New Pool - Already Added 36 Pounds of Cyanuric Acid (Is this normal?)

[jasondinner]

Hey Guys

I just got a new pool put in my yard.

38K gallons salt water. Has intellichlor set up. Pentair equipment.

Has ozonator.


I've gotten 3 water tests in the last 3 weeks and the first one told me to add 18 pounds of bioguard stabilizer 100 (cyanuric acid).

Literally spent HOURS pushing it around my pool until it dissolved.


Then most recent test a little over 2 weeks later said my cyanuric acid levels were back down to 0 and that I needed to add another 18 pounds.



Is that even possible?


If the sun is out, it is on my pool all day. Never gets any shade.

But I've read and seen in so many places that you only need to treat your pool with cyanuric acid once per season.


Why have I had to put 36 pounds of it into my pool in less than 3 weeks?

If anyone has any suggestions or ideas, I would greatly appreciate the feedback.



Also if there is another way I can maintain the cyanuric acid levels without having to spend 10+ hours doing so, would welcome those suggestions too.

Seriously can't imagine living the rest of my life like this wasting 10+ hours of my life away pushing this stuff around my pool.


Thanks,

​Jason

 

[bobodaclown]

Hello Jason? Do you have an auto fill? Who's testing your pool water? You should order one of the test kits recommended here and provide the numbers. How's the pool looking?

 

[Donldson]

Welcome to TFP!

Well, no, that isn't normal and your CYA level is likely 120 despite the pool store's insistence otherwise. Unfortunately we have found over and over again that pool store testing and recommendations are not trustworthy. If your CYA level is indeed that high then you are going to have to drain some water to get it down, that is about double what you want it to be at...

At this point your best option is to no longer rely on pool store testing or advice (they should have told you how to add CYA, dumping and brushing it is not optimal as you know now) and take control of your pool yourself. The first step is to confirm your numbers before making any big changes, which means your own test kit. Most kits you find at the store are not quite up to the task, to make sure your new pool is taken care of the best it can be involves investing in a kit that will give you accurate numbers of all the parameters you need. Your best, most reliable options are the Taylor K-2006 or the TF-100 (my personal choice). These both contain the tests you need to really take control of your pool.

The best place to get them is online, local pool stores rarely carry them and if they do they have often been sitting on the shelves a while. While waiting for the order to come in I would have you take a look at the Pool School, particularly ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry . This will give you an idea of the terminology we will use here in helping you get this mess straightened out and get your pool running optimally.

 

[pooldv]

Welcome to TFP!

According to Poolmath, link above ^^^, 36 lbs of CYA will add 114 ppm to your pool. Here is how we recommend adding CYA and other chems to your pool, Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals

I use a TF-100 test kit and I buy it from TFTestkits.net. This will show you that it is the best value, Pool School - Test Kits Compared

Please add your pool info to your signature so that we can better help you. More here on what to put in your signature and how to do it, Pool School - Read This Before You Post

 

[jasondinner]

Thanks for the replies so far.

They run it through some bioguard water tester and it spits out a printout of levels and recommendations.

Also I was told by my installer that in order to ensure my equipment is backed in case of any malfunction or failure that the bioguard water test printouts will protect me from being accused of abuse.

So that is the only reason I've done it this way, aside from not knowing what im doing bc it's my first ever pool.

 

[rolo918]

OK just stop what you're doing and what they're telling you stop going to the pool store immediately order a TF-100 test kit go buy some bleach and add 1 gallon per day until your test kit arrives

 

[AimeeH]

Thanks for the replies so far.

They run it through some bioguard water tester and it spits out a printout of levels and recommendations.

Also I was told by my installer that in order to ensure my equipment is backed in case of any malfunction or failure that the bioguard water test printouts will protect me from being accused of abuse.

So that is the only reason I've done it this way, aside from not knowing what im doing bc it's my first ever pool.

Welcome to TFP. We would highly reccomend testing and balencing your own water. But if you need that paperwork of professional testing for your warranty,you certainly should have that. You can then chose to take their advice or follow the TFP way.

The advice you will get here will differ from the pool stores but should keep you in the levels advised for any warranty.......we don't sell pool chemicals, just try to help people understand what and why to add things to the pool.

 

[pookiesunshine]

you might try a Leslie's pool store. The ones near me use wet chemical methods like the test kits and have the same type test for CYA.

 

[jasondinner]

I created my sig file and added it to the OP.

Just stuck an instatst 6 strip in and here's what it says based on color chart.

Free chlorine between 3 and 5
Total chlorine close to 10.
Alkalinity between 180 and 240
pH around 7.8
TH about 100
CyA between 100 and 150

 

[Schadenfreude]

Hang in there. You have a bit of work to do to get your chemistry balanced, but, once you've done that, maintenance will be easy, fun and only take a few minutes a day. Listen to the advice you are given here, do NOT trust pool store tests (ever) and get yourself a T-100 with speedstir ASAP.

Edit: your SWG is probably inadequate for your pool. See if you can get your PB to upgrade to an IC60 - then you won't have to be adding chlorine or running your SWG 24/7 at 100%.

 

[flipr]

Edit: your SWG is probably inadequate for your pool. See if you can get your PB to upgrade to an IC60 - then you won't have to be adding chlorine or running your SWG 24/7 at 100%.

I just noticed that, too, my PB installed IC40 on my ~10k size pool, at 36k it will be running non-stop and cell will die an early death.

 

[jasondinner]

Edit: your SWG is probably inadequate for your pool. See if you can get your PB to upgrade to an IC60 - then you won't have to be adding chlorine or running your SWG 24/7 at 100%.

I brought this up to my sales rep and he said "no you have under 40K and an ozonator."

And these guys install 300+ pools a year and the guy tried selling me everything. So at this point, the fact that he didnt say I needed it based on my set up, i guess only time will tell.