Startup SWG chlorinator salt for new pool

[Dirk]

You might have read that last post before I edited it. Give it another read, please.

 

[CRAD_oz]

Nice Pool!
My pool cya is at 60 now which is fine for this time of year. I'm only losing about 0.2 to 0.3 with a clean pool.
My kids have already had two swims in our pool at 17-18c day water. 26deg is like a bath here.
Jump in and enjoy.

 

[FIESTA62]

FC 4

Pool looks fantastic!

No scratch that. Where did you get those numbers?

If the SWG is running, and you have CYA 60, then your target FC is 4. If you think you have CYA 80, then your FC target is 6.

But if you haven't turned the SWG on yet, then CYA 60 would be FC 7-9.

Here's the chart you should be using:

The Free Chlorine and Cyanuric Acid Relationship

Managing your cyanuric acid and Free Chlorine levels is key to stabilizing your pool. Learn how these two items affect each other.

www.troublefreepool.com

SWG is running, and i am using the chart, and my test on cya gave 60 or possibly 50, as said the dot at 60 was extremely faint but i could barely just see it with a stare, but at 50 its defiantly gone , so its a toss up between 50 or 60, i have not got 80 but with the 2.8 kilos of stabilizer it calculates to 80, but test is showing 60/50

at this point i am running swg at night 5 hours at 50% just waiting to see how that effects FC

 

[FIESTA62]

Nice Pool!
My pool cya is at 60 now which is fine for this time of year. I'm only losing about 0.2 to 0.3 with a clean pool.
My kids have already had two swims in our pool at 17-18c day water. 26deg is like a bath here.
Jump in and enjoy.

17 celcius thats scary, i told the kids today its ready, water balanced, swg running, heater on, i think in morning it will be at my target of 28 so its time.....its been about 6 months and a lot of work getting it to this stage,

 

[Dirk]

SWG is running, and i am using the chart, and my test on cya gave 60 or possibly 50, as said the dot at 60 was extremely faint but i could barely just see it with a stare, but at 50 its defiantly gone , so its a toss up between 50 or 60, i have not got 80 but with the 2.8 kilos of stabilizer it calculates to 80, but test is showing 60/50

at this point i am running swg at night 5 hours at 50% just waiting to see how that effects FC

OK, well 50 isn't on the SWG chart, and 60 isn't recommended. Use FC 5 and give the CYA a few more days. If it never gets any higher, add more CYA to get to CYA 70, then wait a week. After that, you can decide to go to CYA 80 or just leave it at 70. I run 70, and never let my FC go below 5. I'll run it up to 6 or 7. I pretend the minimum FC numbers don't exist, and use the target numbers for my minimum. That gives me a little buffer if something whacks my FC, like a bunch of kids, or a hot day or a dead animal.

 

[aussieta]

i treat my target number as my minimum and my target 2 or 3 higher
just to make sure with heavy use it never goes low

 

[FIESTA62]

OK, well 50 isn't on the SWG chart,

Sorry for confusion i do have the chart, but used my phone today and pool math, i inputed cya 60, with my current FC 5.8, and pool math says target FC 4, i see on chart 60 is not recommended so i will add a bit more stabilizer to get it to 70, its been about 2 weeks since i last added stabilzer

 

[Dirk]

OK, mystery solved. Remember, it's safe to swim up to SLAM levels of chlorine. Adding 1 or 2 of FC will not impact the swim experience, and just makes your pool a little less prone to algae while you are still sorting out CYA and FC and SWG...

 

[mgtfp]

Water looks awesome. Good job!

 

[mguzzy]

overwhelm me its all good more the better.... thanks for the ideas here, i am onto it, i got the cya test today and tried a few times to to be sure, i got 60 very very faint dot i mean i had to stare and really look hard to see a faint spot but it was like 90% gone.....went to 50 and dot is gone, but really 60 was so close hard to tell, thing is i know i put 2.8kg of stabilizer in so it should be 80, so makes me think its closer to 60 than 50,
so i see 60 needs 4 FC or 50 needs 3 FC, what would u all do , go with its pretty much gone at 60 and do 4 FC, or go with defiantly gone at 50 and do 3 FC , ?

attached a pic of pool its almost finished got to do a deck at 1 end but main area is done, water looking crystal clear thanks to all the help from you guys out there, put the heater on yesterday and its already up to 26 Celsius / 79 F first swim is coming up on the next sunny day, kids on holidays for 2 weeks

and will get the swg sorted soon....

Pool looks GREAT! Amazing how similar mine looks to the pools in the southern hemisphere where the water goes down the skimmer the other way... 🌪

I don't think I need to overwhelm you... you are doing that all by yourself. You don't want to stare at the dot.. you will see one just from the optical delusion created by the rim of the tube. just glance. If you went to 50 and the dot disappeared then its 50. You always round up. Its easiest to add to the each line, there is no point in trying to figure out where it exactly disappears. Also you can pour it all back in your dispenser bottle and do it again. If you really have issues with this you can get the standard solutions to see how they measure out....

So 50 it is. probably 60, but I would measure again tomorrow. CYA is notoriously slow to dissolve and show up in the test. And I would set your FC for the high side of the range. that way you always have some extra FC to work with. 4 is just the target for a CYA of 60... you can really swim with the CYA anywhere between the target and SLAM. So if it drifts up to 7, you are not going to melt your eyeballs off or anything. 4 is not a hard target. Every pool is different and you'll figure what works best for yours.

 

[FIESTA62]

you will see one just from the optical delusion created by the rim of the tube.

yep i know i am doing my own overwhelming its the perfectionist in me, anyway your point on the " optical delusion" i think that's where i was at 60 cya, i had to was stare so hard top see a dot i think i did see it, but really it was so so faint

i was using a 50ppm standard to help me see what 50 looks like, but it was virtually gone at 60, so this 50ppm standard pretty much was showing 60

so if i should not stare then i would call it 60, i will do again today, i intend on taking cya to 70 so i will make sure where pool it at before adding more, it has been 2 weeks since last adding of stabilizer

 

[mgtfp]

Just to confirm: Brett sent a new CYA-standard that you tested at 60ppm new (whereas the first standard he sent, you tested at 80ppm)? Initially, I would have said, change the test conditions until you read 50ppm (as the standard should be). But seeing the large difference between the two standards shows that they are obviously not perfect. But I guess by doing all those tests with your water and the reference samples, you've gained quite a lot of experience that you can start trusting your gut. I think I also read the CYA standard a bit higher, but considered 10ppm as within the expected tolerances (in mixing the sample and reading it).

At some stage I actually mixed my own 100ppm-reference with a precision scale (lockdown makes you do strange things...) and diluted that to different CYA levels. That confirmed my gut feeling on how to read the test, and that you can't be too hung up about 10ppm in the reading - if in doubt, take the higher reading for the chlorine dosage.

I also used my reference samples to find artificial lighting conditions in the kitchen that give me the same readings as outside with the sun in my back. That made me independent from Melbourne weather.

 

[FIESTA62]

Brett sent a new CYA-standard that you tested at 60ppm

hi yep the new cya that Brett sent tested 60/50, but as most say don't stare just glance at dot that might be the difference, i had to really stare at 60 to see dot so i am thinking its 60, ....Brett sent 2 tubes of standard and i did 2 tests using his water from each tube and got same result...very very faint 60 with a stare, gone at 50

i did do another test with the first batch of standard and yes i got 80 again, i tipped that lot out so not to get them mixed up, it must have been off

in future as u said if unsure i will go with the higher reading, so with my not sure 60 or 50, i would go with 60, thats using Brett's standard

but will do a few tests again today with my pool water and use Taylor regent , and also try with Bretts regent , just to see what i get with different regents but same pool water, and i plan to put some more stabilizer in soon to get up to 70 after i confirm the current cya level...

 

[FIESTA62]

wow im confused this cya testing is giving me a headache, i think for starters i will give the standard test water a miss and just stick with testing my pool water,

so i tested today with my pool water and taylor regent, then clear choice regent, i am getting all sorts of results, i tried at poolside back to sun, then in sun, then in garage under lights, cant seem to get a constant result no matter where i try,

lastly i tried in kitchen next to window natural light and under ceiling lights, i got faint 50 gone at 40 so i am over the show,
i need to find a consistent condition to test under, even in kitchen light changes from window etc,

i think i just confused myself with all the different regents and pool water and standard water, i will start fresh again tomorrow, everything else is going ok just got to sort this cya

 

[FIESTA62]

just wondering how long will the cya test water last, can i keep in the bottle for a few hours to try under different light ?, i did test around 4pm kept test water and redid at 7pm in my kitchen under led lights, no natural light, is it ok to test like this or do i need to be outside back to sun ?

my test in kitchen under led light is 50 very very faint dot or 40 defiantly no dot, so 50/40 i used taylor comparator and also clear choice test tube both showed 50/40, if testing under led light is ok thats a good way as it will always give me the same consistent conditions

 

[mgtfp]

I'd say find lighting conditions that show the standards as close as possible to 50ppm and stick to that, and then stop thinking about it or it will drive you nuts.

For me, that's my battery workbench light placed in a certain distance on the kitchen bench. That seems to be working for me. I was particularly struggling with holding the tube at waist hight, just wasn't working with my multifocal glasses. I am now taking the glasses off and move the tube up and down while looking down into it, to make sure it crosses that one distance where the dot is actually within my dodgy eyes' focus. When I don't see the dot in one quickish up and down movement, I'm done.

 

[FIESTA62]

lighting conditions that show the standards as close as possible to 50ppm

hi, i was thinking just pass on the standard, as really it my pool water i need to know what level it is, i realize its to show me what 50 looks like but i get 60 with the standard thats outside under sun,
it should be a straight forward process make dot disappear, but i just cant get a constant result....BUT i think your idea to get the standard to 50 under some condition that works, so i will do that , when i find a light point that gives me 50 i will run tests from there,
i got 40/50 with my pool water in kitchen at night, i will try standard in kitchen if it gives me 50 then im a happy man as it confirms my pool water test, i am just concerned i dont want to put too much stabilizer in pool so got to be sure on the cya level

 

[FIESTA62]

just tried standard in kitchen under led light, got 90, tried in both test tubes taylor and clear choice, but early on i got 40/50 with my pool water

i kept the test water how long does it last can i re-use tomorrow ? i am testing so much i will run out of standard soon....

yep your right drive me nuts....i need a drink

 

[mgtfp]

You'll need quite a strong light to do the test inside, just under the normal kitchen light might not be enough.

What worked for me, is my workbench light illuminating a white surface on the kitchen bench while holding the test tube about 20-30cm above that illuminated surface. I only get that reflected light from underneath, no direct light into the test tube from the side. Like that I was reading the Clear Choice Labs standard consistently about 10ppm higher than expected, and the standards I mixed myself pretty spot-on. I was happy enough with that and always follow that routine now. To get the same reading outside (in winter), I need a sunny day around noon, otherwise my readings tend to be higher.

I got the same reading with mixed samples about an hour later, I don't have experience with longer wait times, but I think the test is quite uncritical in regards to that. The only thing might be that the precipitate tends to make the tubes foggy after a while, so don't store it in the viewing tube, or the cloudiness of the tube might falsify your reading. If the tubes get cloudy after a while, you can clean them with bleach water.

 

[Dirk]

The CYA test is tough for everybody. I've never tried the standard. Some folks are having trouble with that, too.

I don't do the outside-at-your-waste thing. I test indoors, in a room with no windows, under an LED under-counter light. Those are my 100% repeatable conditions. And then I use Taylor's photographs to help me determine what the test result is supposed to look like. Bottom of page, here:

Why Monitor Cyanuric Acid?

Just do the best you can. Get your CYA up to 70 or 80 and call it a day. You'll eventually get a feel for the test, and your pool. Once you get your SWG dialed in and its holding a steady FC level, you can calculate how much chlorine it's actually putting in the water. Then you can determine if the amount of FC you're using each day is a reasonable amount for your pool. If that amount is about right, then that confirms you've got a good amount of CYA in the water. And that's all that really matters.