Hi, I asked and my dad said he definitely only did the pH down product. I'll check the chart!
Thanks!
Pool newbie here having trouble with balancing
- Thread starter songtosing
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Hi, I asked and my dad said he definitely only did the pH down product. I'll check the chart!
Thanks!My other question is how do people get readings of 24 for chlorine? My test only goes up to 5 tops, so even if I dilute I can only total 10.
I just added a sprinkle of CYA bc it tested around 30 or 40 and based on the chart, I need it higher. Does that sound right?
Not really. CYA will not go down, but FC will, over time. Don't overload things. It's easy to add more of something to a pool, nut removing it usually involves draining, which is more work and messes up everything else.
So if the chart says for a SWG you shouldn't have less than 60 cya, I thought adding a sprinkle of CYA was good bc mine tested around 30/40?
Also, how do people get measurements of 24, 30 etc of chlorine? My test only goes up to 5, do some go higher?
A FAS-DPD tester can measure up to 50 FC.
Using poolmath, your CYA should have been closer to 55. The pool store tested it at 55. You need to work up to the goal carefully or you may overshoot, that's all I'm saying.
Since I don't have one of those tests (mine only goes up to 5), I went to a different pool store than before and they said pH is fine but chlorine is a 9! 2 days after shocking it was like 1.5... how could it have jumped up to 9?! The SWG? I stuck the hose in the pool and turned it on, and I'm just letting the pool water flow over to hopefully lower the chlorine. Oddly enough this pool store said that I needed a product for phosphates? Said mine is at 599 and that if it gets up to 1000 I might get issues? Could you explain that to me bc I haven't even seen phosphates listed on any of my home tests.
9 FC is not too high to swim in if you have 55 CYA. Even if you have no CYA.
Oh really? And the phosphates thing is nothing to worry about? I didn't buy the product he was trying to sell me to lower the phosphates bc I didn't want to buy another product without checking here first!
At your CYA you can swim up to 24 PPM Chlorine and should never let it below 4 for a SWG pool.
You know how Hallmark invents holidays to sell greeting cards? The pool store invented phosphates to sell phosphate remover. They didn’t necessarily invent the phosphates but they invented the idea that they were a problem. The theory is that phosphates are food for algae. If you take away their food the algae can’t grow. If you have enough chlorine the phosphate level is irrelevant.
It would be the equivalent of you having a broken pipe flooring your basement and someone selling you a pump to keep pumping the water out instead of fixing the pipe or helping you shut the water off.
Thank you very much for explaining!! Makes sense! Glad I decided to ask here before purchasing.
Another thing he told me was that I shouldn't have used regular sodium hypochlorite shock to shock the pool; said that's not what you're supposed to use in a saltwater pool (he said no chlorine should be added to a salt pool). He said I should have used a shock that has hydrogen peroxide. What's the deal with that? I feel like everything I've read on TFP says chlorine products are fine with a SWG pool? Anyone use hydrogen peroxide?
Thanks!
Hydrogen Peroxide is more expensive... harder to come by... and he sells it. It has its use in a Baquacil pool. It's useless in yours. And Clorox uses exactly the same process you do to create bleach. You're just doing it right there at the pool instead of miles away in a plant. The pool doesn't care if the sodium hypochlorite came out of the return hose or the jug in your hand.
Phosphate Removers... Peroxide... stay away from that pool store.
Phosphate Removers... Peroxide... stay away from that pool store.
Will do! Thank you!
So I ran some pool water into the pool last night & let the extra spill out. Ran the SWG for a few hours. This morning, the chlorine appears even HIGHER than yesterday; it's practically orange!! I thought taking some water out & adding in some fresh water would help lower the chlorine a tiny bit at least.
Is it because I ran the SWG? I thought that would more maintain than severely up the FC? Should I just not run the SWG until it goes down enough. Also my pH looks like it's back up again even though it was good yesterday.
It's been a week and we haven't been in the pool because I just can't seem to get things to a good level. I'm ready to dump the whole thing and start fresh but my parents who live with us would cringe at wasting all that water! Not sure how I keep throwing it so out of whack. The water LOOKS great, but those levels.
Just a thought from one newbie to another. You say you have a 1,500 gallon pool in your signature, but an SWG for a 15k gallon pool. If so, it's 10 times too big and even on the lowest setting will probably quickly skyrocket your chlorine reading.
You keep saying "I ran the SWG" and "my chlorine got high and I don't know why" in the same paragraph. The point of running the SWG is to raise chlorine. If it's raising too much you need to either turn the SWG down, run it less, or it's oversized.
You keep saying "I ran the SWG" and "my chlorine got high and I don't know why" in the same paragraph. The point of running the SWG is to raise chlorine. If it's raising too much you need to either turn the SWG down, run it less, or it's oversized.
Thanks for your advice! My swg doesn't appear to have an option to turn it down, so I guess just leave it off until levels come down?
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And do you think that would mean I should just run it for a very short time each day once the chlorine level is down? Or do I need to get a different SWG?