Anyone here running a saltwater pool and want to share what chemistry levels you maintain and how you get there?

We moved into a new house around the beginning of this year and I'm having issues with the pool. Most of it is related to all the rain in May, which washed tons of dirt into the pool.....this is due to a landscaping issue that I will have to fix. The pool is 11000 gallons and has a cartridge filter, which i've had to clean a ton to deal with all the dirt in the water.

Anyway, please share what levels of TC, pH, CYA and TA you try to maintain and how you get there.

And yes, I have been reading on TFP, but just wanted some other input.

TIA.

I go to Leslie's every now and then and my levels are within range.

The only thing I really have to mess with is chlorine (add salt) and add muratic acid (ph of pools hovers around 8).

I check my levels with the little test strips a little more than once a month as long as there are no issues. I never get it checked at a pool store. I just go by whatever the strips recommend, I really can't say what the numbers themselves are off the top of my head.

I buy muriatic acid, cyanuric acid, chlorine tablets, and salt. Nothing else. The clarifier and all those other things will mess up more than they will fix.

In order to bring down ph, pour in muriatic acid in while the pool is at rest, that way alkalinity is affected less and ph more. To bring down alkalinity, you pour in while the pump is running, that way alkalinity is affected more and ph less. Never put water in the acid, always acid directly into the pooL. The acid will boil the water so adding a small amount of water to a large amount of acid is a bad idea. I buy muriatic acid at my local hardware store. The ph minus, alkalinity minus, etc products they sell everywhere are a waste of money.

Cyanuric acid / stabilizer - It comes granulated. I just pour it directly into the skimmer. It's a pita to dissolve in a bucket like they want you to. It takes time for it to move through my sand filter, but I like to do it that way, but it's not good to pour it directly into the pool undissolved and I don't want to waste my time getting it dissolved in a bucket first. I buy it in 8# little bucket things at lowes generally but you can get it at Home Depot or WalMart too. You don't lose much stabilizer generally unless you have a leak.

Salt - I pour it straight into the pool while running, brush it around to help dissolve an hour or so later, then again later if needed. You don't lose much salt from General use of the pool or evaporation, so you shouldn't use much after the initial level has been reached unless you have a leak. It's usually cheapest at SAMs club but I generally get it at lowes.

I keep chlorine tablets on hand for if the chlorinator isn't working and to help up chlorine levels after the water turns green when I haven't been watching levels. I just drop them in the skimmers and let it work from there. I usually just buy 20# buckets at lowes. It's not necessary but handy to keep on hand.

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More thoughts:

When my pool does turn green from not watching it, I dump chlorine tablets in the skimmers, put the salt water chlorinator on super chlorinate, and dump a little too much muriatic acid into the pool. Leave the chlorine as high as I can and keep the pump funning for 24 hrs-ish, then let the chlorine levels drop back to normal by turning the chlorinator off for a little while. Too much acid makes the water a little hazy for a while but doing it this way kills the algae a lot faster than chlorine alone. The algae shows up more from too high a ph than anything IMO.

You will need to dump muriatic acid after every heavy rain. I do it while the pool is running in this condition generally but I'm not positive that's the right thing to do. For your size pool, it'll be 1/3-1/2 gallon. Just check levels with a test strip, add some acid, and go from there. You'll eventually be able to do it without checking the levels just from the experience.

Salt levels: different saltwater generators have different recs for the amount of salt you need to have in the pool. Go by their rec. those test strips are harder to find at a box store. You put an inch of water in a vial and set the test strip in. A few min later, it tells you your level.

The pool places will tell you their chemicals are better, that you're paying more but they will last longer, etc. That's BS. Very little difference if any. I used to buy at a local pool place until they started preaching that to me. You are paying for the service at the pool places. It's not a bad thing, but I live in BFE and don't make it to town while the pool places are open. After he kept feeding me those lines, I decided to stop making special trips to town just for the pool store.

I would recommend buying a sand filter. Easy to install yourself with some basic pvc fittings. Easy to maintain. No filters to replace. Sand needs to be replaced every couple of years.

It's a lot of info but it's pretty simple stuff after having a sw pool for a decade. It doesn't generally take much of my time at all. I probably don't spend more than 30-45 min / week on it. That being said, if I lived in town, I'd probably pay a service to come take care of all that for me.

CYA (stabilizer) - for a salt water pool you want to keep this around 80 -100. Higher the level, the less effective the chlorine in your pool is. For non-salt water pools, you want this lower - around 40. The reason salt water pools can get away with higher is the fact that the water travels through the generator cell and "super chlorinates" the water right there (killing anything there).

Salt level - depends on system. I keep mine generally 2800-3000 ppm. My Jandy unit tells me the current salt level.

Shocking - I use unscented bleach (bleach is chlorine). Chlorine tabs have CYA in them and will raise your CYA level. The powdered shock you buy has calcium in it. I know our local water is already high in calcium, so I'd prefer not to increase it.

There is nothing wrong with cartridge filters. They have to be cleaned at least every year. I've never had to replace any of mine. Sand and DE filters needs to be back-flushed.

Cartridge filters are ok, the do not filter as efficiently as d.e. Though. You'll have to run e filter and pumps longer to filter the same amount of water. De is a better choice in my mind. It's nice to be able to clean the de filter as you would a cartridge OR to just backwash instead.

Someone else posted using bleach to shock and that's ok, but calcium hypochlorite shock is great and a standard practice. You might look into your water chemistry before avoiding the calcium, having a large disparity between the water and the plaster of the pool can cause leaching and shorten the lifespan of the pools finish.

Salt level 2000-3000
CYA 50-80
Pay close attention to the ratio of free chlorine to total chlorine.

Edit*. The total hardness test (done at Leslie's, your own test kit or test strips) will show whether your calcium levels are an issue. If low you need to add calcium if too high there are dilution products that easily fix the situation. As above poster mentioned, it depends highly on your local water source.

troublefreepool.com.

Read it. It will make your life simple.

Keep Chlorine between 2-5ppm
CYA between 30-70
Ph around 7.5
Salt around 2400
TA around 110
CH around 280-300

And just sit back and never worry about your pool outside of keeping those numbers in check by adding acid, increasing salt gernerator %, etc.

Oh, and stay away from Leslies unless you like giving money away and buying BS products.

The only think you should ever put in your pool is Chlorine (bleach or shock from Home Depot), Salt (least expensive), Muratic Acid to lower pH, and Cyanuric Acid to add Stability (from Home Depot). The rest of the products are total bull**** gimmick products you don't need at all if you get the numbers right.

I have a DE filter. Would recommend.

quote:

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I probably don't spend more than 30-45 min / week on it. That being said, if I lived in town, I'd probably pay a service to come take care of all that for me.

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I spend probably 5 minutes every 6 months on it. I hire people to do everything at my house, except the pool because it's so easy. I actutally enjoy it.

quote:

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troublefreepool.com.

Read it. It will make your life simple.

Keep Chlorine between 2-5ppm
CYA between 30-70
Ph around 7.5
Salt around 2400
TA around 110
CH around 280-300

And just sit back and never worry about your pool outside of keeping those numbers in check by adding acid, increasing salt gernerator %, etc.

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troublefreepool is the bible.

BTW, the numbers posted are not quite correct - from their pool school page:

"If you have a SWG or very high levels of direct sunlight, CYA is typically kept between 70 and 80. "

" For a SWG, check the manual for the correct salt level for your unit. This level will typically around 3,000, but different models vary."