suggestions on chem levels

[waterbear]

You may also want to add a few bags of solar salt to your pool to alleviate the "straw hair" as my wife calls it. I also find that it softens the water and helps with the dry skin.

Everyone that swims in my pool loves the added salt. Rave reviews all around.

-Troy

The salt does not 'soften the water'. It just brings the water closer to the isoelectric point of the human body so it is perceived as milder. All the fluids in our body are 'salty'. To actually soften the water you need an ion exchange resin that exchanges sodium ions (from the salt put into the water softener to 'charge' the resin) for calcium and magnesium ion in the water. Just adding salt to water has no effect on calcium or magnesium hardness.

All that being said, the vast majority of people do report that having 1000-3000 ppm salt in the water is a more pleasant swimming experience (less eye stinging, less 'pruning' of toes and fingers because the water is closer to the saltiness of our tears and the water in our skin cells.) All you have to do is dump in some solar salt or water softener pellet salt. It will dissolve in a few hours. Four 40 lb bags will raise 10000 gallon about 2000 ppm. (about eight and 1/3 lbs salt per 1000 gallons raises the salt 1000 ppm). If you have no salt in your pool anywhere from 1/2 to 1 bag per 2500 gallons will get you in the ballpark. Also, like CYA and borates, salt is only lost from splashout and backwashing, it does not 'evaporate' or get consumed in any way.