Turing a big green monster into a blue pearl

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Hi everyone,

So... I don't know if I should feel angry or embarrassed or stupid or relieved.

Had the water tested by professional pool service that opened again after the festive season and guess what I found out?

The CYA is in excess of 100ppm. I guess it will be part of my story with the price tag to go with. They can only register up to 100 for CYA. This compared to the other local pool shop tests I had to rely on that reported only 50. Go figure.

So knowing that little important fact explains why the amount of chlorine would not make a dent in the condition of the pool to try and SLAM with such a high CYA.

So no one else is to blame but me and the inconvient truth that without reliable water tests results I'm shooting in the dark.

After showing the pictures of the pool before and what it looks like now with the consideration of the amount of chlorine already used in th past three days, tests indicate iron in the water with other metals and solids from the water service centre. This must be from the algaecide and stabilizer products used and mentioned and a few commentors have brought to my attention on the forum. You know your subject matter.

I was given the advice at the professional pool service centre to never use algaecide and keep away from any form of stabilizer or chemical pool treatments that use which corresponds to the advice on the forum.

They tested all the other numbers and it corresponds to my test kit numbers plus the CYA.

PH 7.5
FC 3.0 (early this morning)
TDS 756
Alkalinity 90
CYA 100+

So in retrospect considering I did a water change of 30% and the numbers are still higher than 100, what are my options to bring down the CYA over time as I can't replace all my water at the moment as this would be too costly.

They advised I carefully follow the instruction to use hyper floculant treatment as the metals they picked up is a concern to them and some on the forum also referred to it.

They will perform a water sample test on my borehole water as they indicated the local municipality water has a problem with iron. This might have exaggerated the green tint even after I replaced 30%. Grrr.

Floc treatment:
I have bypassed the filter and treated the pool. Have added some pictures to the shared folder for reference.

Already seeing brown gunk floating on top and sinking to bottom after just a 15minutes.

I'm very carefull not to get the stuff into the filter. Got a vacuum hose attachment to vacuum directly to waste.

Will the Free Chlorine in the water be effective at sanitizing after the floc with such high CYA values?

I'll retest all the numbers on the weekend after a few vacuum sessions and share the results.

More pictures of the pool condition and some extras of the equipment.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=1Y9y6FBhQEW8doGn39F83dPwKfInG1ZSd
 
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So in retrospect considering I did a water change of 30% and the numbers are still higher than 100, what are my options to bring down the CYA over time as I can't replace all my water at the moment as this would be too costly.
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The water exchange is really the best thing for your pool as it will lower CYA and hopefully iron/copper as long as the new water isn't full of that stuff as well. :hammer: Until then, you'll be forced to maintain an exceptionally high FC level to compensate. Problem is without a ballpark CYA number (i.e. 150, 200, 250, etc?), it would be hard to do even that. You nailed it above when you spoke of a reliable test kit. So much of what we do here begins with one of those test kits. Definitely stay away from those magic potion pool store products.
 
i read in the forum earlier, if you are not sure for CYA value or since it is over 100 ( + able to make multiple CYA test)


I'm not sure which CYA testing you used, but mostly ; using 7ml pool sample and mixing with 7ml CYA regent
instead of mixing 7ml pool sample ;

Use 25% pool (1.75ml) +75% fill water (5.25ml) + regent CYA; so in this case you are draining 75%

or use 20% pool + 80% fill water + regent CYA so in this case you are draining %80

With this way, at last you should able to see clear picture of how much dilution may required and 3 more 5 less what would be CYA.

For me pool calculator advised 75% and i think i did %80 and get much lower than 30.

I hope this will help and good luck
 
Thanks Pat and other contributors.

I learnt a few things from you which I hope to pass onto other friends and family.

My pool is finally in the process of recovery from the looks of it.

The floculant settled out to the bottom of the pool and I vacuumed it out in 30 minutes this afternoon.

Left the pool off while refilling pool.

Added some pics to the shared drive for those who are interested to see the before and after.

Tell me what you guys think.

I'm retesting the pool water on the weekend to check if the CYA is still 100+.

Will need to do something about it otherwise algae might come back.

The pool water is very clear at the moment except for the floculant that is still settling in small amounts.

The FC is still = 3.0
PH 7.5
Alkalinity 90

I did not add any chlorine since I stopped on Monday afternoon and the Chlorine level before used to drop below 1 over night.

Now with all the gunk out of the pool their is no algae against the walls at all. Is this as a result of the floc or the FC?
 
Now with all the gunk out of the pool their is no algae against the walls at all. Is this as a result of the floc or the FC?
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Any dead algae is a result of chlorine/bleach. The floc may have helped to grab dead particles or other matter that was suspended in the water to help you with vacuuming. It's interesting that you see no algae against the walls, perhaps from brushing? So much of this is "estimated" because of the testing, but if the CYA was over 100 and is still above 50 for example, an FC of 1-3 won't do anything to prevent algae from returning. I know you've heard us say this many times before, and you're doing the best you can with limited resources, but I'd recommend trying to keep the FC elevated as much as you can to prevent an algae outbreak. You may not be totally out of the woods yet, but at least you are seeing some progress based on what you have available to work with. That's good work.
 
Just completed a second vacuum to get the last floculant out. Have returned pump to normal filtration with the pool cleaner and skimmer now running.

Now I can start to work towards TFPC.

I agree with you Pat on maintaining a higher FC if the CYA is still high.

The final pictures are now on the shared folder to see the end result.

I noticed that the painted surface have come off in parts of the pool. Is this what is referred to as scaling? Where is most appropriate to post a new thread about this problem? I have a few questions.
 
Your signature says this is a plaster pool -- so is it painted or plaster? Hard to tell from the pictures.

Paint peels off - it does not last in a pool environment.

Scale normally builds first at the water line, then can form nodules and patches of scale in the general pool area. It will be raised off the surface and rough.

Good you are turning the corner on your pool maintenance. Did you order a test kit?

Take care.
 
Lombaardcj said:
It's a marbelite/plaster pool.
I'm not sure if the surface of the plaster was painted over, but it's coming off in places.
Will try to take a few close-ups. It's a separate discussion which I want to create on a new thread. Do I do it under the Repairs section ?
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The Under Construction forum would be appropriate.

Take care
 
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