Is CYA of 80 too high?

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TGMcCallie

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Jul 11, 2008
119
Flintstone, GA USA
Topic split off by Moderator.

I have a 18 x 36 inground pool. My chlorine lebel is 2.7 but the acid level is 80. Is this 80 too high? If so what do I do to get it down.

I have had my pool for 30 years and only drained it 1 time and that was when I had the bottom concrete redone.

I use 3 inch trichlor tabs in auto chlorinator.

I have never had this problem in 30 years until NOW.

My water is clear and I have never had algae in my pool.
Thanks
 
Re: Chlorine and Stabilizer

TGMcCallie said:
I have a 18 x 36 inground pool. My chlorine lebel is 2.7 but the acid level is 80. Is this 80 too high? If so what do I do to get it down.

I have had my pool for 30 years and only drained it 1 time and that was when I had the bottom concrete redone.

I use 3 inch trichlor tabs in auto chlorinator.

I have never had this problem in 30 years until NOW.

My water is clear and I have never had algae in my pool.
Thanks
Click to expand...

please start your own thread if you haven't already. a CYA level of 80 is pretty high, but you can run that if you want. just stop using the trichlor pucks and follow the chlorine/cya levels here: pool-school/chlorine_cya_chart_shock
you should keep your FC at 9ppm. you may want to consider shocking since your fc is so low compared to your cya level. you should also post a full set of test results as seen here: pool-school/read_before_you_post
 
If you backwash routinely, the CYA level will slowly drop over the course of the season. But to get your FC to hold now, you'll need to shock, and shocking at 80 will require ALOT of bleach/liquid chlorine.

I'd advise you to drain down to the bottom of the skimmer, refill, recirculate and repeat, and this should lower the CYA to a more manageable level. Then you would shock the pool with bleach or liquid chlorine.

I'd advise you to get a good test kit. Recommendations are in Pool School, along with instructions on how to shock.

Consider yourself lucky, that you've never had a problem before now. The forum is loaded with folks who have overstabilized pools from years of trichlor use. :wink:

Now off to Pool School! :goodjob:
 
Yes, my only problem is the cy acid is at 80. About 2 weeks ago it was at 70 but the pool store told me everything was OK. Then I had it checked 2 weeks later and the man that checked it said it was 80 and the person that checked it last time should have told me to do something about it when it was 70.

The water is clear and never had any algae, not even at start up time in the Spring.

The pool man told me to stop using my auto chlorinzator and the put 2 of the 3 inch tablets of tri chlor in theskimmer basket and use it tht was for the rest of the season. He said then at opening time next Spring to bacuum to waste using the manual vacume and do it from the bottom of the pool. He said that th3e acid was heavier and in the 3 months of covering the pool it would settle to the bottom and that way I could drain more pure acid form the pool.

That seems to make sense? Yes or No.


So you suggest to use liquid bleach instead of the 2 tablets. The pool man said he would rather get me to use chlorine caplets that were non stabilized next year?

Tom
 
That seems to make sense?
Click to expand...
No, not really. It won't work, either.

If you have had a clear pool for 30 years, I wouldn't change a darn thing. You are apparently doing enough of the right things that your pool is happy.......leave it that way.

That CYA level is quite high but it is manageable. Do you have reason to believe it was lower in times past?

Have you changed any of your procedures or chemistry this year that might make your CYA higher than it normally has?

Have you test for CYA in other years?
 
TGMcCallie said:
The pool man said he would rather get me to use chlorine caplets that were non stabilized next year?
Click to expand...

He's referring to expensive and messy Cal-hypo tablets, which will raise your CH too high and eventually require draining just like high CYA. :roll:

Use liquid chlorine/bleach.
 
To duraleigh and frusterated.......

I don't know if my cya acid lever has been high in past years because the guardex kit that I use tests : tc, fc, ph, alkalinity, acid demand but NOT cyacid level. I also have it checked periodically at the pool store and they have never told me that the cya was too high.

the only thing that I have done different this year is install a Hayward pool heater. I would not think that this would haveanything to do with the acid level. Would it?

My concern is will the high acid level damage the heater in any way?

Oh, I did replace the Hayward C100 auto chlorinator because the chlorine level was higher on the 1 1/2 setting than it always was. The new one (same model) made no difference. I had to keep it set about 1/2 way between off and 1 setting.

Does that ring a bell for either of you concerning reason for cya acid level?


I think I will order the test kit referred to on this site since it checks the cy acid level.

Glad you told me about the caplets. I did not want to change to them as I have always used tri chl
 

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TGMcCallie said:
Yes, my only problem is the cy acid is at 80. About 2 weeks ago it was at 70 but the pool store told me everything was OK. Then I had it checked 2 weeks later and the man that checked it said it was 80 and the person that checked it last time should have told me to do something about it when it was 70.
Click to expand...

I can see how that happens... in my pool, 23,000 gallons.... I used to use 7 pucks in the auto-chlorinator each week, plus 1 or 2 bags of "shock" powder... the pucks each add 1 to CYA and the bag of shock added 3 so I was adding 10 to the CYA each week. Doesn't take long to get way too high doing that.
 
The CYA level won't affect the heater. Persistantly low PH would.....

I don't know if you'll ever figure out why it became a problem this year. It's just how it goes, some pool owners go along for years using trichlor and never have identifiable problems...than wham!
 
When you are just getting started, the CYA test is pretty difficult. The dot needs to *really* dissappear, so you really cannot see the circle to be sure it is not an oval or a square or any outline of it at all. I have begun pouring all the stuff back into the bottle and doing it a second time, then having my husband do it a third time to see what we can agree on.

Just wanted to mention that because the advice here is likely to be for your to dump some water to lower the CYA to something like 30-40-50 and before you do you need to be pretty sure that you didn't quit the test too soon.
 
Hey, Tom,

You're correct.....the CYA is the first issue. You probably know the only way to get it out of your pool is to partially drain and then refill. You need to take out 50% of your water sooner or later. You could do it in smaller increments so it wouldn't be so painful.

With your current CYA of 110, I would keep the FC @ 8ppm or above. Anything less redfuces the effectiveness to a point where you are very susceptible to algae.

Draininjg that much is a big job but, if it were my pool, that's what I would do to get it back in tip-top shape.
 
Duraleigh, got aquestion. The blue PH test kit in the TF100 only reads a PH of 8. The same is true for the CL test in the blue tester. How do you deterine what the ph and cl is if it is above these color readings?

The PH results are the one that I got by using the blue PH/CL test kit.

I have a seperate meter for my pool and irrigation system so I can drain and refill the pool with a lower sticker shock because I do not have to pay sewage bill for the water I use.
Tom
 

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