Just Another Newbie......

[bluewaterbaby]

Just want to start by saying WHAT A GREAT WEBSITE!!!!! The information from the postings is phenomenal and I'm sure I will eventually get the hang of it, but for now I need HELP! We opened our new to us, first time ever owning a pool approx. 1 week ago, water was perfectly clear so we took water sample to one pool store who tested and got the following:

FC 3.2
TC 3.2
PH 6.6
TA 50
CH 130
CYA 0

We were using Trichlor tabs at the time. We were not really impressed with this pool store so hedged our bets and took it to a second who gave us the following:

FC 0.5
PH 6.0
TA 0
CH 0

so 5 days ago we added ( not knowing any better!) 25 lbs of sodium bicarbonate and 50 lbs of calcium increaser as we were told to do and were told to continue using the Trichlor tabs in our skimmers. We also purched as Taylor K2005 kit. We asked for one of their pool techs to come to the house and make sure we were operating the pump system properly and while he was there he used our kit and tested and found that our CYA level was sitting at 150. He took another sample back to the store to test and 2 days ago ( Friday) we got a phonecall saying that we needed to drain the pool completely to get rid of the CYA. At this point I got really cranky and found this website so yesterday we drained abot 25% of the pool, added fresh water and at 1:30 pm we added 11.37 gallons of liquid clorox and kept the pump running all night ( it also has rained profusely here over the last 12 hours and is about to rain again). Here are my test results as of 2:00 pm:

FC 15
TC 15
CC 0
PH 7 ( this is is TOTALLY not accurate as the test started yellow and then went to a light green after about 1 minute)
TA 100
CH ?? the test just stayed a dark purple color?
CYA 120

I see the FC/CYA chart says I need to shock to 39 so should I just keep adding the bleach or keep draining and filling the pool until the CYA level drops?? ( is it true that CYA floats at the top of the water level?)

Any advice at this point would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[JasonLion]

The CYA test in the K-2005 will tend to read any CYA level over 100 as something close to 100, so your actual CYA level could be higher than you think.

You should continue replacing water to get your CYA level down below 100, and preferably down to around 50.

The PH test is not reliable when the FC level is very high, so it is difficult to say what your PH really is.

If your water is clear and the FC level remains relatively stable there may not be any need to shock.

 

[bluewaterbaby]

Alrighty then .... I will watch it continue to rain ( buckets at the moment!) and drain and refill a couple more times to try to get the CYA down. We were told that CYA "floats" over the chlorine so by our logic we should just drain to below the skimmers and then refill?? Can we let the FC drop or keep it constant at this point?

 

[bluewaterbaby]

Sorry - forgot to mention that we are on a community well system that treats with chlorine so our tap water reads FC 0.5

 

[coloeb]

I am thinking you will need to do 2 more 25 percent water changes to get a cya of around 60. Dont add any chemicals untill the water changes have been completed because you would be wasting money there.I dont have any experience with a liner type pool but I have read that fully draining it may cause the liner to get folds and wrinkles.I would keep an eye on the chlorine levels as well to guard against algea formation.

 

[bluewaterbaby]

Yes - I have also read that you should not fully drain a liner pool as it will cause wrinkles or even tear the liner, so I will just keep trying the partial draining and filling. I have notice the deep end is not as clear as it was - is that because of the rain? I will wait to test FC until I fill back to where I can turn the filter back on.