Have I been screwing up?
 
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