No it's clear. But I thought to do the BBB method I had to pass the overnight test. While shocking.
CYA rising in pool, Leslie's Pool Supply says to drain?!
- Thread starter twoolley
- Start date
You can run an overnight test to see if you need to shock. As long as you pass the test and the water is clear all should be well, and you were lucky to catch the problem before it could take hold. Most folks don't find out about the effects of high CYA until they have been religiously adding shock every week and the pool turns green anyway!
I'm all about the internet research. If I can read up on something obsessively... I WILL!
I love projects, and this pool looks like it's going to be right up my alley. We moved into the house 2 weeks ago and the internet is finally being installed today (AT&T's earliest installation window) and so I can finally get my internet at home back. It's been heck without internet.
Update on the pool: I added water last night and let it run off into the sewer. I also learned how to drain the pool via the water hose valve on the equipment pad. I didn't figure that out until 11:30 last night at which point I was the only guy in my neighborhood watering the lawn at midnight
This morning the water has returned to a normal level right below the drain at the top of the pool and I will run a full battery of tests when I get home tonight to see where my CYA sits. I am accepting the fact that it's going to take a while to get my CYA down to a level that I want it. I've got a shed in the back yard that I haven't really messed with yet. I'm thinking that is my new pool house, chemical storage, and testing station! :-D I'll also hold on to that lifetime supply of 3" tablets that LPS sold me and use them for stabalizer if I need it in the future.
I love projects, and this pool looks like it's going to be right up my alley. We moved into the house 2 weeks ago and the internet is finally being installed today (AT&T's earliest installation window) and so I can finally get my internet at home back. It's been heck without internet.
Update on the pool: I added water last night and let it run off into the sewer. I also learned how to drain the pool via the water hose valve on the equipment pad. I didn't figure that out until 11:30 last night at which point I was the only guy in my neighborhood watering the lawn at midnight
This morning the water has returned to a normal level right below the drain at the top of the pool and I will run a full battery of tests when I get home tonight to see where my CYA sits. I am accepting the fact that it's going to take a while to get my CYA down to a level that I want it. I've got a shed in the back yard that I haven't really messed with yet. I'm thinking that is my new pool house, chemical storage, and testing station! :-D I'll also hold on to that lifetime supply of 3" tablets that LPS sold me and use them for stabalizer if I need it in the future.
zea3 said:
I felt so bad for this guy in LPS yesterday. I was buying a pool toy for my son and he came in with a water bottle full of light green water. I asked him if it was a new pool and he said "no, just turned green" and I immediately thought his CYA has creeped up to the point where his chlorine isn't working. Algae bloomed and now he's got a green pool. From the tone in his voice he was obviously past the frustrated point and heading towards depressed. Apparently he'd been in several times and LPS was trying to help him clear up the problem. I wasn't there for long, but he was being sold liquid chlorine, algaecide, pool clarifier, PH Down, more of those dang tablets that they push on everyone, shock, and a slew of other things he probably didn't even need. Poor guy.
From the 2nd time I stepped foot into LPS I knew something was wrong with the method. The idea of adding chemicals that break down with chemicals that don't is just unsustainable.
You have a cartridge filter; they may allow you to add some DE to improve filtering, but it''s not necessary.
You do need to maintain the FC even while you wait for your test kit.
If the water is clear right now, and you pass an overnight loss test, you can live with CYA around 100. I've done it. You just have to maintain much higher FC, which rules out using the color-matching chlorine test. It will be FAS-DPD every time. If you fail to maintain FC and you get an algae bloom, then you'll pay the price for high CYA. Forget jugs of chlorine, you'll be needing drums of it. But if there is no algae bloom, you can take your time lowering CYA. You've already figured out watering the lawn with it. It will take a few weeks.
You do need to maintain the FC even while you wait for your test kit.
If the water is clear right now, and you pass an overnight loss test, you can live with CYA around 100. I've done it. You just have to maintain much higher FC, which rules out using the color-matching chlorine test. It will be FAS-DPD every time. If you fail to maintain FC and you get an algae bloom, then you'll pay the price for high CYA. Forget jugs of chlorine, you'll be needing drums of it. But if there is no algae bloom, you can take your time lowering CYA. You've already figured out watering the lawn with it. It will take a few weeks.
Welcome to TFP!
I have the EXACT same experience.... New house with pool and leslies! I was sent home with the biggest bucket of dichlor and soon started getting algae for seemingly no reason... thats when i found this forum and found out that pool stores are only in the business of selling chemicals...
Maintaining your pool is simpler than the pool stores make it look like and waaaayy cheaper than what people say.
You have to bring your CYA down eventually for economical chlorine use. Get the TF100 and take control of your pool. Do a full set of readings and post it here so that the forum can help you out.
I have been maintaining my pool for the past 4 weeks by the help of this forum and it has never looked better.... and this is my first time EVER maintaining a pool!
I have the EXACT same experience.... New house with pool and leslies! I was sent home with the biggest bucket of dichlor and soon started getting algae for seemingly no reason... thats when i found this forum and found out that pool stores are only in the business of selling chemicals...
Maintaining your pool is simpler than the pool stores make it look like and waaaayy cheaper than what people say.
You have to bring your CYA down eventually for economical chlorine use. Get the TF100 and take control of your pool. Do a full set of readings and post it here so that the forum can help you out.
I have been maintaining my pool for the past 4 weeks by the help of this forum and it has never looked better.... and this is my first time EVER maintaining a pool!
twoolley said:
If you could see green in the test bottle then he probably has copper or other metals in the water. The LPS near me won't test for metals unless you ask for it. The salesclerk likely did not have enough experience to recognize the probable cause of the green water.
Edit: Just wanted to add, that if you are running with high CYA, you may want to consider adding borates to the pool. Borates are usually added to improve the clarity and feel of the water, but an added bonus is the algae-static properties of borates. It helped me a lot last year when my pool had around 90 ppm for CYA.
Thanks for all the responses! It's pouring right now in Magnolia... so when I get home tonight I'm going to do another set of tests. Since my chlorine tower has finished dissolving all those tablets into the pool I am guessing i'm going to need to add bleach tonight.
I called the LPS that I've been using and they don't sell liquid chlorine AT ALL in any form. They only sell dichlor granuals.
People are going to think i'm crazy when I drive my cart up to a walmart check out with 10 bottles of bleach
I called the LPS that I've been using and they don't sell liquid chlorine AT ALL in any form. They only sell dichlor granuals.
People are going to think i'm crazy when I drive my cart up to a walmart check out with 10 bottles of bleach
Try Sam's Club, they sell 3 jug cases. Or Warehouse Pool Supply, they sell 10% but last time I checked Sam's was the better deal. Walmart Great Value is a better deal than that but I am wary of them now because at one time I was not sure the bleach was up to strength. Storage temperature is a big deal and so if the bleach sat in a truck or warehouse at 100 degrees plus it can degrade. I've never worried about Clorox so I spend the extra few cents to be sure.
If I store my bleach out in the shed in my back yard will it ruin it? Do I need to find somewhere inside in the air conditioning?
High temps will degrade bleach, strong bleach degrades faster, an exponential thing I think. When it hits 100 degrees here, I move the bleach case to the laundry room inside, since even the garage is really hot due to the color of the metal doors facing the SW sun. Best practice is to not buy too much at once in my case. I have a reserve of cal-hypo that is not bothered by the heat that stays outside in the shed, that is for emergency shocking. I know that I can get the pool to shock level and only raise the CH by less than 10 ppm and I know I have that much leeway there.
Bleach breaks down slowly over time, more quickly when stored at higher temperatures. It will last longest indoors in air conditioning. Depending on how hot it gets in the shed (cooler is better), and how long you keep the bleach in the shed (shorter is better), it might be alright out there.
In my case it's probably best to figure out how much it takes to stabalize my pool over a week then stock up on a weekly basis however much that may be. I'll start with 3 bottles on my way home today and keep it in the laundry room.
Thanks for the continuing help
Thanks for the continuing help
Update:
Test results tonight:
FC 3
TC 3
pH 7.5
TA 100
CYA 100
According to the pool calculator I need to add in 247 oz. of 6% bleach. I stopped on the way home today and picked up 4 96 oz. bottles so am good for today. Will I need that much every day?
Pool is still clear. The pump actually got fixed today, there was a slight leak. I'm starting to feel more comfortable with it than I did when we moved in 2 weeks ago. The whole concept doesn't seem foreign to me now and I'm not afraid of touching it because I'll break it. I need to replace a seal on one of the valves before I can get the port for an in-pool cleaner working again.
Test results tonight:
FC 3
TC 3
pH 7.5
TA 100
CYA 100
According to the pool calculator I need to add in 247 oz. of 6% bleach. I stopped on the way home today and picked up 4 96 oz. bottles so am good for today. Will I need that much every day?
Pool is still clear. The pump actually got fixed today, there was a slight leak. I'm starting to feel more comfortable with it than I did when we moved in 2 weeks ago. The whole concept doesn't seem foreign to me now and I'm not afraid of touching it because I'll break it. I need to replace a seal on one of the valves before I can get the port for an in-pool cleaner working again.
Did we ask you to double check the CYA by mixing half pool water and half tap water before you have it tested? If not, that will give a rough estimate how high your CYA really is. Most tests top out at 100 and the CYA could be higher. Also, is your pool surface plaster, fiberglass, or liner? I ask since you did not include a CA result.
The CA was still sitting at 400. It's a plaster pool
I diluted the sample with distilled water, my actual reading was 32 using a 1/3 dilution.
I diluted the sample with distilled water, my actual reading was 32 using a 1/3 dilution.
I had the same problem with CYA too high. My pool servicer said, it was caused by Leslie Pools chlorine tablets. That to stop using them...drain the pool and re-fill. So I did that and now its better. Not sure why their tablets would be bad for my pool. Its a fiberglass in-ground. So now I am really confused about this stuff. GRRRRRR.
Welcome to TFP!Hot-in-NV said:
The following are chemical facts independent of concentration of product or of pool size, yet are not disclosed by most pool stores or manufacturers:
For every 10 ppm Free Chlorine (FC) added by Trichlor, it also increases Cyanuric Acid (CYA) by 6 ppm.
For every 10 ppm FC added by Dichlor, it also increases CYA by 9 ppm.
For every 10 ppm FC added by Cal-Hypo, it also increases Calcium Hardness (CH) by at least 7 ppm.
Those slow-dissolve tablets/pucks are almost always Trichlor (sometimes tabs are Cal-Hypo, but usually not as they need special feeders). They add chlorine and CYA to the water, but the chlorine gets used up while the CYA sticks around. So you keep pucks in the water to maintain the chlorine level, but the CYA level will rise as a result unless you have a very large amount of water dilution. With a chlorine usage of 2 ppm FC per day, you increase CYA by over 35 ppm PER MONTH if there is no water dilution.
This is why we recommend mostly using chlorinating liquid or 6% unscented bleach as the primary source of chlorine. It will not add to CYA nor to CH.