Which is more important: Ph at 7.2 to prevent metal stains or at 7.6+ for SWG?

[bdavis466]

If anyone wants or needs convincing of the science and practical effects of monitoring and controlling CSI, they are welcome to PM me anytime! My particular pool chemistry, which I believe is fairly representative of pools in the southwest and high CH-water areas, benefits greatly from close monitoring of CSI. The proof I can show is visual as well - I will show you what calcium scaling on pool tile looks like when you don't pay attention to CSI (but stay within "recommended ranges") and I will show you the same tile, completely scale-free by simply keeping a close eye on the CSI.

CSI is a real and important parameter, at least it is for me and my pool.

This is refreshing for me to read. I view the CSI as one of the most important parameters to monitor since it gives a good indication of the overall condition of the water. I don't understand why many say to not pay attention to the CSI, when in many of these cases (especially in saltwater pools), the CSI is WAY below -0.6. The CSI is not overly complicated to understand, especially since Pool Math or many of the phone apps calculate it for you.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

This is refreshing for me to read. I view the CSI as one of the most important parameters to monitor since it gives a good indication of the overall condition of the water. I don't understand why many say to not pay attention to the CSI, when in many of these cases (especially in saltwater pools), the CSI is WAY below -0.6. The CSI is not overly complicated to understand, especially since Pool Math or many of the phone apps calculate it for you.

My #1 vote is for FC/CC as most important. But whenever I run my full suite of tests, I plug all the values into pool math and calculate CSI. I then target any chemical additions (mainly acid, sometimes borates and rarely baking soda) based on the CSI value. So if I'm close to a CSI of 0 or small + number, I add enough acid to make it negative.

In other words, I don't target a specific pH value (like when the pool stores tell you 7.4 because that's the pH of human tears), I target CSI.

Chlorine additions or SWG adjustments are solely based on the FC/CYA chart.


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[Swampwoman]

PoolESQ, do let us know how metal trap fares...I believe it is more expensive because it is a green sand filter, which is the same medium as the iron curtain.

Re: softner and iron...I am given to understand that if your well iron is less than 2 ppm, the softener does nail most of it. Emphiracally speaking, mine gets down to 0 to .2 ish and by plumbing my spigot to outdoor pool faucet, I've been able to lower my overall iron load over a few seasons to just around .3 ppm ( however, you can stil stain at .3, so i still sequester) However, I needed to upgrade to a dual tank system to ensure I always had capacity for a fill without waiting to regenerate.

The iron curtain is expensive, but effective for whole house if iron is greater than 2 ppm...but a question would be again about capacity on refills if the whole house were using it. I never pulled the trigger on it -- perhaps I should have, as I'm pretty borderline

Lastly, if you'd like to keep your ph at 7.6, you might consider switching to Metal Magic. The instructions on it are to have ph above 7.5 for use. It has been a VERY good stain preventer, and even stain treater for me, and I no longer worry about ph drift, because use of it knocks it down a tiny bit, so I'm running 7.4 - 7.5 ish instead of my former 7.2 when using Jack's.

In my case, I am not controlling for csi as precisely as you, as I'm vinyl surface. But my pool just seems naturally to want to ride in the mid-7s, so I really like not having to constantly push it down the way I did with Jack's.

 

[PoolESQ]

Swampwoman, thanks so much for the information. I will definitely look into the Metal Magic. I agree with you, it's nice to not have to worry about keeping your Ph so low at all times. Although I have a Stenner pump to inject the MA, I've been burning through it like mad.

I will keep everyone posted on the MetalTrap. If it works well, I'm going to try to figure out a way to plumb it into my autofill line. (Long story, but my autofill pipe is leaking so it's plugged for now. Didn't want to waste pool season having pool torn up, so PB going to fix in the fall and that time I'll see if there's any way to add it in. Suggestions welcome.)

This living on well water has definitely been an experience...haha. I have a mechanical room full of sediment filters, a potassium water softener, two holding tanks, and some sort of device I have no idea what it is. I need to get some experts out here to give it a going over and see what we can do about the iron.