CYA-Starting Over

[jpeters235]

CYA was off the chart starting my 3rd season with a new pool.
The pool does not get a lot of use, 1 - 2 people 10-15 hours per week and not a lot of splashing going on.

I drained off half the water and refilled, CYA is now 0
PH was never a problem and I adjusted TA to within range.
Added 6lbs Calcium today which should get Calc in range

I shocked it yesterday and CC is now 0 and FC is 4

Should I add stabilizer now or just wait for the tablets to bring the CYA levels back up?

I want to avoid draining and refilling more than reducing chlorine consumption rate.

~7,000 gal kidney shaped pool

 

[woodyp]

It doesn't make any sense you say your CYA was "off the charts" if you drained half and it went to zero. If it was at 100, you'd still just be at 50. What are you saying it started at? How was your water tested? Welcome.

 

[jpeters235]

It was over 100. I drained with a slow siphon garden hose and the auto filler was still on, rookie mistake, so I most likely diluted the remaining water.
I used a Taylor K-2006 (FAS-DPD chlorine) test kit.


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[jpeters235]

Here is my signature.



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[Texas Splash]

We're still a little confused by the CYA, but if you are showing zero now with your K-2006, then it must be zero. You definitely need CYA. Remove the tabs and just use granular stabilizer. I would recommend a CYA target of 30 for now just to make sure it goes to 30 as you project. Soon I expect you will want it to at least 40 for the summer, maybe more if you get full sun. In a pool your size, I can see how tabs would increase your CYA way too fast each year, so stay away from those products - to include any pool store bags of shock.

Keep your FC around the 5 ppm mark once your granular stabilizer has dissolved in the water. To be safe, you might also consider an overnight (OCLT) test to ensure all is well.

 

[jpeters235]

Thanks you for the advice.
I will take out the tabs and perform the overnight Chlorine test and proceed acordingly.

I have a Zodiac mineral sanitizer cartridge in the automatic sanitizer and their instructions say I should keep FC at only .5 ppm, is this enough?

 

[Texas Splash]

jp, if you do some searches from the TFP home page, you'll see that we discourage the use of mineral systems for sanitation. Typically they add metals (i.e. copper) to your water that will continual to build-up until you see stains or experience color changes in water/hair. Our recommended sanitation for water is simply regular bleach or a salt water generator (SWG). Then we balance FC with CYA as noted on the Chlorine/CYA Chart (link below). I suspect a big reason Zodiac is warning owners about the FC level is because the FC will cause your mineral-filled water to react and turn green.

 

[jpeters235]

Thanks. I'll study more.


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[duraleigh]

I have a Zodiac mineral sanitizer cartridge in the automatic sanitizer and their instructions say I should keep FC at only .5 ppm, is this enough?

Just a comment on that. Your pool will generally consume maybe 1 ppm daily with this system. Imagine how difficult that will be?

You would need to add FC probably 3-4 times daily to hold it a .5 pp, without overshooting or undershooting. You simply cannot use any other test than FAS/DPD and you must use it at the .2 ppm resolution.

Maintaining a .5 ppm chlorine level is easy for someone to write on a piece of paper. Actually doing it would be insurmountable to me.