New to BBB Method - CYA Question

Jump to latest Follow Reply
O

OliversDad

0
May 6, 2014
8
GA
Good Morning. We moved into a house with a pool 2 years ago this summer, so last year was the first full year maintaining the pool. We would go to Leslies with water samples every few days, and the water never got that clear, always slightly cloudy, and we had a few algae outbreaks.

This year, I was tipped off to this website and the BBB method. I am very excited to take control of our pool and have much more pool time this year! I have a new Taylor test kit per the recommendation of this site. Yesterday, I completed the complete test, and my results are at least 5 ppm FC, at least 5 ppm TC, 7.2 PH, 110 ppm TA, and my CYA only gets about half way to the bottom 100 mark. I say "at least" regarding the Chlorine because the red may be a little darker that what is offered on the test tube. I have a vinyl pool that is 18,500 gallons.

The pool is currently pretty cloudy. I am told that my main problem is the CYA and I need to drain at least half the water and refill, or I am wasting my time and keeping the chlorine that high will cost me a ton over the summer. Also, algae outbreaks are inevitable. Is the CYA actually this big of a problem? Is water replacement the only solution?

I look forward to receiving any insight you can provide! Thanks.

- - - Updated - - -

I created my signature
 
Welcome to TFP!

What test kit do you have? Your description of the chlorine test makes me think you have the DPD kit rather than the FAS-DPD test that you would need to test the chlorine levels you would need at a high CYA level.

You won't necessarily use a lot more chlorine with high CYA than with more reasonable CYA. Though you maintain a higher level, the CYA protects the chlorine from sunlight so you don't lose it as fast.

The real problem with high CYA levels comes when you have an algae bloom which starts consuming the chlorine. To effectively shock a high CYA pool, you need very high chlorine levels. 39ppm is shock level for 100ppm CYA. If you maintain your chlorine around 12ppm with your high CYA, you will have clear water. If you let it fall and algae gets started, you may have to work harder to fix it.
 
With a vinyl liner you always want to leave about one foot of water in the shallow end. Draining more risks having the liner shift. You may need to drain and replace two or more times to get the desired dilution.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
JasonLion said:
With a vinyl liner you always want to leave about one foot of water in the shallow end. Draining more risks having the liner shift. You may need to drain and replace two or more times to get the desired dilution.
Click to expand...

Okay, this is going to be expensive. We have never drained the pool before, so what setting do I put the pump on to get past the skimmer? There is a PVC pipe labeled "drain". Do I use the lever on that pipe?
 
There are two ways to drain with the main pool pump. If you have separate lines from the skimmer and main drain, you want to turn on the main drain line and turn off the skimmer.

If you don't you can often use a vacuum hose in the skimmer to allow it to draw water from deeper down. However, even a slight leak in the hose connection will result in loss of prime. To avoid that you can rig a cover pump to pump water into the skimmer so any leaks draw water instead of air.

In some cases you can instead make a syphon to draw water out of the pool using either a vacuum hose or a garden hose (slower).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply