just installed hayward aquarite - what next?

[christo]

my cya is 100 & i was losing the chlorine war. so since i had already bought the hayward figured i'd get it installed.
now that i have - no slat added yet.
the pool is pretty green right now - from the cya problem and 4 days without filtering - i moved all my equipment as well.

should i slam before salinate?
do i need to drain water to reduce the cya before i salinate? before i slam?
30k concrete pool - so the hayward table says 800lbs of salt.

and can anyone recommend an affordible source of liquid chlorine in maryland? figure with cya 100 i'm gonna need 40-50 gallons of chlorine to clear it up.

 

[Abigail K]

Welcome to TFP!

How are you testing your pool water? CYA "100" is the maximum reading on the test, very likely your CYA is much higher.
The common cause for such a high CYA level is the use of pucks or stabilised powdered chlorine (dichlor/trichlor).

Your question about SLAMming and doing a drain suggests that you have been reading through this site, good job!

With CYA "100", we would recommend a drain and refill, followed by a SLAM before you add salt.

In order to SLAM your pool, you would need one of the recommended test kits.

Someone else might be able to offer suggestions on where to find liquid chlorine.
In the meantime, I would advise you to (re-)read Pool School, in particular ABCs of pool water chemistry and how to chlorinate your pool. Additionally, please add your pool details to your signature according to the instructions in this post so that we can help you better.

 

[christo]

yeah - i've been reading this site. save me $50 already by not putting in the 2 quarts of metal free that the pool store recommended - i still have to take those bottles back. got the tf100 test recommended. and yes - i was wondering about the 100 highest reading on that tube. how do i see if it is higher? i guess i could dilute my pool water sample 50/50 with tap (or distilled water) and test again?
my pool guy - who has been my guy since i bought the house with the pool and at least the previous owner too - "said don't worry about cya (or calcium) that all gets resolved due to evaporation and refill... just put 40 gallons of liquid sodium in and it will clear". i said "sodium? don't you mean chlorine?" he said "yeah - thats what we call the liquid". of course he did not tell me where i could get it.
cya 100 brought me to this site - which i have been reading. previously i used granules to shock and pucks (2 in each skimmer basket replaced when fully dissolved - which was mostly weekly - to chlorinate - mostly without problems. and mostly diy - i only use the pool guy to close the pool - to make sure the lines are blownout correctly. i open myself. i have a hot tub attached so i keep that part open all winter.
this year is a bit different as i was out of town for a couple weeks and the house sitter emtpied the half full bucket of pucks in while i was gone. i think that spiked my cya so now i can't clear the pool with "normal" amounts of shock.
i had never paid attention to cya before this summer. now that i am converting to slat - i am leery of putting too much calcuim loaded granules in - since that will cause scaling on the salt cell.
seems like maryland has restrictions on liquid chlorine - at least from sources other than the grocery store. the walmart here does not sell the 2 gallon boxs of liquid (~$6.50) that someone here mentioned and found online here - http://www.walmart.com/ip/HTH-2pk-Liquid-Chlorinator/17043617