New (to us) pool with high CYA

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Slmanbeck

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May 17, 2016
14
StauntonVa
New to us pool with very high CYA yikes!
Hi! You all have been a wealth of knowledge so far. My neighbor told me about the BBB method to keep her pool clean and I have been learning from old threads.
We moved to this house around the end of last summer so really didn't experiment with the pool much. It was professionally closed and all seemed fine. I took the cover off a few days ago and was pleseantly surprised. Slight alge and a little cloudiness. I have used bleach to clear up the alge but cannot get rid of the cloudiness. We did have our laterals and stand replaced in filter as they were cracked. Also had sand changed.
I know I need to order the correct test kit and plan to do so ASAP. Per the test strips (I know I know! Awful and inaccurate but it's all I have) My PH is ok but FC is over 10 (high as the strip goes) and "stablizer appears to be in the 200s (not as dark as the darkest on my strip which is 240) I'm pretty sure previous owner was using dichlor as we found a lot of it in our barn. I'm guessing a partial drain is in order?
My husband thinks I'm nuts and need to have the pool company come back but I don't want to be reliant on them. I've also heard horror stories of the things they tell people.
So my questions are..
Begin the partial drain or wait for the test kit to confirm actual CYA then drain?

Can I do a few smaller drains or is that pointless? We would be refilling with well water and our well also supplies all our cattle waterers. I don't want to put too much of a strain on the well pump and not be able for the animals to all have water.
 
Welcome to TFP :)

If the strips are reading that high your CYA is probably above 100, but like you say, they are guess strips :)

sand filters take the longest to clear a cloudy pool but they are the easiest filter to use...

It will not hurt to empty 20% of the pool and refill before your test kit and it will be easier for the well to recover doing it slowly.. when you get your test kit we can see where you really are and go from there...

Another option may be to bring water in, not sure if its possible.. if you use this option wait till after your test kit as we want to know for sure where you are at

I promise he will not think you are nutts when you have a sparkly TFP pool, it is easy once you get going and WAY cheaper than the pool store..

I hope this helps :)
 
Get that neighbor over and tell her to bring her test kit. You already have a good clue the CYA will be high just by all the dichlor. So mix up a 50-50 tap water/pool water solution and test that. Then double it. Then you know how much to replace.

It's less efficient to do partial drains. Each time you refill and then drain again, some of that water you just added gets lost. But the well and the cattle take priority over the pool, so do what you must.
 
Thank you! I may just begin to drain some while I wait for my test kit. I'm not incredibly friendly with the neighbor so I won't ask them to come down and help me test (not a bad idea though) What is the best way to drain? I don't have an additional pump... Can I turn off the valves to my skimmer and then drain to waste from my main drain? Does that even make sense?

- - - Updated - - -

I should add that by plugging in my test strip results into the pool calculator it said I need to replace 60% of my water in my roughly 30,000 gallon pool. That sounds like an awful lot?
 
Slmanbeck said:
Thank you! I may just begin to drain some while I wait for my test kit. I'm not incredibly friendly with the neighbor so I won't ask them to come down and help me test (not a bad idea though) What is the best way to drain? I don't have an additional pump... Can I turn off the valves to my skimmer and then drain to waste from my main drain? Does that even make sense?
Click to expand...
If your main drain is plumbed separately, absolutely! You're lucky. Skimmers closed, multiport set to waste and go. Be careful if you have a backwash hose hooked up, because it's like a firehose. It'll whip around unless it's restrained somehow. And make sure there are no kinks or twists in it before you hit the switch, because they don't unkink. They pop. Ask me how I know.
 
Good tip! Thanks for the heads up. I just did a little test and my backwash hose seems to remain in place by the way it's laying. Though I'll have to move it around a lot to not flood the bull lot right next to the pool. Thinking they don't want to go swimming
 
Partial drain under way. I ordered my test kit last night. With today being a holiday I'm assuming it won't be here before the weekend. I don't want to wait that long to not do anything to the pool as we're under a slight time crunch (daughter is having a pool birthday party in 2 weeks). Thinking I will drain about 2 feet of water, refill and test to see where I'm at. Today should be really sunny so even if I am eliminating a small amount of CYA my FC should decrease some?
 
Yes, after refilling (when you can filter/circulate water) add some bleach everyday until your test kit arrives. If you have a small or medium sized pool add 1/2 gallon every day, if you have a larger pool add a whole gallon. (Speaking of, will you fill out your signature with your pool info?)
 

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Depending on how nasty the pool is, if the pump pressure gauge cannot be monitored it is better to run the pump on recirculate. If your PSI does not rise very quickly, then filter is much better. If you are running 24/7 without quick pressure rise, you're doing fine. :)
 
Pool is blue but cloudy so I am assuming I'm good on filter? I drained roughly 1 foot last night, refilled and drained another 18 inches this morning and am in the process of refilling. I would have done more but wanted to be refilled before it got hot and the cows needed water. Just tested and my FC appears to have come down to around 5-6. And CYA is more in the range of 100. Still high but definitely better.
I'm assuming the water is not safe for the kids to swim in?
 
Slmanbeck said:
Was your water clear? I'm wondering what else is going on in my pool to make it so cloudy or is that from high CYA but not high enough FC?
how did you end up clearing up the issue without draining?
Click to expand...
My water was clear, so I just had to maintain adequate FC for my CYA so it wouldn't go cloudy or green until the water restrictions were lifted and I could replace some.

Cloudiness either comes from natural phenomena like sandstorms or floods (rare) or insufficient chlorine for the CYA level (almost universal) Once algae gets started, it'll keep growing. You kill some and more replaces it and the water gets murky with the bleached dead carcasses. The filter can't keep up with the load because it never stops. And then one day you skip chlorinating or the weather gets hot and boom, green.
 
Richard320 said:
My water was clear, so I just had to maintain adequate FC for my CYA so it wouldn't go cloudy or green until the water restrictions were lifted and I could replace some.

Cloudiness either comes from natural phenomena like sandstorms or floods (rare) or insufficient chlorine for the CYA level (almost universal) Once algae gets started, it'll keep growing. You kill some and more replaces it and the water gets murky with the bleached dead carcasses. The filter can't keep up with the load because it never stops. And then one day you skip chlorinating or the weather gets hot and boom, green.
Click to expand...

makes so much sense! Thank you. That chart was incredibly helpful too. I will hold off on any more draining until my test kit comes. I picked up some 10% chlorine liquid this morning. I'm hoping that will help me maintain the level I need to combat the cloudy.
 
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