New pool owner with big trouble

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Nedaz

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Sep 15, 2013
4
New here, Hi


I purchased my home about a year ago and sorta took care of the pool. I was away from the house for about two weeks and the pool turned slightly green. I visited by nearby pool store and used their pool first aid product, and cleaned the filter and have been watching chem levels closely since.
I not sure what to do now that i have the pool back to being crystal clear though. Here's the test results from a Taylor K 2006 kit:
FC - 6 ppm
CC - I'll check
pH - 7.4
TA - 160 ppm
CH -1250 ppm
CYA - 500 ppm
Borates - nope

There's an unsightly calcium crust at water's edge that traps insect debris and liberates bits and pieces as the crust dissolves. What would be my best course of action going forward? According to your chorine chart i'm off the scale.

Thanks
 
:wave: Welcome to TFP!!!

How did you get a CYA of 500ppm when the test maxes out at 100ppm?

Review the SLAM process that is described in Pool School to be sure you have fully eradicated the algae. If you have, then you just need to be sure to maintain adequate FC that is dependent on your CYA level ... which is currently suspect.
 
The calcium crust is probably scaling from your high calcium level. But before going further, help us understand that CYA result. If it is accurate, both your CYA and CH are high. The solution might be the same for both; once we're all on the same page with what the problems are / might be, we can come up with the best plan to address them.
 
jblizzle said:
Well then you need to replace 90% of your water to get the CYA to a reasonable range.

Have you only been using Trichlor and Dichlor?
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Terrific. Once I replace the water, how do I remove the the calcium crust?

Yes, only the 3 inch tablets. That is until last week, when I switched to Clorox.
 
Nedaz said:
Terrific. Once I replace the water, how do I remove the the calcium crust?
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That depends on how quickly you want it removed. If you are in a hurry, you can scrub it with a mix of muriatic acid (MA) and water along with a stiff (but not stainless on tile) brush and lots of elbow grease. If you want to avoid all this manual effort, it will gradually fade by managing the pH and TA levels. When I inherited my pool, there was a calcium ring all around the tile. After about a year and a half it disappeared with no other manual effort. So when I say gradually, I'm not kidding.

Here is what I call the definitive guide on managing calcium scale: Progress on scale
 
Thanks for the responses and the help. This drain/refill will take some planning and $$. I read somewhere that it's best in my desert environment to refill in the winter. So to stall the inevitable could I maintain a close watch on the FC levels and maintain them at ~10 ppm for a few months until the weather cools? That is, without making a bigger problem?
 
Wow, with a CYA level that high I don't know how you don't have a black lagoon. You're way off into uncharted territory if you want to try and put off draining. I would guess, based merely on extrapolation, that you would need to maintain a minimum FC level of around 35 with CYA of 500, target level around 60. As stated thats just a wild guess based on the Chlorine/CYA Chart which only goes as high as 100 CYA. I don't know if its even possible to maintain an active FC level high enough to keep the water sanitary with a CYA level that high. Where's chem geek when you need him???? :mrgreen:
 

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Nedaz said:
Thanks for the responses and the help. This drain/refill will take some planning and $$. I read somewhere that it's best in my desert environment to refill in the winter. So to stall the inevitable could I maintain a close watch on the FC levels and maintain them at ~10 ppm for a few months until the weather cools? That is, without making a bigger problem?
Click to expand...
You might want to consider trying the RO (reverse osmosis) treatment if it is available in your area. I don't know the price comparison for RO vs. drain/refill. Calsaway is one of the companies. But, if the pool goes green, laden with algae, they cannot do the RO.
 
I wonder, if there was a way to accurately measure the CYA this high, if it wouldn't actually be way higher than 500. With a 4 to 1 dilution and a result of 100 thats still at the upper limit of the test's accuracy is it not? Isn't the standard advice when doing the test the normal way and getting a result near 100 to then do the dilution test? Anyone have any idea as to whether or not the result would be remotely reliable if one were to do an even higher than 4 to 1 dilution? Say along the lines of 9 to 1? Just wondering where the point of diminishing returns would be.
 
I just skimmed this thread but the OP is in AZ and its known to have high CH in AZ. Also, your CYA is certainly greater than 100CYA, even if it's not 500CYA, you need to replace or otherwise "fix" your water.

This likely means replacing essentially 100% of the water or reverse osmosis. Since RO is about the same cost as replacing the water and you end up with nearly 0CYA and 0 CH, it seems like a good option in Arizona. It's not really an option elsewhere.
 
techguy said:
Since RO is about the same cost as replacing the water and you end up with nearly 0CYA and 0 CH, it seems like a good option in Arizona. It's not really an option elsewhere.
Click to expand...

I am not sure this is a good general statement. RO is $300-$500, replacing all my water cost me $15 (plus required chemicals). Now I realize that my water is ridiculously cheap, but one estimate we came up with was $5/1000 gallons ... maybe a little more in PHX.

For their 28k pool, @ $5/1k that would be $140 ... or even $10/1k that would be $280 for the water plus maybe $50 in start up chems.

Since this is a large pool, the RO treatment is likely on the $400+ side AND there is still something like 10-15% water replacement required ... which is still a good bit more than just replacing the water.

Honestly, I am not sure when the RO makes sense. I think the replacement water would have to be VERY expensive or VERY limited for it to be cheaper.

EDIT: Thought of one advantage of the RO would be the ability to get the CH lower than the fill water if the fill water was a high CH. This could slightly delay the next refill/RO when the CH climbs again due to evaporation.
 
OK, I may be wrong about the the cost of the re-fill.

I know my costs by looking at my water bill and figuring out how much water it takes and at pricing tier it was at.

I guess the take-away here, learn your costs and figure out which solution works best for your wallet and your needs... like the rest of the BBB system, know your needs by testing (researching) and then make the correct action based on the knowledge.
 
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