Brand new here.

[E Murph]

Ok, here it goes. I've been reading everything I can here and am a believer. I ordered my Taylor K-2006 test kit which I will be receiving tomorrow. I'm having a third of my water replaced Thursday because I can't get any chlorine to register and have found I have ammonia and too much CYA, I'll figure out how much I have when I get my kit but two different pool stores told me I have either 80 or 156 CYA. I put about 15 gallons of bleach in my 15,000 gallon pool and have almost eliminated the ammonia.
my main questions when I start fresh with this system;
1) I have a Nature 2 cartridge they sell me every spring for $129 I think I can throw it out?
2)They have me putting Jacks Magic Blue Stuff in twice a week (I've had the pool 10 years since new)
after reading pool school and a lot of great info from all you smart people it seems to me I'm paying for a cartridge to put metal in my pool and then paying for this Blue Stuff to take it out? Am I wrong?
3) I've been adding an algaecide, Pro 60, twice a week also. Should I continue this?
4)I don't want to continue adding CYA to my pool with tabs but when I won't be around for a few days or a weeks vacation is it ok to go back to the tabs while I'm away?

thank you for the warm welcome and I'm thankful I've found this site!

 

[DaninFLA]

first, welcome!

secondly, do not drain your pool yet. pool stores are horrible at testing, and the worst test is CYA. For giggles, i had three pool stores test my CYA last year...they said 0, 100, 100+. the real CYA was 30. dont make any decisions based on pool store testing.

If you have ammonia, then you probably dont have any CYA. a few more days while you wait for your test kit isnt going to make a difference. wait for that test kit!

to answer your questions:

1) nature 2 cartridge, do not buy another one, you dont want it.
2) no more magic potions, not needed.
3) no algaecide needed, dont buy it, dont put any in.
4) once you get your CYA under control, no issues using the chlroine tabs. you will know how much CYA you are adding and you will be fine. the issue is using them and not knowing the impacts it causes, but you are way ahead already.

for now...just keep adding bleach to the pool until your test kits comes and then run a full set of tests.

as far as draining, we dont know yet so dont waste the money. based on what you said, i might be more nervous about the metals in the pool than the CYA. the ammonia is going to consume your FC very fast, but you are on the right path. once you get rid of the ammonia (are you sure?) then your FC will start to hold. how does the water look? if its cloudy it could just be algae outbreak, which will also eat up all your FC

 

[E Murph]

Wow! Great info! Thanks Dan. The pool looks perfect. But no chlorine. I read on here about ammonia and went to the pet store and bought a test kit. Level was about 5 after 15 gallons of bleach it seems to be about .5. I am going to get more bleach and see if I can get rid of it all together and start to get a chlorine reading. Interesting that you say there probably isn't any CYA. The test strips I have show it but I guess those are worse than the pool stores? That Nature 2 filter apparently adds copper? Why would I want that? 10years I've been religiously following the pool stores directions. After all they built the pool. What a scam! The straw that broke the camels back was when I took them a water sample last week because I couldn't get a chlorine reading and they told me it was phosphates and sold me a $33 quart of garbage! So glad I found this site.
The on analysis from another pool store shows .6 for Metals. Should I be concerned about this? How do I test for this and fix it?

Thanks again for for the quick and friendly responses!

 

[BattleOfYakima]

Welcome to TFP! Congrats on ordering your test kit and reading this site. Now you're more qualified than the pool store employees!

Many pool stores will refund things for loyal customers, so don't be shy about returning the cartridge or even the empty bottle of phos remover. Worst they can say is no.

I can't help you with the metals, but many others can. There might be big decisions ahead and I highly suggest you take the time to learn all about testing with the k2006 before it comes so you can post a complete results list that is highly accurate so these decisions are made using the best possible data. Extended test kit instructions

 

[cowboycasey]

10 years of adding copper and no stains is amazing, you are going to do great here...

The bad: the copper may be bad and your pool may turn a nice shade of green when your FC gets high for a SLAM You can do a test to see what will happen..

Take a white 5 gallon bucket of pool water and add 1 tablespoon of bleach into it and stir... that is about 50PPM FC and usually over the amount needed for a SLAM..

report back what happens and if it turns green or anything else, take a picture before and after..