Saga Green SWP what to do first.

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Perfo

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Sep 11, 2018
24
UK, Caernarfon
Hello all,
First off a great site.
I have read loads of info and a bit head spinney so hope one of you will wind me up and set me going in the right direction...

My salt water above ground pool is the.
Intex 28375EH Ultra Frame Pool Set, 32-Feet by 16-Feet by 52-Inch (9.75m X 4.8768m X 1.3208m) at 90% full I think about 13313 Us Gal (56000 liters )
It comes with its own chlorine and ozone generator. IÂ’ve had it a couple of years and the water has always been crystal clear no problems with anything, really the easiest pool to maintain that there could be.
I relied on the generator to keep an eye on my salt levels and really just periodically checked the chemicals using aqua check pool and spa test strips. Bar adding a little CYA nothing seemed to change much. This is my third year and I took the liberty to be away for four weeks and came back to a completely green pool. The chlorine generator had tripped and told me it detected low salt levels. I had a TDS electronic salinity meter which seemed to tell me whatever it felt like so I got hold of some aqua check salt test sticks..
The test sticks told me salt was 900 ppm, so way lower than recommended.
An online calc told me to add 157 kgs. My thoughts were no point fiddling with anything else until I get the salt level right so I added 100 Kgs and re tested and now the same salt test strip tells me IÂ’m at 3700 ppm which doesnÂ’t make sense to me at all.
So IÂ’m thinking to myself I actually donÂ’t know whatÂ’s going on here.
I have the following readings (aqua check strips)
PH 7.2%
FC 0 ppm (as expected)
TA 40 ppm
Stabilizer >0 but < 30 ppm as itÂ’s between colours but closer to 0 ppm than 30ppm
Water temp here is around 14 degrees Celsius.
I have liters of sodium hypochlorite (12- 15%) waiting to be thrown in but not sure what I should do first?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
 
Perfo-
Welcome to TFP :) We're happy to work with you to fix this problem. The first problem I see is you don't have a reliable way of testing your water. You're flying blind by trying to use "Guess-Strips".

We don't believe they can ever be very accurate, and most of them don't give exact values but rather a "range" which is useless to the TFP method of pool care.

If you can get a hold of a Taylor K-2006 test kit (preferrably the "C" version) you'll have a test kit that can tell you *exactly* what you have for:
FC
CC
pH
TA
CH
CYA

We need to know all of these values to be able to guide you.

Here is the "lite" version of the kit on Amazon UK--> Taylor K2006 Complete Pool Water Test Kit K-2006: Amazon.co.uk: Garden Outdoors

Until you can get that kit I would add two liters of the sodium hypochlorite a day and brush the entire pool. This won't fix the pool entirely but it will slow down any algae progression.

Maddie :flower:
 
Thanks for that Excellent advice I do agree the Guess strips (as you call them) do seem a little hit and miss. I'm an engineer so like things to be precise and repeatable and I really don't like not understanding what's going on. So proper test kit is it Step 1:
I may have to wait until nearer the end of the month to get enough beer tokens to buy one though which is a tad annoying (as I'm impatient) .
But I'll get one. Is there much advantage in getting the 'C' versions? How would I know which one someone is trying to palm me off with ?
As I'm in the UK and the pool is unheated there probably wont be a rush for this except for my annoyance every time I look at it..
I'm not sure why my chlorinator is still saying low salt and trips out... Could the salt test strips be that far out ? or maybe the algae is caking the plates or something and stopping it reading properly ? This is would be an added pain as that's just when you need to press the boost button.
Do you think this could be the case ? Would it be worth trying to super shock it so at least my chlorinator would work until I manage to get a test kit and get it sorted good and proper ?
Thanks again....
 
Its a funny thing about ozone. It actually chews a bit of chlorine up itself so if you weren't on top of your water chemistry you may not have realized that the FC was low, which allowed the algae to join the pool party.

Can you look at the cell to see if it needs cleaning? Is this an intex salt cell system?

If you can "catch" some water as soon as it comes out of the return (put a cup or something right up so you are getting only returned water and not water from the rest of the pool) and test the FC it should test higher than the rest of the pool. That would tell you if the SWG is working or not.

Did you put the 2 litres of bleach in as I suggested, and brush? Yesterday and today?? That will go far in stunning the algae while you wait for your test kit.

Maddie :flower:
 
Yes an Intex SWG.
It will start up run for a bit, turn on the cell and sound like it's working normally then flash a red light saying low salt and shutdown. I have cleaned the plates with acetic acid and they look clean but of course that may be short lived if Algae is clogging it up or causing false readings . I shall remove the plates again and clean it, then measure how long it takes to shutdown from clean to get an idea if it is clogging up.
Yes and no as to following your suggestions. I put about 5 liters in the pool yesterday rather than 2 and gave it a whizzing with the brush. I haven't put any more in yet but that's next on my agenda to put a couple of liters in and brush again. Visually there doesn't appear to be any difference from yesterday as yet.. Obviously I have to get the SWG going or I'm wasting my time but I didn't know if I'm battling with it due to the algae. ie kill all the algae and the SWG will work again..
I can see folks selling the Taylor C kit here in the uk and it's only about £20 GBP more expensive than the lite kit so I'll get one of those and become enlightened...
 
The SWCG is not going to add sufficient chlorine until you have eradicated the algae. You must SLAM Process to completion and then the SWCG can maintain the chlorine needs.

Algae does not plug a SWCG. If it is scaling up inside then you have a chemistry issue other than chlorine. Or the cell has failed.
 
Hello mknauss, Yep I fully appreciate the chlorine levels generated by my SWG thing wont be enough to clear this infestation. My comment was that once I have got everything sorted it wont last long if my SWG isn't working.
It is odd as the cell seem to work for a bit, There is no scallign at all on the cell. Even after a year of use the scallign was very slight and came off easily with a bit of vinegar. The cell looks new when I pull it out and bubbles happily when switched on but for some reason it decides it has low salt and shuts down. I'm not totally convinced my salt strips are telling em the truth and thus my dilemma of what to try and sort first. My first salt test showed very low salt I added 100 Kgs which shouldn't be enough and now the test strip is saying I have too much salt. Calcs on the pool and the amount of salt mean , at least on e of the readings are wrong..
I'll get my test kit towards the end of the month and then maybe at least know what the starting figures are for SLAM or any other process...
 
As you are approaching winter you can switch to liquid chlorine for maintenance until you get the SWCG sorted. Once the water reaches 60F or so it will need very little chlorine.
 
60F (15.5C) is getting on the warm side for us :) I guess it is about 53F at the moment.
The pool is used all year round we just put on wetsuits when it's not mid summer..
I need to try and sort out a cover as well, and was hoping to do that this year. A black cover would kill the Algae I guess..
 

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Well I must admit I'm not the hardest, My kids beat me to that title by a long way. They do go in it a lot less in winter but anytime of year you may find them in it. The average air temp is about 50F and that seems to be the put off rather than the water.. I'm hoping to upgrade to solar heating one of these days but have a lot of things to get done first (i.e. the cover)
 
Not surprising. They make salt test strips. Not great, but give you an idea. I would not rely on them lasting a long time. In other words, if you buy some, plan to toss them and buy more if you get a weird result.
 
The test strips looked like they maybe the answer but my simple logic means at least one of the strips was way out. My first strip said 900 ppm I added 100Kg to a 56000 l pool so added around 560 ppm (total 1450 ppm) but next test strip stated 3700 ppm. This was new box of test strips (and did the second test twice with same results) . The only difference between the two test could be water temperature. I've tried researching this a bit and have seen reference on this site about temperature and test strips but nothing conclusive to tell me maybe the test was invalid due to a temp difference.

What I'm thinking now is I make some test solution with common salt. I may even buy some proper test solution just to see how close my diy one gets to being accurate. I then calibrate my TDS/Salinity probe and test the water again with both methods. I may also get a 10% salinity refractometer as that should be pretty spot on once calibrated and these are fairly cheap , reliable and last.. I'm not sure how much micro blobs of leaves (and algae) affect the refractometer though.
 
Sounds like you have a handle on it.

I am pretty simple, I add salt and if the SWCG is happy, I am happy. Never have to add salt again until I drain and refill the pool with fresh water. That is what it is like in a desert..
 
That's my Mo as well keep it a simple as possible. I set the thing up a few years ago added the salt I should to start it , pressed the button and it's looked after it self since then not needing any measurements or input from me (just the way I like it). Unfortunately I have to now get a good idea on salt level to know if my SWCG is right to throw a wobbly and switch off or it has a problem and the salt level is fine..
I used to be quite smug when other told me they wouldn't have a pool as it's too much hassle ... :)
 

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