Mineral Springs saltwater generator, currently at 4000PPM

[Kriggin]

I just got the Taylor saltwater test kit and ran my first couple of tests. The test results came out to 4000 PPM.

My Mineral Springs digital readout is saying I'm at 3300 PPM for "minerals" which my understanding is the same thing as Salt.

The Mineral Springs system says to keep "minerals" between 2500 - 3200 PPM. Should I bring the salt down to that level, and if so, how do I do it? The mineral springs system tells how to bring the salt level UP, but makes no mention of how to bring it down.

On a side note, I've been adding in the weekly "Renewal" packs but not weekly, more like once every 2-3 weeks. I wonder if that could have brought my salt levels so high.

[BigTallGuy]

Does your system have a "High Salt" indicator? The only way to lower a salt level is drain and re-fill with fresh water. In the end, it is the system controller that you have to satisfy. You will lower the salt by splash out and Backwashing, but not through evaporation. I would not add anything more untill you are certain what your readings are.

[waterbear]

The mineral springs unit is a rebranded Goldline/Hayward AquaRite. It uses conductivity to determine salt level and that can change with temperature. The Taylor test is a test for chloride ions. The two will not always agree and can be off by as much as 800 ppm and still be within the accuraly specs of the chemical test and the salt readout on the unit.

The salt levels that the cell is reading is actually more useful since that is what the cell thinks it is. If you dilute and lower the salt level based on the chloride ion test the cell will think the salt is low and can trigger the low salt shutoff. Also, running with lower salt is acutally harder on the cell then running with higher salt.

Finally, the Taylor salt test is very easy to overtitrate. You want to stop at the first color change to red and it takes a bit of swirling between drops to mix everything. You actually want to stop when the color changes from the yellow to a permenant salmon red that does not disappear on swirling. Brick red to brown is actually too far and will give you an inaccurate higher reading.