A few years ago when my wife and I were house hunting I had two requirements: the first was that it had a garage or shop where I could putter around, the second was that it did not have a pool.
So... I've been doing okay with the pool for the past couple of years, or at least I thought I was. I've been making occasional trips to the local pool store ("water looks great!" they always say), and mostly caring for the pool with the fancy Complete all-in-one chlorine tabs, weekly liberal doses of powdered shock from the local big box store, and an occasional dose of muriatic acid. I've been personally testing only for chlorine, pH, and TA using the kit recommended by the pool store.
Over the past couple of months the chlorine has read higher and higher, even though I have not added any (aside from that granulated shock about once a week) because it was showing high anyway, and the pool has taken on a teal hue. Occasionally I get a little green on the walls and steps, but the little pool robot mostly takes care of that (he more or less lives in the pool 24x7). I've finally given up, and decided that I have to take it more seriously, and I've done a bunch of reading and understand some of it. For example, this CYA thing that was a total mystery until a few days ago, but now I kind of get it. As such, my Taylor K-2006 showed up a couple of days ago, and I ran some tests...
FC HIGH (I think I gave up at 80 drop of R-0871)
CC no idea, never could get FC test clear
pH 7.4
TA 100
CYA HIGH (about 3/4 of the way to 100, so I'm guessing crazy high)
From everything I've read so far, the only way to reduce CYA is to drain a bunch of the pool, so I drained a little over half of it last night and refilled from the tap, which took about 12 hours. When the water reached the returns I turned the pump back on so the new could mix well with the old, and left it running all day while I was at work. About 14 hours after the pool was finished filling I pulled another test...
FC 14.8
CC 0? (didn't turn pink when adding R-0003)
pH 7.6
TA 120
CH 250
CYA 85
Now, this seems to tell me that I need to just give up and completely empty the pool, because the CYA is still higher than it should be... or can it be managed at this level without having to flood my neighbor's yard again? I'm also concerned about pulling too much water out of the pool, as a neighbor two doors down accidentally floated theirs a few years ago.
This seemed like the best place to ask for advice, so here I am... another pool noob asking for help.
So... I've been doing okay with the pool for the past couple of years, or at least I thought I was. I've been making occasional trips to the local pool store ("water looks great!" they always say), and mostly caring for the pool with the fancy Complete all-in-one chlorine tabs, weekly liberal doses of powdered shock from the local big box store, and an occasional dose of muriatic acid. I've been personally testing only for chlorine, pH, and TA using the kit recommended by the pool store.
Over the past couple of months the chlorine has read higher and higher, even though I have not added any (aside from that granulated shock about once a week) because it was showing high anyway, and the pool has taken on a teal hue. Occasionally I get a little green on the walls and steps, but the little pool robot mostly takes care of that (he more or less lives in the pool 24x7). I've finally given up, and decided that I have to take it more seriously, and I've done a bunch of reading and understand some of it. For example, this CYA thing that was a total mystery until a few days ago, but now I kind of get it. As such, my Taylor K-2006 showed up a couple of days ago, and I ran some tests...
FC HIGH (I think I gave up at 80 drop of R-0871)
CC no idea, never could get FC test clear
pH 7.4
TA 100
CYA HIGH (about 3/4 of the way to 100, so I'm guessing crazy high)
From everything I've read so far, the only way to reduce CYA is to drain a bunch of the pool, so I drained a little over half of it last night and refilled from the tap, which took about 12 hours. When the water reached the returns I turned the pump back on so the new could mix well with the old, and left it running all day while I was at work. About 14 hours after the pool was finished filling I pulled another test...
FC 14.8
CC 0? (didn't turn pink when adding R-0003)
pH 7.6
TA 120
CH 250
CYA 85
Now, this seems to tell me that I need to just give up and completely empty the pool, because the CYA is still higher than it should be... or can it be managed at this level without having to flood my neighbor's yard again? I'm also concerned about pulling too much water out of the pool, as a neighbor two doors down accidentally floated theirs a few years ago.
This seemed like the best place to ask for advice, so here I am... another pool noob asking for help.
Do NOT drain your pool! If your CYA is truly at about 85-90, yeah, that's high, but the good thing in your region is .... RAIN. With enough water exchange from Mother Nature and backwashing, you can reverse that trend this season. Make sure all tabs/pucks are gone. Use no more pool store backs-o-shock, use ONLY regular liquid bleach. As you do the water exchanges and your CYA comes down, watch your CH as well since you don't want that to go too low and cause problems with your plaster. You may need to increase CH in the future. Keep a close eye on the Chlorine/CYA Chart (link below) to ensure the FC and CYA match-up. That's KEY! You can do it!
