First Steps

[Sctraynor]

Hi all,

I'm new on the forum, but I've been lurking here over the years. I've been having problems with my pool since I put it in 3 years ago. I had a salt water pool previously, and decided I didn't want to hassle with that and went for what I thought was a simpler option. This time I put in a standard chlorine pool, and I've been using chlorine tabs to keep it sanitized. I'm all for the method advocated here (bleach vs. tabs), but I'm gone a lot and cant keep up on it daily or even multiple times per week. I do all my maintenance on the weekends. So, I have a feeder, and keep tablets in it that last over a week.

First year, I went several months before I started having problems, and I handled them by cleaning the cartridges super frequently. I then got new cardridges and that seemed to solve the problem. When I started having problems again I cleaned the cartridges and things got better but only briefly. I thought I might have a build up of unwanted chemicals from the tablets, so recently (maybe 3 months ago) I drained about 1/2 the pool and added fresh water. Things got much better, but lately I'm noticing tracks the cleaner leaves in the pool, and the wall is getting dirty quickly. The water looks nice and clear, but it seems that I'm always on the edge of a bloom. I've had a kit that only measures TC, and I've kept it high. In my pool, it's hard to keep the PH up, so I'm adding Baking Soda occasionally. I got a TF-100 test kit and measured everything I could and here's what I got:

PH: 7.5
FC: 13 (or 12, I did it twice)
CC: 0
TC: 13 (or 12)
Calcium: 200
TA: 110
CYA: 160

I'm assuming that CYA is my culprit, and that I need to drain my pool again and find another way to sanitize my pool, but I thought I'd ask the experts.

Thoughts?

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome to TFP!!!

And now you know why we do not recommend tablets ... especially in places where the pool stays open a long time with little rain.

Yes, the tablets have raised your CYA way too high and you are not likely maintaining the FC high enough.
Also, the tablets are acidic and the reason your pH and TA are dropping. ... FYI, baking soda raises TA, not pH.

So, path forward:
1. Replace at least 50% of the water (75% would be better) to lower the CYA.
2. Follow the SLAM Process process to eradicate whatever might be in the water at this point.
3. Maintain the correct FC level for your CYA level according to the [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA]

Sounds like you need to either switch back to a SWG (which is quite honestly the easiest way to maintain a pool ... not sure what caused your initial experience to be so bad).
or add an automated liquid chlorine feeder.

 

[Sctraynor]

Thanks Jason. I figured I was in for a major drain off of the water in the pool to fix the CYA. Bummer that the tablets have so much stuff we just don't need!

I'll get started draining off the pool right away, and I'm sure most of my problems will go away. When I bought my tablets, I was looking for some that were close to pure chlorine. It seems that they don't have complete information regarding what's in them. I know you told me to stay away from the tablets, but I'm wondering if there is a way to find some that don't have so much CYA or acid. Any ideas anyone?

 

[jblizzle]

The tablets are made of Trichlor, they all have the same ratio of CYA to FC.