chapinSC

Our system was installed in 2009; Jandy Aquarite 20 with a T5 salt cell, and RS4 controller. This summer it appeared our salt cell needed to be replaced (system indicated generating, but clearly salt wasn't being produced). I purchased a generic replacement with excellent reviews, a Platinum Edition PEC-HW-T5 which was supposed to be a direct T-5 replacement. We knew from researching that depending on the firmware revision, the replacement cell might not work, and it didn't. However, the company who supplied the cell is no longer in business, so we couldn't return it or work with them on a firmware upgrade. My unit displays "r 1.4", so I assume that's the revision level. Has anyone done this upgrade or know precisely which part I need?

To update my post, I purchased the Taylor K-2006 test kit as suggested. I discovered through research that, in opposition to the pool store professional's opinion, very high CYA levels do cause chlorine to become ineffective, so the high CYA level was in fact largely the cause of the algae. I took the advice of "Village Idiot ;)" and increased my CH. I also drained (over time) probably half of my pool water. I now have absolutely no staining and the pool is a beautiful, bright white. The chalky substance is also gone, and could have been dead algae or calcium phosphate as suggested. We've had monsoons this summer (2013), and have had to drain probably 12" of water the past two months which has made pool chemistry interesting. Draining so much water lowered the salt level, requiring 4 bags of pool salt. With TA of 70, TC 3ppm, CH 60ppm and CYA 35 I have no stains, but am battling PH bounce, probably because of the low TA. I intend to increase my CH closer to 200 but plan to leave CYA and TA low for now.

First, thank you for your reply. I do test myself, but thought the pool store would be more accurate. I have ordered the Taylor 2006 kit you recommend, but in the meantime, here is what I got testing today: FC 2 PH 7.8 TA 90 My SWG is a Goldline, and the cell itself has T-cell-5. The control unit is an Aqua Rite 20. I went to the manufacturer's web site and their specs show: FC 1-3ppm PH 7.3 - 7.6 TA 80-120 CYA 60-80 (80 best) calcium 200-400 From what I could see, the pool store (Leslie's) used a combination of drop testing and strip testing. According to their last test my CYA was 90, so not too far off the SWG recommendation. Concerning the white chalky substance; I did have a PH spike (my mistake - I added too much baking soda), so perhaps that's it. You mention having a high TA, but I was told early on to maintain a TA over 110, so have always kept it between 110 and 120. That's also recommended by the SWG mfg. Is this a mistake? I have always tested my pools myself, and keep the chemicals in the recommended ranges, but sounds like I'm not testing all the chemicals I should. Would you please tell me which tests I should be doing, and the recommended levels for a fiberglass pool? And lastly, should I wait to put any liquid chlorine in the pool until my K-2006 test kit arrives next week? Thank you!

We've had five different fiberglass pools over the past 26 years and have never had a problem like this. Our chemicals were perfect during the past very hot summer in SC, however as the weather cooled in September, the pool turned a light green color. I cleaned the cartridge filter and it was coated with a thick, slimy, grainy white substance. About 2 weeks later, I discovered that same white slime-like substance covering the entire pool surface (under the water line). When you rub your hand over the surface, you get a chalky, slimy substance that is quite thick and doesn't dissolve off your hand in the water. You have to rub hard to get it off your hand. I went to the local pool store for water analysis. Here's what they gave me: FC +5 TC +5 PH 7.4 TA 110 AA 80 CYA +100 CH 70 salt 4,000 phos 2,500 They wanted to sell me a bunch of products to lower phosphates and deal with the green color, which they said was absolutely algae, and told me to start by draining half my pool to bring CYA down to 50. But my concern was with the slimy white substance coming off my pool, which they said they had never heard of. Because I've had bad experiences with folks who supposedly were trained in pool chemistry, I told them I wanted to research the slime problem before adding any chemicals. In checking various sites, it seems my slime problem is due to low CH, but that my CYA level was in fact too high. So I drained about 5", filled and went back to the pool store to purchase a calcium increaser and have the water tested again. This time I got: FC +5 TC +5 PH 7.6 TA 120 AA x CYA 90 CH 60 salt 4,000 phos 1,000 Again, they wanted to sell me a bunch of products to "aggressively" attack the algae problem and lower phosphates. I told the clerk that I believed reducing the CYA would allow the chlorine to be effective and I wanted to do that before purchasing any products. She said, "In my professional opinion, that isn't true. Reducing CYA won't help the algae problem." But this is the same clerk who had no idea why the pool was scaling and didn't understand the chemistry of phosphates and why the product she wanted to sell me to reduce phosphates would work. I have NEVER put a stabilizer in this pool. I have a 17,000 gallon fiberglass, with salt water generator and cartridge filter. I keep the filter clean, and balance PH, TC and TA but don't check anything else other than the salt level (which is provided by the SWG system). We had a lot of rain this summer, so had to drain off several inches of water 4 or 5 times. As a result of draining water, we had to add salt to the pool to keep our levels correct. I suspect our problems were caused when my husband purchased salt pellets (perhaps meant for a water softener) which must have had inert ingredients that caused the low calcium and high phosphate levels. I have in the past used chlorine tabs in the winter (when I shut off the SWG) so that might have caused some of the phosphate problem, but I've always used tabs in the winter, so don't think that alone would account for such a high phosphate level. My question is this. The local pool store told me to put 10 pounds of calcium increaser in, then a bunch of Phos Free and other products to reduce phosphates, then about $100 worth of algae treatment. Do you think the calcium is the cause of the white slime, and do you think I really need to reduce the phosphates now, considering they dropped 1500ppb by simply draining off 5" of water? Or should I drain more water to reduce CYA and phosphates even further? I purchased the calcium increaser from the pool store, but nothing else.

We've had several pools over the past 25 years. Fiberglass and vinyl both included. Our last pool was in Savannah with an 11' water table, and the pool was installed inground, so bottom of the pool was substantially lower. We did a "well point" to relieve pressure (required in many states) or when water table is extremely high. Our pool was completely surrounded by concrete decking all the way to the house (installed in a courtyard). The pool has been there for 6 years now with absolutely no problem. I don't think I would have even considered a liner pool for a couple of reasons. Mostly I love fiberglass and the low maintenance, but also I wouldn't have felt completely confident that the ground pressure wouldn't have cracked the vinyl underlay. For what it's worth I wouldn't hesitate to install a fiberglass pool.