Shocking A Salt Water Pool
It seems that I am cleaning my salt cell weekly - what am I doing wrong? Also, scale builds up on the cartidge filter - what is this - what causes it? I have "well" water - very soft. I use acid to keep the pool balanced - since temperatures are 100+ - I use one 1 lb of super shock once a week. Should I use super shock at all? Thanks for the question This is a really good question. This touches on something that I, along with many other real pool guys, will tell you: Only shock when the pool needs it, not because it's Saturday. The chlorine kills the algae, bacteria, organic matter, etc... Keep the chlorine level between 1.5 - 3.5ppm for home pools. Then you have what's called chloramines, or combined chlorine. This is when some of the chlorine becomes inactive and the organic matter starts to take over a bit. A simple test will reveal what the CC is. At 0.6ppm or over for 3 consecutive days, and you should shock. What many people do is shock each week. They're told to do so in order to kill the bacteria and organic matter. But, that's why you keep the chlorine level between 1.5 - 3.5ppm. By keeping the level here you're already killing any bacteria, so shocking once per week is a waste of time and money, most of the time. As long as you turn off the salt water generator (SWG) you can use Super Shock & Swim when AND/OR IF you need to shock the pool. Compare that to regular liquid chlorine and use whatever is less expensive. Swimming Pool Chlorine Pool Shock Pool Chlorine Concerning your calcium build-up, I'd like to have your complete chemical readings: Chlorine, CYA (cyanuric acid/stabilizer), pH, Alkalinity, Calcium Hardness, and Metals (iron and copper). It could be the hardness of the water, or the total alkalinity is off a bit. It's really difficult to say without having your readings. Get back to me with the chemical numbers and I'm sure I can help. To post a reply, or if you have a similar question, you can see your post on the Q&A page in the "Shocking A Pool" category. Swimming Pool Questions and Answers Check back to this post for updates or answers. Thanks and hope to hear from you soon. Robert
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