Saltwater chlorine issue
Hi everyone,
Looking for some advice and hoping to learn a bit here. I have a 12,000-gallon saltwater pool at my beach house, and I’m still getting the hang of managing it on my own.
When I got down here a few days ago, there was algae growing in all the corners, which wasn’t surprising since I haven’t been here in a few weeks. My Taylor test kit showed 0 free chlorine, pH was over 8.0, and CYA was below 20.
Here’s what I’ve done so far:
Added 1 lb of cal-hypo shock
Added muriatic acid to bring the pH down
Added 4 lbs of stabilizer to get the CYA closer to 60
The following morning I added 1 gallon of liquid chlorine
Added 2 bags of salt and have run Salt Boost twice over the last few days
The day after shocking and adding the salt, the pool tested at 8 ppm free chlorine. Today it’s down to 3.5 ppm, pH 7.4, CYA 60, which seems reasonable to me, but I’m wondering if I could have combined chlorine. I’ve never really dealt with that before, so I’m not totally confident in what I’m looking for. I have a Taylor kit, but I’m honestly not sure how to properly test for or interpret the CC result.
The water cleared up nicely and was crystal clear yesterday, which felt like a win, but today it has a very slight haze. There’s no visible algae anymore, so I’m not sure if I’m overthinking it or if something’s still off.
A few other factors:
It’s been around 100°F every day
We’ve had 8 people swimming for the last 3 days with plenty of sunscreen
Saltwater generator has been running with the recent salt additions
Does anything I’m describing raise any red flags? I’m trying to stay on top of things but still feel like I’m guessing a bit. Is the slight cloudiness just from the heavy swimmer load and heat, or does it sound like I should be doing something else? Any thoughts or suggestions would really help. Thanks so much!