CYA Trouble!!

[Jeanjacket]

30,000 vinyl pool.
Pool store says I have 10 ppm of cya, I added 8 lbs of stabilizer at open (6 weeks ago), and have been using trichlor to get my cya level to around 40 around 15 lbs this year. I also use bleach to shock at night.

Why would my level be 10 ppm of cya after adding that much stabilizer?

Am I getting "pool stored"? And yes, I know I need a better test kit other than the strips.

Thanks in advance.

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome to TFP!

There is a reason we always say we do not trust pool store testing ... they often defy common sense.

Invest in one of the recommended test kits and understand your water.

 

[Jeanjacket]

Thank you. Does anything "eat" stabilizer? Based on the residual stabilizer at open and the 8 lbs I added, I should be a lot higher than 10 ppm, right?

- - - Updated - - -

Oh another thing, I just dumped the stabilizer in the skimmer, is this bad? I have a 60 sqft. DE filter.

 

[jblizzle]

There is a bacteria that will concert CYA, but only over winter it seems. Did you backwash soon after adding the CYA? We don't recommend that method.

Odds are the testing is just bad.

 

[Jeanjacket]

No I did not backwash.

Thanks for your reply.

 

[36racin]

Jean,
They usually recommend putting the stabilizer in a sock and hanging it front of a pool return. Not directly into the skimmer.

 

[Donldson]

The bottom line is that if the pool store says your CYA is 10 it really means your CYA is in a range between 0-500. When we say their results are worthless we aren't making a joke.

Adding the CYA to the filter works but you cannot backwash for a few days. It also takes at least a week after adding CYA to see it on a test.

Finally, you wouldn't mention that "I know I need a better test kit" if you didn't know we would tell it to you and that you are intentionally ignoring this advice. I'm busting your chops a bit on it because I was saying the exact same thing a few years ago and since I wised up I haven't had a single problem with my pool. Please consider learning from my bullheadedness.

 

[anonapersona]

I was guilty of the same error as Donldson, I "participated" here for almost 6 months while I worked on using up my test strips. Truthfully, I even bought a second round of strips when the first ran out.

By the time I got a real test kit my "freshly filled' pool was up to CYA 130 and I had persistent grass-like algae on the steps where circulation was poor. While I had not been "pool stored" yet I would have been come the first bit of warm weather.

I still had to drain and refill to lower the CYA and then re-balance the water afterwards. I am certain that had I bought the test kit first I could have easily saved that much in water and re-balancing chemicals 6 months later.