Help new BioGuard Mineral Springs

I have fought for 2 years with our fiberglass pool to control stains, clouds and chlorine levels. I requested to have a SWG installed this year from my pool installer. He suggested and installed a BioGuard Mineral Springs system. Having no knowledge about this system, I was under the impression that my system would require a yearly 200-400 lbs of salt dumped in. Now I'm being told about "Beginnings" and "Renewal" weekly maintenance. WTH? I wanted to get away from weekly chem. Any suggestions and a big thanks from a SWG newbie. :)

Renewal and Beginnigs are totally unnecessary! You just need to balance the water (ajust ALK and pH, don't need to worry too much about Cal in a fiberglass pool unless you have grouted tile work or a heater) and add plain solar, water softener, or pool salt and stabilizer (CYA). I buy my pool salt at the grocery. Two different chains (Publix and Winn Dixie in my area) carry pool salt and have the best price on it! You will most likely need muriatic acid for pH control ( I need to add it about every 3-4 weeks) because SWGs do cause an upward drift of pH usually. They are only trying to sell you expensive chemical mixes that give you NO control over your water and generate a lot of revenue for them. Read through all the threads under this heading and you wll learn a lot about what type of salt to use, etc.

Enjoy your SWCG. I LOVE mine.

btw, the Bioguard unit is actually manufactured by Goldline Controls and is basically a rebranded AquaRite. Check out www.goldlinecontrols.com for a lot of info. Your unit probably reads 'minerals ppm'. I have a Goldline Aqualogic PS-8 and can set mine to read either minerals or salt. I called Goldline tech support to ask what the difference was. They told me it was the word that appears on the display. The readings are the same. So your 'minerals' level is the same as a 'salt' level on other SWGs.

One last thing....get a good drop based test kit and test your own water. I would highly recommend the one that Ben sells with the salt option. I have several test kits myself and it is definitely the best 'bang for your buck'!

Thanks for the help. I spoke with the pool installer this morning which okay'd your thought to a T. I didn't realize but he said he dumped 400lbs of polar salt in for the start up yesterday not beginnings.

Here is my problem today?

My pool installer installed a unit yesterday. I got home after he had left. It doesn't appear to be working and he doesn't work until Monday. Currently the low mineral light is on and the inspect cell light is on. I turned off the unit and powered it back on the generating led light comes on for about 30 seconds then a click and light goes off and low minerals and inspect cell comes back on. The unit in brand new so I doubt the cell needs to be cleaned as stated in the manual.

When you dump salt in it takes several days for it to register on the system. It won't happen in hours... in the meantime... you should keep using bleach until it detects enough salt, and the display shows the correct salt, and it starts generating chlorine. Until the unit detects the correct amount of salt, it won't operate. Just be patient... many of us have oversalted our pools thinking the mineral reading was accurate, only to later discover our numbers were higher than we thought. I would give it a few days until I decided something is wrong, but in the meantime you have to add chlorine in another format.

So it is normal that the low mineral and check cell LED to be on? Thanks for the help.

Brushing the pool can help to distribute and dissolve any salt that might be in there. If the level is not correct in a few days you should take a sample to a pool store and tell them you want the salt level checked. How many gallons is your pool? 400 lbs of salt is just about perfect for a 15000 gal pool. If your pool is larger it won't be enough. Also, some pool professionals add less chemicals than necessary and then gradually bring the amount to the correct level because it is much easier to add a bit more than to try and correct it if you add too much. In the meantime just add some bleach to keep your chlorine level up. It is exactly the same thing that is created by the SWG...sodium hypochlorite.

The low salt light and inspect cell light are normal if the salt levels are not high enough. This is to help protect the life of the cell since it needs to work harder and thererfore wears out quicker if the salt levels are too low.

When my SWG was first started up it took almost a week for all the salt to dissovle and my builder's idiot startup guy, who he fired after my pool, ended up dumping too much into the pool. I had to partially drain and refill (NOT fun with fiberglass...could only drain about a foot at a time and had to repeat the process about 4 times to get the salt level correct!)

Just dumped in another 100 lbs, the pool is about 17k gallons. The ppm is working it's way up now. Just hit 2500 which was enough to turn off the check cell led. Low mineral is now flashing and the generating sanitizer is now on. Cool! :) Thanks again for the help.

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Originally Posted by wsmith002

Just dumped in another 100 lbs,

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That should put you at about 3500-3600 ppm salt. I would not add any more and just let the level stabilize at this point! Next step is to adjust the pump run time and cell output to get your FC at the correct level. You do have stabilizer in the pool, don't you? If so what is the reading...should be between 60-80 ppm. If you don't your chlorine levels will not hold.

I have a Goldline Aqua rite I purchased last year.....pool store dudes put too much salt in last year. Losts of draining and filling to get it right. I was told to keep the stablizer higher. 80 range and start out at 20-40% on the knob on the controller until you get the Cl right. Took about two days. My pool stayed very stable the rest of the summer.

Everything is looking pretty good today. 3400 ppm salt. Chlorine is a little high at 4. PH is good. Turned the knob down on the control panel. Sunshine this week should bring the chlorine down quick.

The recommendation I have for the MS, is to make very small adjustments... a little at a time, be patient and take a few days before you make any adjustments... once you get it set, it's the best system out there.

We have a mineral springs system which has worked great for 2 1/2 yrs. This year, it started working and then we may have put too much salt in it. It is now showing a salt reading of 1600 when two pool stores have said it has a salt level of 4000. I have called Goldline and got two different opinions. One said that we should drain the pool 12" and refill with city water and the other said our cell is bad!! It is under partial warranty and will cost between $350-400. Does anyone have any suggestions? What should we clean the cell with? Thanks for your ideas before I purchase a replacement!