cya and bio-active

[Shady Woods]

I recently used the Bio-Active product in my pool to lower the cya, no change. Customer service sent me a free bag with specific instructions, no change. I have to wait on a drain and fill. I recently fired my pool company and started doing it myself. tell me what you think of these levels.

fc = 4
ph = 7.8
ta= 80
ch= 350
cya = 100

Water looks great, have never had an algae problem. Am I worrying too much about specific #s?

 

[tim5055]

Welcome to TFP!

I see a couple of issues..

100 is the limit of the CYA test, so unless you have verified it with an extended test it may be well above 100.

Secondly, if it is 100 your chlorine should never be below 7 and you should really target 12 so it never goes below 7.

 

[Richard320]

Welcome!

You can maintain a pool with triple-digit CYA. I've done it. I started with 220-240 CYA and water restrictions and Bio-active didn't even exist to try. I don't recommend it because
1) You have to use the FAS-DPD test every single time because no other test kit can measure the levels of FC you need to maintain
2) The pH test results will always be suspect, as the reagent reacts above 10 FC. Photographic proof
3) If you do develop algae, you'll be buying bleach this way:

I used pool water on my lawn and put what I would have used to irrigate into the pool. It's a long, slow process, but it's the surest way to reduce CYA without incurring the wrath of the water company or have the neighbors come after you with torches and pitchforks.

 

[Shady Woods]

Richard you confused me when you said " I don't recommend it " are you talking about the high fc levels or the Bio-active? Also if you have fc at 7-12 is there a way to test the ph and ta reliably by diluting the water or something? I check levels daily and even when the weather is hot 95-105* my fc will drop from 4 to 2.5 in the 24 hr period.

 

[Richard320]

Richard you confused me when you said " I don't recommend it " are you talking about the high fc levels or the Bio-active? Also if you have fc at 7-12 is there a way to test the ph and ta reliably by diluting the water or something? I check levels daily and even when the weather is hot 95-105* my fc will drop from 4 to 2.5 in the 24 hr period.

I don't recommend trying to maintain a pool with CYA above 100. I enumerated my reasons above.

 

[Michael1]

I second what Richard said, based on personal experience. My CYA was 160, and it was a crapshoot for me to keep the water right for sanitation and algae. My CYA is now at 70. Much better. The other bit of good news is I also used some of the pool water for my yard. I flooded a mole with hundreds of gallons of water, and haven't seen a sign of him since. The pool water worked where nothing else would. Also the rose bushes have never looked better.