super sparkly pool (luck or skill)

[morning dipper]

over the years I've run a number of pools with different (standard) systems and if my water was a 7-8 out of 10 i'd be pretty chuffed. Never had a sparkly pool though.
This year with newbuild pool the water is a 10.
It glitters and sparkles and looks great, and has done for a while. What am I doing right?
Chlorine pucks and acid adjustment have taken care of basic chemistry.
No salt has been added as SWG is on hold while potential corrosion issues are taken care of.
Filtering is Hayward cartridge system.
Pump is VS running 24/7 at 1500rpm.
My thoughts are no salt combined with 24/7 filtering via a cartridge give top water quality.
Any science in my observations/thoughts, or just a bit of first fill luck?
Any comments much appreciated.
Thanks Patrick

 

[Orion7319]

First fill, pucks haven’t brought the CYA levels up enough to mess up the pool yet. It will though, just a matter of time, that’s the problem with pucks. Running the pump at low speeds 24/7 is the way to go and that does help a lot. Salt water generators are the best. Not sure why people think they corrode everything. Less salt then in human tears if salt is at correct levels.

 

[morning dipper]

Thanks Orion. Are pucks without CYA any better?
I've some concrete rebar issues that need addressing (to avoid corrosion etc) . Does the correct level of salt have no or minimal effect on corrosion, and does salt mess with the sparkles in the water?

 

[Orion7319]

Thanks Orion. Are pucks without CYA any better?
I've some concrete rebar issues that need addressing (to avoid corrosion etc) . Does the correct level of salt have no or minimal effect on corrosion, and does salt mess with the sparkles in the water?

I would say that here in the US, probably about 99% of the pucks sold have CYA in them. If they don’t have CYA then they have calcium hypochlorite which could lead to calcification of surfaces equipment if it builds up to much. We only really recommend liquid chlorine here but the by product of that is salt which can build up but isn’t really a bad thing. Certainly doesn’t mess with the sparkles in the water. Bad sanitation and poor filtering is what causes that. In regards to your rebar issues that sounds like that’s its own thing that is being addressed. We cant say anything about the corrosion issue with the rebar without additional information. I’m not an expert on that, as I have a vinyl pool. At this site we all follow the trouble free pool method of keeping up our pools. Basically we try and balance the relative chemical levels to one another as they all have an effect on one another. For example we don’t really use pucks as they always introduce some other chemical that builds up in the pool and causes unintended issues in the longer term. We do this by knowing what effects what and by regular testing of the water. I would recommend that you take a look at the basics of the chemistry as stated here.

ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry

There are several items things every pool owner should know about swimming pool water. We share details on the basics of Pool Water Chemistry.

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Midwestdude]

Can't speak to the SWG questions, but there are plenty of knowledgeable people on here that can address that.

Like Orion said that with pucks your CYA might not be a problem yet but it will be. There are basically two kinds of Chlorine. Stabilized and and non-stabilized. Puck, and granular, Chlorine, and shock, contain CYA. Liquid Chlorine is an example of non-stabilized. It's important to know the difference and what that means for pool. CYA is necessary to protect your Chlorine (sanitizer) from breaking down in sunlight. Without it you will not be able to maintain Chlorine levels. But too much of it and it actually prevents Chlorine from doing its job and the higher your CYA the more free chlorine you will need to keep the water sanitized. This often leads to Algae and cloudy water. Pucks are also very acidic and will affect your PH and Alkalinity. If your CYA gets too high there is only one way to correct that and that is to exchange water (drain a certain amount and refill with new water).

What do you use to test your water? You will need an accurate reading on your CYA level. Too high and a FC reading that is in the "good" range by itself, could be too low for your CYA level. I'm not aware of any pucks that do not contain stabilizer.

 

[Orion7319]

OP is in France, which means they don’t have access to our preferred test kits. What do we recommend to folks in Europe?

 

[morning dipper]

Thanks for your replies. Fwiw test kits in France limited to the little dip sticks.

Pool is going to be emptied after the summer because waterproof membrane applied to concrete structure is not doing its job and micro-cracks (non structural) are showing damp on outside wall. Concern is that salty water in contact with structural rebars will cause corrosion. Hence delay of introduction of salt.

Once fixed and refilled, I am undecided to go with SWG or the puck route, as my concern - and very difficult to assess, are rebars actually getting wet - is the long term risks of salt water (ok mild salt water) on rebar. One wall showing damp is being stripped of tiles and redone/sealed, undertaking the whole pool is considered unnecessary. (For any structural specialists membrane used on concrete was not a flexible/elastic type membrane, so any movement of concrete fissures the membrane and allows water to seep.)

Present pucks have 820g/kg of trichlorocya as it is called on the box. Use also some granular stuff which is sodium hypochlorite - cya free. I know the problems associated with too high a CYA level, but if I avoid overdosing CYA are non stabilized pucks any good long term?

I guess what I am trying to say is what is the least corrosive water for a pool, so that in the event that rebar is getting wet, corrosion will be long-term minimal.

All the shotcrete pools in US and elsewhere have rebar. How many are 100% watertight? And how do you actually know once backfilled ? (I'm obviously talking seepage weepy leaks, not gushers)

Again my thanks to you, this is a great forum.

 

[Orion7319]

Thanks for your replies. Fwiw test kits in France limited to the little dip sticks.

Pool is going to be emptied after the summer because waterproof membrane applied to concrete structure is not doing its job and micro-cracks (non structural) are showing damp on outside wall. Concern is that salty water in contact with structural rebars will cause corrosion. Hence delay of introduction of salt.

Once fixed and refilled, I am undecided to go with SWG or the puck route, as my concern - and very difficult to assess, are rebars actually getting wet - is the long term risks of salt water (ok mild salt water) on rebar. One wall showing damp is being stripped of tiles and redone/sealed, undertaking the whole pool is considered unnecessary. (For any structural specialists membrane used on concrete was not a flexible/elastic type membrane, so any movement of concrete fissures the membrane and allows water to seep.)

Present pucks have 820g/kg of trichlorocya as it is called on the box. Use also some granular stuff which is sodium hypochlorite - cya free. I know the problems associated with too high a CYA level, but if I avoid overdosing CYA are non stabilized pucks any good long term?

I guess what I am trying to say is what is the least corrosive water for a pool, so that in the event that rebar is getting wet, corrosion will be long-term minimal.

All the shotcrete pools in US and elsewhere have rebar. How many are 100% watertight? And how do you actually know once backfilled ? (I'm obviously talking seepage weepy leaks, not gushers)

Again my thanks to you, this is a great forum.

Hopefully one of the members with pool building experience will chime in about your concerns with the rebar and salt water. Once the pool is completely sealed up I for sure would do salt water and stay away from pucks. There aren’t any that doesn’t have either CYA or calcium hypochlorite in them. Neither chemical will go away from the pool and when they build up too much you have to drain the pool. Calcium hypochlorite will cause scale on surfaces that is very hard to remove. I think a lot of people have to get pools soda blasted to remove it. This is why we test and don’t add anything other then the most benign stuff we can. Salt is less harmful overall then anything else as a by product.