new member from tennessee with cya at 100!

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dlatondress

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Jul 25, 2015
1
nashville, Tn
Hi, I just had a vinyl above ground pool installed in April 2015. I stumbled onto the BBB method on google. I was intrigued by being able to maintain my pool with things I could buy at any store. I started out by buying the taylor k-2006 test kit on amazon. Immediately reading the booklet I got a terrible headache from all the terminology and calculations and wanted to give up. :confused: However, I forged ahead and am starting to have some understanding. My pool water is and has been crystal clear. The only problem I am having is extreme eye irritation. I have been using trichlor tabs and shock. I was shocked to find that my pools cya level is at least 100! I checked my water yesterday and my fc=13.6, cc=0, ph=7.2, ta= 60. thanks in advance for any help or advice.
 
Welcome! :wave:

Astronomical CYA is perhaps the most common problem here. It usually just manifests itself as cloudy or green water, but you're an exception. Be aware that your CYA may in fact be much higher than 100. The graduations get awfully close down near the bottom of the tube. Try retesting it using the dilution method in Extended Test Kit Directions

Also note that you're near the bottom of the pH scale. You could be lower than 7.2, which will irritate eyes and skin. I'd guess you are much lower since high FC tends to make pH read falsely high. Since you have the K-2006, you have the base demand test. Try it and see how many drops it takes to get to 7.5 pH. You can use that to calculate what you need to add to raise pH and compare it to poolmath and determine if you're lower than you think. Just post here and someone will be along to help. Don't bother treating it yet -- you just want to know if that's the cause of irritation. There's no point fixing pH if you're going to replace the water. And you can't really, not without having an accurate pH reading to start.

Just so you know... I see a partial drain in your near future to reduce CYA. How much depends on what you read when you repeat the test using the dilution method. Right now, your pH reading is suspect due to the high FC. And you'll need to maintain the high FC unless you lower the CYA. You're stuck.

Now that I've got you like :crazy: just know that you need to get an accurate CYA reading and replace some water until you get to at most 60 CYA. Lower would be better. Then you retest everything after letting the new water mix with the old and fine-tune it. And no more pucks! They are very acidic and cause CYA buildup to boot!


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Do you have kids in the pool...perhaps peeing in it now and then? The CDC just came out saying *that* is the cause of eye irritation in pools. LOL <shrug>

So your CYA might actually be well over 100 , so mix equal parts of tap water with pool water, then use this to perform another CYA test. Double the results. It might show you to be well over 100. Which in itself is a terrible shame for such a new pool- but not impossible to fix. Can you drain about 1/2 your pool and refill with fresh water? Then retest the CYA . You want to get down to 40-50ish max and then start using plain old household bleach instead of pucks to chlorinate the pool.
 
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