Ready to switch to Bleach

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H

helppls

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Jun 26, 2009
16
San Jose, CA
Hi,

I just joined the forum and this is my first post. I've been reading previous posts for over a week and decided to make the switch to bleach to get my green pool sparkling clean. I just cleaned my DE filter and its on ready for the next step. My numbers from a water sample an hour ago and general info regarding my pool are below.


FC - 0
CC -0
pH - 8.0
TA - 120
CH - 350-400
CYA - 100


I absolutely love your site and have learned so much....but I'm still fairly new at this. I'd appreciate any help you can provide and perhaps a shot of confidence during this process. I'm putting my numbers in the pool calculator now. It's realy cool...

thanks so much in advance. S
 
Hi, welcome to TFP!

Since you list that you have CYA in your pool (and too much, I might add) I need to ask what you were using to sanitize your water... I assume some form of chlorine.

I will point out the obvious:

Your pH is too high. You want it to be closer to the 7.4-7.6 range

Your CYA is too high. The only way to lower that is to drain some of your water

You need chlorine in your pool pronto!

:goodjob: for using Jason's Calculator.

Can you add your pool specs to your signature, and your location in your profile? then we won't have to hunt that info down each time!

How are you testing your water? Good test kit? strips? pool store? We will recommend you get a test kit, either the Taylor K-2006, or TF-100, linked in my sig. This will save you a LOT of money and stress in a very short amount of time!!
 
Thanks for the response. I've been using floating tablets, liquid chlorine and powder shock, along with M acid... without success (currently green pool). I have an average test kit, strips and have been using the pool store for water evaluation...6/19 & 6/26 to get the CYA numbers. They tried to sell me Green algae out this morning, but I declined for now. I recently had to add water due to evaporation.
I'm about to add the acid(24 oz) to lower the Ph....

S
 
Go ahead and add the acid :wink:

But before you begin to tackle shocking to rid the pool of the green nasty, you should do some draining/refilling to get the CYA lower. At the very least to 60-70 which for shocking is more manageable - refer to the CYA chart....
 
Well, why do you think 75%? If your CYA is 100, 40% will get you down to 60....

Shocking at 100 CYA will be impractical at best - do realize how much chlorine that is? You have to hold it at shock level until the FC holds overnight, at a shock level of 40. :shock: Thatsallottableach..... :shock:

I'd even say try 70 to make things more manageable and then let it drop overtime thru water replacement.

No more pucks or powder shock! :whip:
 
That's what the pool calculator is telling me...75% Maybe I'm reading it wrong.
Last week the pool store said the CYA was 50-100 and today they said 100. I know I need to get a test kit that gives the CYA....but until then.

Any suggestions for draining. I'll have to buy a pump quickly as I borrowed the last time.

S
 
Santa Clara County requires that you drain into the sewer, not the street or ground. So you probably want to buy/rent a pump (I have a cheap sump pump, took 3 days to drain 2/3 of the pool) and run a hose into a tub drain or outside cleanout.
--paulr
 
You can get around draining your pool by shocking with liquid chlorine to higher levels and keeping your daily chlorine levels higher, also using liquid chlorine. So get your chlorine level to at least 25 and keep it there until you lose no more than 1 ppm overnight. Then let it fall to no less than 8. Your "normal" range to aim for is between 8 to 13. Add enough liquid chlorine daily to keep your level between 8 and 13.
 

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Buggsw said:
You can get around draining your pool by shocking with liquid chlorine to higher levels and keeping your daily chlorine levels higher, also using liquid chlorine. So get your chlorine level to at least 25 and keep it there until you lose no more than 1 ppm overnight. Then let it fall to no less than 8. Your "normal" range to aim for is between 8 to 13. Add enough liquid chlorine daily to keep your level between 8 and 13.
Click to expand...
I really don't recommend doing this. While it is possible, there are lots of challenges and problems with CYA at 100 or higher.

To get useful results from my Pool Calculator, you need to enter the correct values in the Target column. frustratedpoolmom suggested lowering CYA to around 70, so enter 70 in the target column for CYA and it will give you a percentage water replacement that matches what she has said.

You should keep in mind that the common CYA test reports values higher than 100 as if they were 100. So it may take more water replacement than you think to get the CYA level down. Of course, the higher CYA is right now, the more important it is that you get it lowered.
 
Yes, ideally, it would be best to get the CYA down, but dumping a lot of water can be a problem, too, depending on the area you live.

I have seen it posted over and over in this forum that you can do that and with splash out, backwashing, etc., it will eventually come down.
 
This case isn't about being Ideal. If you are trying to just maintain, without problems, it's not impossible to run with a higher CYA and overtime it will slowly drop.

But, when shocking is required, as it is in this case, it's just not practical, and lowering the CYA becomes the priorty.
 
Just an FYI re: your CYA reading...our first few water tests this year were done at the pool store and our CYA was reading 85-100. We were going to drain and refill but decided to wait until the TF-100 test kit we ordered arrived so we could test the water ourselves first. Our CYA readings w/ the TF-100 are at 30 consistently (we tested it several times because we couldn't believe the difference). We then shocked at the recommended level for CYA 30 and all went fine. So I would wait till you get a decent test kit before draining your pool.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. With a target CYA of 70 the water replacement is 30%. I did install an outlet to the sewer previously, so I'm all set to do it properly...just need to borrow a pump. In the meantime is it possible to put the backwash hose into the sewer outlet and empty some water that way...there goes the fresh DE I just added however. Guess I shouldn't worry about that tho.

I have at least 3 kits (3-way only), is there any way to add the CYA test to these kits by buying specific test solutions? Just thought I'd ask as the other kits are fairly new purchased before I began reading this forum. Also I do have my doubts about the pool store numbers...he just kept replying (ph is off the charts; cya is off the charts....I had to ask for the specific numbers a couple of times before he actually started running the test and giving me specifics.

s
 
If your backwash hose reaches the sewer that's ideal--no need to get another pump! And if your setup has a "waste" setting, that pumps straight to the backwash hose without actually backwashing, so you don't lose your existing DE.

You can get the CYA test individually from tftestkits.net, along with other individual tests e.g. the FAS-DPD chlorine test if you don't have that already.
--paulr

P.S. If you're on the west side of San Jose, check out The Pool Guys in Saratoga (yourpoolguys.com) they have a good deal on 12.5% liquid chlorine.
 
PaulR...thanks for the tip about chlorine, I'll check it out for sure. I just bought a 2pk at OSH yesterday 10%, so the 12.5% will be helpful with my future shock process..along with all the bleach I got at WM this week.
I just noticed DE coming back into the pool at start-up..depressing to say the least. So I've been reading postings about DE problems..

s
 
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