Hi from Austin... gotta drain pool today! UGH!

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JdenAustin

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May 10, 2009
5
Hey Y'all,

Just moved back into my house in Pflugerville (north of Austin) and the pool had been allowed to go greenish black and was full of leaves. (renters... UGH!) My son and I brought it back to sparkling with chlorine tabs and lots of backwashing. However, it's begun to go greenish the last few days. Taking the water to Leslie's we learned that the CYA is too high to be remedied. So, we are draining 3/4 of the pool according to their instructions. Also taking apart the pump and soaking the fins, then using Zeo Fiber instead of DE once the pool is refilled. I had a pool service before this when we first bought the house but I don't now, so I must learn the BBB method and how to maintain this thing. My questions are as follows:

1. Is Zeo Fiber better than D.E. and if so, why?
2. Suggestions on a test kit I can get today that will suffice until I can order online?
3. Once the pool is filled the guy from Leslie's said we would probably "be good" for at least a year or two. Surely he didn't mean adding no chemicals at all?
4. Did I end up with these outrageously high CYA levels because of the chlorine pucks?

My pool is a 22,000 gallon gunite, I believe. Any help getting up to speed quickly is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Jayden
 
Welcome to TFP!

Be careful draining too much water at once. You damage the shell if there is too much groundwater present. You'd hope a local Leslie's would know local conditions, but I wouldn't bet on it.

If you order a kit from TFTestkits, you'll almost certainly have it by the end of the week. Dave apparently has no life and lives to take kits to be shipped :mrgreen:

I think what they meant about being good for a year, is that you'll need to drain again in a year or so because the CYA will be too high again. The pucks and most granular chlorine add CYA fairly rapidly. You can go from too little to too much in less than a season.
 
Welcome to TFP! I always like seeing Austin area folks show up as I lived there for 20 years. I remember when Pflugerville was a one-horse town. :)

If you have them handy, please post the pool store testing numbers for us. Pool store results aren't the most reliable ones usually, but they can give us a starting point.

1. Is Zeo Fiber better than D.E. and if so, why?
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Deferring this one to others.

2. Suggestions on a test kit I can get today that will suffice until I can order online?
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You need a test kit with FAS-DPD testing supplies. You are going to need to shock and this will involve bringing your water to shock level and holding it there. This will mean that the FC will need to be high, much higher than most regular test kits can measure which is usually 5 ppm. A test kit with a FAS-DPD test is usually a service type kit. You can test up to or higher than 20 ppm. Consider the best deal out there which is the TF-100 available at http://www.tftestkits.net. Ordering is done online an you will usually have the kit in your hands in a day or two. If you can't wait, the check pool stores around you for a service type test kit such as the Taylor K-2006.

3. Once the pool is filled the guy from Leslie's said we would probably "be good" for at least a year or two. Surely he didn't mean adding no chemicals at all?
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No, he wants you to buy chemicals from him. Leslie's wants to see you as often as possible! Most likely, they meant that it would be another two years (probably sooner) before your CYA from the trichlor pucks rises so high that you get algae again and need to drain again.

4. Did I end up with these outrageously high CYA levels because of the chlorine pucks?
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Yes!

---edited twice for spelling because I am not what one would describe as a typing genius.
 
Hey Y'all,

Thanks for the speedy replies! I wrote out a long post with all the info and then lost it when this dang site requested that I log in again when I had already logged in. UGH!
I will add my pool specs to my siggy once I learn them. This house is actually owned by my parents and I've never dealt with the pool until now.
I shall call Warehouse Pool Supply to ask them about the draining issue for the Austin area. I'm supposed to be draining about 78% or so.
Also will order testing kit as recommended.... thank you so much!

Jayden
P.S. Pflugerville is no longer a one horse town but the name still sounds like somebody sneezed! LOL
 
I started using Fiber Clear this year instead of DE. Mainly because of long-term issues of backwashing onto my property. Zeo Fiber & Fiber Clear are both wood cellulose products, so they should decompose completely after backwashing.

Supposedly, they will actually filter better and remove oils (which DE doesn't do). I've only been using it for a few weeks. I have backwashed once. It seemed like a lot less material came out during the backwash than I anticipated. Next time I think I am going to disassemble the filter just to have a look at what the Fiber stuff looks like on the grids. I do have to say that the water is sparkling clear - but I don't have the lights in so I haven't had a chance to see it at night, that is when you can really see if there are any "floaties" in the water.

The Fiber products are more expensive, though you do use less (watch for coupons!). The #1 thing to be careful of (includes DE as well), if you backwash, your "refill load" of DE/Fiber needs to be about 2/3rds of the recommended amount. For my filter, 15 cups of Fiber Clear were recommended for startup. After backwashing, I use only 10 or 11 cups.
 
JdenAustin said:
Hey Y'all,

Thanks for the speedy replies! I wrote out a long post with all the info and then lost it when this dang site requested that I log in again when I had already logged in. UGH!
I will add my pool specs to my siggy once I learn them. This house is actually owned by my parents and I've never dealt with the pool until now.
I shall call Warehouse Pool Supply to ask them about the draining issue for the Austin area. I'm supposed to be draining about 78% or so.
Also will order testing kit as recommended.... thank you so much!

Jayden
P.S. Pflugerville is no longer a one horse town but the name still sounds like somebody sneezed! LOL
Click to expand...

Welcome!!!! My brother lives in Bohl's Place. Behind the HEB on Pecan St and 685. Make sure you tell out of town board members that the "P" is silent....LOL
 
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