Newbie! needing help with chemistry. confused

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I was in the same place as you as far as CYA but it was my own fault for listening to the pool store. "Oh just add drain out about about an inch or so then throw in two bags of shock"

I have NO idea how high my CYA was but.................it made my liner so brittle it cracked all along the bottom and all of the water rushed out :(

I took the pool down and said never again but my hubby loved the pool so I told him if he could find me a way to keep the pool clear with OUT the pool store I would try again. He found TFP and even I love the pool now!

It is SO much easier and cheaper than the pool store way.

You can do it and you have already had some great advise. Keep listening to them and you will do fine!

Kim
 
lindz18 said:
Did you do all these drains back to back or over a period of time?
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2 last Friday, 2 Saturday, none on Mother's Day, 2 on Monday, tested on Tuesday afternoon expecting it to be under 50, but still at 60, so drained Tuesday night and had my wife fill it Wednesday while I was at work.

I figure I added an extra $400-$500 to my water bill, not sure on the sewer bill yet.


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What did your liner look like on the bottom? I worry about mine because in the deep end around the main drain it is all wrinkled.

- - - Updated - - -

If you look at the pics I posted I think you can see it. I felt of a couple of wrinkles in the side today and they were hard as a rock.
 
Hi Lindz,
Another way you can figure out how much water you replaced is take a picture of your water meter before you start filling and another after fill. As long as you dont use a large amount of water in house that should be quite accurate. Most water meters register in gallons, but some register in Cubic Feet. If your sure its cubic feet, multiply by 7.5 (there are 7.5 gallons of water in a cubic foot.)
 
Diluted test came up to the very top of the word CYA on the tube...
FC 3.6
Alk 40
ph wasn't measurable on colors, but it took 30 drops of base to get it to 7.4

If I done the 1/4 dump again is there anyway to guess at how much it will help my cya this time? Is 100 manageable and just do backwashing more often and try to replace a little here and there? We are due a lot of rain in the next few days as well.
 
kimkats said:
That is for the best. You HAVE to get your CYA down in order to get your pool manageable.

Kim
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If I can get it down to 100 that would be great for me and just try to manage it at that for the rest of this season because our liner is 10 years old and will need to be replaced soon I am sure. I really don't want dump over 50% and then turn around and have to dump it all next season for a new liner. The liner is pulling away in spots already and is terribly wrinkled in the deep-end. I am using my main drain on waste this time to drain. I sure hope it isn't stressful on my liner around the drain.
 

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Just so long as you know it is going to take quite a bit of chlorine to maintain your FC level with that high of CYA. You can have your CYA at any level you want. Make sure to use the CYA/FC chart to target your levels.

Kim
 
kimkats said:
I run my CYA at 40-50 (changes due to lots of rain and having to dump water often).

I add around 8 cups of chlorine (11%) daily. It depends on the weather and bather load.

Kim
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That isn't bad considering a big jug of bleach at Walmart is around 3 bucks. Awesome for you.

I am not going to do a big water change other than adding for evaporation and backwashing after this next refil. So, after my pool is filled this time and circulated for about 30 mins. I need to retest and then adjust everything, correct? What order should I go? FC, then alk, then ph? I was hoping adding all this new city water would help me out on my numbers some. If anyone can guide me on this it would be great so I can be going and getting the appropriate supplies while I'm waiting on the refill and hoping it get back to the level my husband saw it last so he won't drown me in the pool for dumping it again. LOL
 
Your FC use will vary depending on how much use you get, how much crud blows in, and how much sunlight. Typically 2-3 ppm per day. 1/2 to 3/4 jug of clorox per day, roughly, regardless of the CYA level.

Where it gets ugly is if you get an algae bloom. Shock level is 39 FC or above. That's 10 jugs, just for the initial dose. :shock:

And day-to-day is also a pain. Your minimum FC at 100 CYA is 8. That's above any colormatching test kit's ability. That means FAS-DPD test every single time. And if you don't lose what you anticipated and the FC is above 10, you can't do the pH test. It will read falsely high.

Figure out your average depth. For easy math, say it's 50. Every inch of water you replace is 2%. If you can replace 5 inches by draining before a good rain and directing raingutters into the pool, you can lower CYA by 10%. If you have a lawn and a way to do it, use pool water on the grass and use the irrigation water you saved to top off the pool. It takes some effort, but you can bring CYA down to something nice in a few weeks that way without driving your water bill through the roof.
 
I fought high CYA all last season (self inflicted) and it is a pain. Now that I have it under control (35 as of mid week), things are much easier. I'm not saying you need to get it that low, but every little bit you can, it will make it easier on you through the season.
 
SCon36 said:
I fought high CYA all last season (self inflicted) and it is a pain. Now that I have it under control (35 as of mid week), things are much easier. I'm not saying you need to get it that low, but every little bit you can, it will make it easier on you through the season.
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:goodjob::goodjob::goodjob:

My goal is to get it down to at least 100 by these two large replacements then dump as I can and replinish by rainwater, backwashing, etc. I know it may be a long ride, but my liner is so old and I may have to do a complete drain in the next couple of years anyhow.
 

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