This site has been a lifesaver. We are a first time pool family this summer because our neighborhood pool closed. We have a 15 foot by 4 foot pool vinyl above ground pool, with a separate SWG. I was naive and thought the SWG monitored the chlorine amount. Well after about a month my pool started getting cloudy, and I tested and found I had zero chlorine! I've been adding bleach, per the site recomm's , and it temporarily raises the level to acceptable but then disappears again. I've deduced that I must not have enough CYA. I ordered the testing kit you recommended here and it's on it's way. Meanwhile I went to the pool store and got some cya and put about 1.5 pounds in a sock and hung it by my return as recommended. Unfortunately I don't have a way to measure my cya until the kit comes. Was this a good idea considering I don't actually know my cya level? The pool store guy said if I haven't added any cya at all then my level is zero, so I figured it was safe to go ahead and start. Do you agree? By the way we have 7 kids, so the pool gets a lot of use, with at least 2-5 kids in it at any given time. thanks so much for your help!
First Time Pool Family
- Thread starter [email protected]
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reebok
0
Re: Lower CYA?
please start your own thread.
start reading through pool-school/ particularly the water chemistry section. you also should start reading How to Shock cause you'll need to do it when the kit gets there. use bleach/chlorine to do it, not the supercharge on the swg. you can keep using the swg to help a little though.
if you have not added cya then that's correct, you don't have any. you're going to want to shoot for 70-80ppm. I also recommend you read these two articles in pool school:
pool-school/pool_calculator
pool-school/water_balance_saltwater_generator
please start your own thread.
start reading through pool-school/ particularly the water chemistry section. you also should start reading How to Shock cause you'll need to do it when the kit gets there. use bleach/chlorine to do it, not the supercharge on the swg. you can keep using the swg to help a little though.
if you have not added cya then that's correct, you don't have any. you're going to want to shoot for 70-80ppm. I also recommend you read these two articles in pool school:
pool-school/pool_calculator
pool-school/water_balance_saltwater_generator
Re: Lower CYA?
Thanks for confirming things. I actually have read those articles (when the whole cloudiness started) and they were amazingly helpful! I will attempt to start my own thread ( I am very bad with computers!)
Thanks for confirming things. I actually have read those articles (when the whole cloudiness started) and they were amazingly helpful! I will attempt to start my own thread ( I am very bad with computers!)
Thanks for helping me start a thread, I never could figure it out. My kit should be here tomorrow. I'm going to do the overnight FC test tonight, and I'll check my levels as soon as the kit comes. I'll let you know what they are as soon as possible. This may be a silly question, but is it ok for my kids to swim in the pool while there is still undissolved cya in the sock? I ran the pump 24 hours after first hanging the cya sock. Thank you so much!
Yes it's okay for kids to swim while the CYA is dissolving in the sock, just tell them to leave it alone (so it doesn't spill).
Hi again! My TF-100 test kit came today, and here are the results I was able to get before it got dark:
FC .5
ph 7.1
TA 40
CYA 0 ( the sock has been hanging since Sunday)
I did the overnight FC test and it was negative. I've been adding bleach daily to keep the chlorine up so the kids can swim, but of course it quickly disappears. Where do you suggest I start? Thank you so much for your help!
FC .5
ph 7.1
TA 40
CYA 0 ( the sock has been hanging since Sunday)
I did the overnight FC test and it was negative. I've been adding bleach daily to keep the chlorine up so the kids can swim, but of course it quickly disappears. Where do you suggest I start? Thank you so much for your help!
[email protected] said:
If your kit came today, you did not do the Overnight FC Loss test yet.
And the result would be a number, not a "negative" or "positive" - so I think something was lost in translation? 
You need Baking Soda to increase your TA to 90. This should raise the PH a bit too, which is good.
Raise your FC up to 4 with bleach.
Use the Pool Calculator to determine how much of each to add.
Instructions for doing the Overnight FC Loss test are in Pool School.
OOh sorry, guess I misunderstood the way the test is done. I'll review it. Thanks again, I'll let you know how it goes. You are so helpful!!
My pool is the clearest I've seen it in two weeks! Of course my chlorine still keeps dropping very low, but that is because the cya is still dissolving I guess. I followed your recommendations last night, and here are my numbers as of today:
FC .5
ph 7.3
t/a 100
cya 0
I'm going to add some bleach to get the chlorine level up. What else do you recommend? Thanks so much for your help!!
FC .5
ph 7.3
t/a 100
cya 0
I'm going to add some bleach to get the chlorine level up. What else do you recommend? Thanks so much for your help!!
reebok
0
are you testing for cc's? can you check and add more often while the cya is starting to work?
are you testing for cya every time?
are you testing for cya every time?
I've been checking the cya daily since Sunday, with the levels remaining at zero. I have not done a cc check, but I will tomorrow; my FC was .5 Did you mean I should add extra bleach until the cya comes up? Thanks again
reebok
0
well you don't want to get to 0fc, and 0.5 is cutting it pretty close.
as noted in this article pool-school/recommended_pool_chemicals
"Solid cyanuric acid can take up to a week to fully register on the test, so it is best not to test the CYA level until one week after adding some."
so you can save a lot of reagent by not testing until the week is out.
as noted in this article pool-school/recommended_pool_chemicals
"Solid cyanuric acid can take up to a week to fully register on the test, so it is best not to test the CYA level until one week after adding some."
so you can save a lot of reagent by not testing until the week is out.
Yes, wait 5-7 days after it has dissolved to test for it.
Did you use the sock method? Where is the CYA dissolving... 3 days should be more than enough time.
Did you use the sock method? Where is the CYA dissolving... 3 days should be more than enough time.
The sock is near a return jet as recommended. I guess I'll wait till Sunday to test the cya again, as recommended. I've been adding bleach twice daily to keep the level swimmable for the kids. I don't let them in unless it is at least an fc of two. That last fc measurement was taken after the kids finished swimming and the sun went down. It had been 2 about 4 hours before when I let the kids go in. Our pool is in direct sunlight and it has been in the 90's this week so I guess the chlorine is disappearing extra rapidly. Can't wait for the cya to finally kick in. Please let me know if there is anything else I should be doing. Thanks so much for your time!
I guess just to clarify "near" the return... it should be dangling in the return flow. So like the bulky part of the sock is being directly hit with the steady flow of water, bouncing around... You can also manipulate the sock with your hand, to help it dissolve faster. I run my pump on low, 24/7 - I imagine with the Intex filter the flow isn't too strong (part of the issue) and the force of water may be similar to my "low" setting. So when I added CYA in May, i put the sock in the skimmer. The next day it appeared to me it had not dissolved at all, so I moved the sock to the return. At first it was too long, and the bulky part was just below the flow of water, so again it didn't seem to be dissolving. I shortened the length of string holding the sock, so that the water directly hit the bulky part and the sock was bouncing around... After 4 hours I noticed it was dissolving better....each time I touched it I noticed it dissolving thru the sock, so I started to squish it whenever I was near it. (I still have skin, LOL) It dissolved within 24 hours after I moved it to the return.
FPM, after the CYA dissolved in a day as per your last post, does it then take another week to register on the CYA test? Or once it is disolved out of the sock should you be able to accurately test for total PPM? Does it take a week for the CYA to bond on a molecular level (or whatever it does)?
I'm not FPM, but it can take up to a week for it to totally dissolve when you first add it. We suggest waiting that long to test because most test kits don't have enough CYA reagent to do daily tests without running out pretty quickly. So, it could take five days, or could take as little as 3 days, but to be safe we say test after five days.
Thanks for the ideas on the sock placement,I will go implement some and see if it speeds up the process. The sock doesn't look any less full to me, so that could be the problem. Just to be sure, I use just a regular sock and not a stocking type sock correct?