Added CYA to clear light green pool - does it take a full week to turn blue?

Jump to latest Follow Reply
J

jonesy119

0
Feb 10, 2015
16
Seattle, WA
Hello! New pool owner but learning, in large part due to these forums. I had to do some adjusting as the previous owners didn't seem to take very good care of the pool, but my numbers are starting to come into line now:

FC 5
CC 0.5 (believe this high because of the unbalanced water - has dropped from 1 over the last couple days)
PH 7.6
TA 110
CH 310
CYA 33 (or maybe less)

Two days ago I added an amount of CA using the sock - skimmer method to hopefully get the number to 60 or 70 (wanted to aim low given this is my first time - can always add more) and realize it can take up to a week for it to fully dissolve.

My question is, will the color change be a gradual process or will I wake up in a week or so to sparkling, clear blue water? I'd think it would be gradual and would like to know because would seem to be a strong indicator I'm on the right track.

What's really frustrating is I had two different pool companies come out before deciding to maintain the pool myself, and clearly they did nothing with the CYA. I don't even think they tested for it. Hard to believe they just missed it or ignorant about CYA's importance.
 
I think you are misunderstanding the role of CYA. Chlorine is not the parameter you need to clear up your pool. CYA is needed to help the chlorine stay in the pool but it will not clear up the pool in anyway.

read "The ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry" up in Pool School. Then read the SLAM article and ask lot's of questions before you start your SLAM....we'll all help.
 
Saw your post and figured I'd chime-in while you wait for others. Suggestion #1 - Focus on maintaining proper chlorine level to kill and neutralize any algae or bacteria. Not clear why you want your CYA to be so high (over 60), but be careful since once it gets high, the only way to lower it is usually to replace the water. Your PH and TA are fairly close, so I would focus on the SLAM method noted on this web site to keep your chlorine levels high enough to do its job. I believe more than anything, that steady, increased chlorine level (bleach!) will help clear your water to crystal clear. As for the pool companies, or stores for that matter, you are correct when you believe they are giving you different answers. Using the test kit(s) recommended by this site, doing it yourself, and staying faithful with the Pool School/SLAM instructions on this site will save you lots of time and $$$$$! Good luck.

- - - Updated - - -

ha ha. Dave beat me to the punch. :)
 
duraleigh said:
I think you are misunderstanding the role of CYA. Chlorine is the parameter you need to clear up your pool. CYA is needed to help the chlorine stay in the pool but it will not clear up the pool in anyway.

read "The ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry" up in Pool School. Then read the SLAM article and ask lot's of questions before you start your SLAM....we'll all help.
Click to expand...

+ 1...Free Chlorine is the answer.
 
It sounds like you are describing a green tint to the water, if so you may have a metal problem, clear green often means copper in the water, cloudy green means algae. Do you know if you have high levels of copper in your fill water, or has copper based algaecide been used in the past? Adding chlorine to a metal problem will often make it appear worse, so if you add chlorine and it does not clear up it may be metals.
 
Yikes, obviously I didn't word my original post very well (as Dave S pointed out). Yes, I do know CYA doesn't by itself make the water turn blue, but until I super chlorinated a few days ago I was consistently running low on FC, so my thinking was without the necessary level of CA it was burning out before it could do its job properly. Also, "supposedly" the pool Co. shocked it when they opened it for me. I know now they didn't, or did a terrible job.

I started to read the SLAM articles, but actually think the problem could be metal based as Isaac pointed out. My pool has always been consistently light green and clear and chem readings don't fit for when it should be slammed (as noted at http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/125-slam-shock-level-and-maintain-shockingl), so not sure if that fits the profile for an algae problem as I've read so far. I don't yet know how much copper is in my fill water, but do know Knoxville does have hard water which means there's a good chance copper could be high. There's also a fair amount of staining on the gunite which I believe is often caused by copper.

So my questions are:

- Is there any downside to shocking the pool (using bleach method) now given it was probably never done properly?
- Or should I determine the copper\other metal levels first? And if so, are copper test strips sufficient enough for that or are more advanced kits necessary?

Thanks!
 
jonesy119 said:
Yikes, obviously I didn't word my original post very well (as Dave S pointed out). Yes, I do know CYA doesn't by itself make the water turn blue, but until I super chlorinated a few days ago I was consistently running low on FC, so my thinking was without the necessary level of CA it was burning out before it could do its job properly. Also, "supposedly" the pool Co. shocked it when they opened it for me. I know now they didn't, or did a terrible job.

I started to read the SLAM articles, but actually think the problem could be metal based as Isaac pointed out. My pool has always been consistently light green and clear and chem readings don't fit for when it should be slammed (as noted at http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/125-slam-shock-level-and-maintain-shockingl), so not sure if that fits the profile for an algae problem as I've read so far. I don't yet know how much copper is in my fill water, but do know Knoxville does have hard water which means there's a good chance copper could be high. There's also a fair amount of staining on the gunite which I believe is often caused by copper.

So my questions are:

- Is there any downside to shocking the pool (using bleach method) now given it was probably never done properly?
- Or should I determine the copper\other metal levels first? And if so, are copper test strips sufficient enough for that or are more advanced kits necessary?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

When you did your CH test did it fade to blue as instructed, or purple? Mine was fading to purple (Taylor K2006 as well) and from what I found on the Google machine, that was due to metals. That does not really tell you the concentration of metals from what I know. There are test strips, but as with the other test strips I don't know that they are worth it.
I took mine to my pool store where I generally buy my LC and they tested it on their machine.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
jonesy119 said:
Yikes, obviously I didn't word my original post very well (as Dave S pointed out). Yes, I do know CYA doesn't by itself make the water turn blue, but until I super chlorinated a few days ago I was consistently running low on FC, so my thinking was without the necessary level of CA it was burning out before it could do its job properly. Also, "supposedly" the pool Co. shocked it when they opened it for me. I know now they didn't, or did a terrible job.

I started to read the SLAM articles, but actually think the problem could be metal based as Isaac pointed out. My pool has always been consistently light green and clear and chem readings don't fit for when it should be slammed (as noted at http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/125-slam-shock-level-and-maintain-shockingl), so not sure if that fits the profile for an algae problem as I've read so far. I don't yet know how much copper is in my fill water, but do know Knoxville does have hard water which means there's a good chance copper could be high. There's also a fair amount of staining on the gunite which I believe is often caused by copper.

So my questions are:

- Is there any downside to shocking the pool (using bleach method) now given it was probably never done properly?
- Or should I determine the copper\other metal levels first? And if so, are copper test strips sufficient enough for that or are more advanced kits necessary?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

you need to find out if you need to SLAM. get your FC up to around 10-15ppm and do the OCLT test. if you pass that, you don't need to SLAM. if you fail, you need to do the full SLAM. read about it and get started. the soon the better. if you aren't maintaining FC levels with your SWCG, you have an algae issue starting. that was my problem. I have a SWCG, even running at 100% for 12 hours, I couldn't raise my FC above 2ppm because algae was consuming it faster than I could make it. after my SLAM, I had to turn down my SWCG. it was running at 5 hrs at 30% and was raising my FC too much, I now have it down to 20% and trying to fine tune it.

the answer is to have a nice sterile pool via the SLAM and then getting your SWCG set to maintain your FC at the correct level (based on the CYA/FC) chart.

do NOT raise your CYA any more. doing so will only require more chlorine during your slam. 30 is fine for now, that's where I was.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
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