Quote Originally Posted by PoolDoc View Post
Sure! It's also OK to swim that EVENING.

Using cal hypo? High calcium and SWCGs don't play well together.
Do you have a K-2006?
Do you know how to MANUALLY clean your DE filter?
Is your SWCG DOWNSTREAM of your filter?
If the answer to all those questions is yes, you might want to use an alternative method of dosing with cal hypo that will limit the calcium build-up in the pool. Meanwhile, you need to know where your calcium levels are at present.
I don't have that exact kit, but I have a few kits. One is a Taylor kit that I use to measure PH and TA (using R0014 reagent for PH, and R0007/R0008/R0009 for checking TA), another is a Taylor K1515-C (FAS-DPD Chlorine test), and a Tayor kit to test CYA level (using R0013 reagent), also a Jack's Magic Sequest kit, LaMotte test strips for borates, and most recently Aquacheck test strips for checking salt level (glad to report that the salt reading from the test strip reads almost the same as the SWCG display; gives me confidence my salt level is good). I did have a Taylor kit for checking calcium levels, but I had difficulty seeing the color change, so I returned it.

I do have calcium checked 2-3 times a season (May through Sept/Oct here). I checked my records since 2004 and calcium level has always been in the 200-250 range. I've never had any scaling on the salt cell or other parts since having the pool installed in 2004. It seems we get enough rain here to keep calcium levels from building too much. It's not uncommon that we will get enough rain in one storm that requires pumping excess water out of the pool. I haven't checked calcium yet this season (will do so soon), but I have no reason to think it will be any higher than usual. BTW, I've always used cal hypo to shock. Given this, is using cal hypo a problem?

I take the DE filter apart and manually clean it thoroughly at the end of each season. The salt cell is downstream (ie - after) the filter.

In my situation, do I need to be using an alternative method of dosing cal hypo (what is the alternative method??)?

Thanks again for your help. Your advice is greatly appreciated.