0.0834 lb of salt per 10,000 gallons raises salinity by 1 ppm. Enter your volume, current reading, and your generator's target — get pounds and bag counts.
Add 400.3 lb (≈10 × 40 lb bags) of pool salt
Raises salt from 0 to 3,200 ppm in 15,000 gallons. Use plain pool salt (99%+ sodium chloride, no additives). Broadcast into the shallow end with the pump running, brush to dissolve, and wait 24 hours before trusting the SWG reading.
This calculator gives you today's number. The app remembers your pool.
Salt drifts with rain, splash-out, and top-offs. Poolably saves your pool's volume and history, builds the full treatment plan in the right order, and reminds you when to retest — free on iPhone.
Get Poolably freeSalt does not evaporate or get consumed — the generator recycles it. Levels fall only through splash-out, backwash, and rain dilution, which is why a salt pool needs occasional top-ups rather than regular dosing. Volume accuracy matters double here: a 400-lb initial salting based on a 20% volume error is a real problem, so start with the volume calculator. For the rest of salt-pool care, the salt system guide and water chemistry guide cover the chemistry a generator does and does not manage for you.