new pool owner trying to balance swg pool

[cathy404]

38k gallons. It says in the goldline aquarite book that the levels need to be 200-400 calcium, 80-120ppm alkalinity and 7.2-7.6 ph. Does it affect the salt cell longevity if they are not in those ranges? It is vinyl.

[mas985]

I also have a Goldline swg and I try to keep my numbers such that the saturation index is close to zero. This is where the numbers come from in the goldline book. If you let the SI get too high, scaling occurs on the cell. If the SI gets too low then is starts to dissolve the plates in the SWG and shortens the life of the cell. I have had mine about 9 months now and by keeping the SI close to 0, I have managed to keep the cell pretty clean.

Here is a good online calculator for SI: http://www.advancedh2o.com/technical.../langlier.html

or just use the table in the Goldline manual. Good luck!

[cathy404]

thanks mark. that was really helpful. It does say that in the book so I guess I will follow that. I wondered do you use the mineral springs program? Or do you find it a waste and unneeded? Also what do you do as far as maintenance goes? Test once a week? Add chemicals and if so how often? how many times a year? I live in GA and have a lot of leaves which may not matter but fyi.

[mas985]

No, I don't use the mineral springs program. I think they simply add CYA and some buffers to the salt and charge you a lot of money for it. You can do it all separately which is cheaper and probably better since you have more control over amounts.

I test the PH & CL once a week, yes some do it every day but I don't. I add about 1 pint of muriatic acid per week to keep PH within +- .1 of optimum SI. I check alkalinity every other week or when I feel like it but I have not had to do anything for that yet. As for salt, I add that when the controller reading drops below 2800, only one bag so far this year. Other than vacuuming and brushing once in a while, not much else. I think I have been lucky and not had to do much in terms of maintenance.

[cathy404]

My salt meter reads 4000. I thought I'd just leave it and not bother trying to change it. Is there any reason it matters much that it's a little high?

[Guido]

Hi Cathy,

I have the mineral springs system which came with the new pool. 22 000 IG . The builder left me with 600 pounds Beginners. I balanced the pool and added 300 pounds and my display went straight to 4000 which should be fare to much and the unit should not produce sanitizer. I had my mineral level checked and it was around 1600 so I added all minerals in with brought me up to 3200 according to the test. I called biogard and they stepped me trough a test program with the result that everything is looking good. The service tech told me that a new unit could show for the first weeks some unrealistic #’s and it should be OK in 1 or 2 weeks. We will se so fare no change. I don’t trust the display anyway but with a new unit I should come at least close and specially as the manual says if the minerals go over 3800 the unit will shut down. So I ask myself is the unit operational at all. I tested my Chlorine and from the figures it looks like the unit works but it just don’t feel right. I know that I will not spend next year 30 $ a bag for the Beginnings and the Renewal also look like a balancing pack nothing else. I started my research on what is really in this stuff so I’m sure with this forums help I will soon know what I need to get and that for the 3rd of the price Biogard ask for the same things.

Guido

[mas985]

Cathy,

The unit will shut down if the salt level is too high so if the diagnostic menu shows it generating chlorine when you first turn the pump on, then I would say it is ok. If the display shows a high salt warning, then the unit has shut itself down and you will have to replace some of the water to get the salt level down. Also, higher salt levels will generate more chlorine.