Quote Originally Posted by pruggera View Post
I never add baking soda. I always have to add muriatic acid to keep the PH from going to 8. No calcium chloride has been added. Also, I only use Sodium Hypochlorite as my source of chlorine. 10% solution in one gallon jugs from Home Depot.

The water was replaced three weeks ago so the salt level would be very low. The old water was in there for 15 years based on what the previous owner told me.

I have been thinking about adding salt before, and based on what you've said I going to do it. After we get a few rust spots fixed where the rebar is rusting I'll drop a hundred pounds of water softener salt in and "see" how it feels. I'll need to have a salt test in place before I do this. Any recommendations?

Thanks

Phil
IMHO you can safely add 100# of salt with no problem. Last season I tried weighting down my wedding cake steps with two 80# bags of salt...They didn't last nearly as long as I would have thought (OK, it was a stupid idea, but at least I didn't have algae growing inside them for once). But that was 160# to a 19,000 gallon pool and the salt level never got beyond 1000--after 4 years of using bleach/LC almost exclusively. The water felt softer and it was easier on the eyes.

My point? I think you can go ahead and add the 100# of salt right now and when your salt test kit comes, then you can check it, but you'll be far below any maximum level.