Re: salt and pool chemistry

Originally Posted by
purplegirl
I'm working on CYA right now. I added half the recommended dosage and I'm waiting for it to dissolve. Once I put the other half in it should bring CYA upto 30 ppm. I do have an Intex and their recommendations are 30-50 ppm. I had read somewhere on here to keep CYA at 80-100ppm for SWG, I wasn't planning to go that high just yet but would that be wise if Intex says 30-50?
bring it up to 50 ppm then. The vast majority of SWG manufacturers recommend 80 or 100 ppm. If you find that you are having trouble generating enough chlorine then bring the CYA up to 80 and run the FC at 3-5 ppm.
I do have a taylor test kit and I will test levels tomorrow.
I am going to add cal-hypo 65%. I am also going to add a metal chelator. Can I add both of these things at the same time, I want to do it tonight around 9:30, when I get home from work or should I wait on the cal-hypo? I will not add salt until CYA is at least 30ppm and TA rises (currently at 70) and PH rises (currently at 7.2) I'm assuming the CYA will help both rise slightly?
Do you think the chelating agent will introduce phosphates into the water?
Phosphates are a non issue. Don't worry about them. They are not a problem the very vast majority of the time.
It is not a good idea to shock and add sequestrant at the same time. Leave your TA at 70!!!!! You will have better pH stability with the SWG!
pH will rise on it's own once the SWG goes online. Don't worry about it unless it drops any lower. If so add some borax to bring it up. DO NOT use soda ash (pH up) or baking soda (alkalinity increaser). Both will cause your TA to shoot up and it's really perfect where it is for a SWG.
If you have metals in the water add your sequestrant tonight and shock tomorrow, if you feel you need to. If you are just chlorinating add the sequestrant at night then add the chlorine in the morning.
Salt really wont interfere with any of the other water balancing steps (unless you add too much and have to drain and re-balance) so I don't see any reason why you cannot start adding it now.
Retired pool store and commercial pool maintenance guy.
Bookmarks