I would drain half and refill. Also, add your pool info to your signature, more here about what to put in your signature and how to do it, Pool School - Read This BEFORE You Post
High Chlorine level leading to cloudy water?
- Thread starter RaddestTad
- Start date
Well, I bought a Taylor K-2006 test kit from Amazon a few days ago, so I should be getting that soon. In the meantime, I was reading up on this site and others. We moved into this place last fall, so this is the first summer taking care of the pool. The woman who lived here before us left some of her chemicals, and I've noticed that she was using stabilizing chlorine tabs, which I never thought was a problem and continued to use (alongside granular chlorine when needed). So that is likely the reason for the high CYA levels. While I'm waiting for the test kit, I was just hoping to get a head start as the only real solution (from what I understand) to a high CYA level is to drain/re-fill.
Thank you, that is very helpful. I drained about 1/4 of the pool and refilled last night. I know that the test strips are inaccurate, but according to them (and being less cloudy due to dilution), my chlorine levels are at least back to normal (3-5) and the CYA level has lowered as well (<100). Now, after getting an accurate reading of the water, which option would you go with (at this point I'm just looking for the quickest option).
- Start over with the SLAM process again?
- Continue to drain and re-fill.
I'm also going to stop using the chlorine tabs and start using liquid chlorine instead.
Thanks!
- Start over with the SLAM process again?
- Continue to drain and re-fill.
I'm also going to stop using the chlorine tabs and start using liquid chlorine instead.
Thanks!
The test strips are a reasonable ballpark number, hence the recommendations you've gotten to drain and refill. It's not accurate enough to properly maintain the pool, so it's great that your K-2006 is on the way! You'll never regret it.
I would go ahead and drain 50% of the water and refill. After doing so, you could had some liquid chlorine (aka bleach) to the pool until the kit arrives to keep it from getting worse. It's hard to tell you how much to add daily in the meantime without more details about your pool, such as the volume, in your forum signature.
You need to get the "normal" FC level of 3-5 out of the picture. If you look at the Chlorine/CYA chart, 3-5 ppm FC is "normal" for a pool that contains 40 ppm CYA. However, a pool that contains 80 ppm CYA means 3-5 ppm FC is NOT normal or acceptable. 6-9 ppm FC would be "normal" in that case and only "normal" if there were no cloudiness or visible algae.
I would go ahead and drain 50% of the water and refill. After doing so, you could had some liquid chlorine (aka bleach) to the pool until the kit arrives to keep it from getting worse. It's hard to tell you how much to add daily in the meantime without more details about your pool, such as the volume, in your forum signature.
You need to get the "normal" FC level of 3-5 out of the picture. If you look at the Chlorine/CYA chart, 3-5 ppm FC is "normal" for a pool that contains 40 ppm CYA. However, a pool that contains 80 ppm CYA means 3-5 ppm FC is NOT normal or acceptable. 6-9 ppm FC would be "normal" in that case and only "normal" if there were no cloudiness or visible algae.
Gotcha. I've also added my pool info into my signature (15K, ABG, Vinyl, Sand Filter). I totally get that it won't be perfect until the test kit arrives, but just trying to get a head start if I am needing to drain/re-fill as the only real way I can drain (without using a large shop-vac or something like that), is to vacuum to waste, but only until the water line gets below the skimmer line, in which case it does not have any more suction. I am also going to use liquid chlorine to see if I can clean up the remaining water (there is barely any algae to begin with, just muggy looking water likely from all the storms and debris that we received last week). I am going to check the levels again over lunch and see if my test kit arrived.
People will use a garden hose to siphon above ground pools. Put on end in the pool first then push the rest of the hose down and into the pool filling it with water. Once the whole thing is in the pool, cover one end and take it out then quickly lower it to the ground as you uncover the end. This should create enough vacuum to siphon the water out pretty efficiently. And you can move the hose around the yard and water whatever you want to. I don't see any reason this couldn't be done with your vacuum hose either. One note, the end that stays in the pool might have to be weighed down so it stays near the bottom.
Here's an example Mom siphoning pool water 101 - YouTube
Here's an example Mom siphoning pool water 101 - YouTube
I use my vacuum hose to lower the level after a rain, my filter does not have a backwash setting since it's a DE filter. I throw the whole length of hose in the pool and tie one end of the hose to the ladder a little below the level I want to drain to. I hold the free end up to the return jet to fill the hose quickly. When the hose stops bubbling I put my palm over the end of the hose and pull it out and down to the ground to start the siphon. The large diameter of the vac hose can drain an inch from my 24' pool in about 5 minutes. By tying off the one end at the proper level I don't worry about getting distracted and forgetting about it. i can go on about whatever I was doing and when the level drops enough the hose begins to suck air and loses the siphon.