Quick question with partial drain

[mepcards]

I have a above ground doughboy pool with vinyl liner. I need to drain at least half of the pool due to high cya levels, but should I be concerned at any point of the liner or walls shifting? I don't want to cause more problems by draining incorrectly..

 

[Richard320]

Halfway should be no problem. That's still enough weight to keep the liner from shifting and enough depth to resist most winds.

 

[Texas Splash]

We generally recommend never draining below 12 inches or the lowest step for pools that have built-in steps. While larger drains are generally more efficient in lowering CYA, protecting your investment is #1. Not sure what your current CYA is, but if you feel that a half drain is best for now, then do that and drain more later if you need to. Better to be safe than sorry, especially in areas that have been getting a lot of rain.

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See .... ^^^ halfway.

 

[mepcards]

My current water level is just shy of 4ft for entire pool..I wanted to double check my cya level, and did it while the sun was shining..Now I don't want to sound stupid, but you do keep putting drops until you see no signs what so ever of the black dot..Even if you see a small hint of the black circle? I did it again until I saw no sign of the dot, and its reading about 80, and thats without using half and half of tap and pool water...and yes algea back again this morning...the algea is very spotty, but not a full blown bloom...hoping im on the better side of getting it under controlled...I did add a jug of great value bleach this morning...

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and I have the wedding cake stairs and I did see where algae was inside it a little bit as well

 

[Texas Splash]

For the dot, it needs to be completely gone. Pour the same solution back & forth as much as you want to be sure of the reading. We recommend a CYA of about 30 for a SLAM to use less bleach, but if you do a 50% drain and the new CYA is about 40 or 50, you can still do the SLAM using a little more bleach and then have a good CYA for summer.

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Those steps could be a challenge. If you can't remove them, you will need to do all you can to remove the algae manually or chemically otherwise they may continue to harbor algae in the future.

 

[mepcards]

now we had rain yesterday and last night, and from tuseday thru sat we have at least 50 to 70 percent chance of more rain...should I wait?

 

[Texas Splash]

If you know your CYA is at least close to 80, I would go ahead and do some draining now. Let the pool fill-up with some of these storms passing across the state. After the pool is topped-off again, you can test CYA and maybe get a short break in the cloud cover. You'll be that much closer.

 

[mepcards]

but if I start draining now, still go ahead and fill up with hose just in case the storms miss me..lol....sometimes dallas gets nothing, but ft worth and north get it all..

 

[Texas Splash]

Sure, don't wait on the weatherman's predictions. He was wrong down here .... again.

 

[mepcards]

To give a update, before we started to drain pool, I retested the cya, and I did what you said, and mixed it back and forth..i also had my wife use her eyes as well...I did dilute the water with half pool and tap, and came up with 40, then times it by two and got 80 for my cya...is that still high enough for my algae problem? and im assuming still drain half way?

 

[Richard320]

To give a update, before we started to drain pool, I retested the cya, and I did what you said, and mixed it back and forth..i also had my wife use her eyes as well...I did dilute the water with half pool and tap, and came up with 40, then times it by two and got 80 for my cya...is that still high enough for my algae problem? and im assuming still drain half way?

Maybe a little less than half. 80 is waaay too high to SLAM. 40 CYA might be a little low for Texas sun so you can always raise it again after. Maybe even use pucks to do it! It's a real luxury to just fill a floater and not have to deal with the pool for a few days.

 

[mepcards]

so should I be shooting for 50 (cya) for here in texas?

 

[mepcards]

so far, and I usually keep my water level between the 2nd screws on the skimmer

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will be in the 80's tomorrow so hope sun exposure to liner wont hurt it..

 

[Texas Splash]

As Richard noted, if you can get your CYA around 40-50 you'll be in a better position for the SLAM and still have enough CYA to give you some top-cover from the sun. Water height .... I would never let it get below the 2nd screw from the bottom when counting along the edge of that skimmer plate . I like mine about 1/2 way to 3/4 up the opening.

 

[mepcards]

one more stupid question...when I get to the halfway point, do I test cya at halfway? or only test when I refill?

 

[Texas Splash]

Just re-test the CYA once you've refilled the pool and let it recirculate for about 20-30 minutes.