A few questions about CYA, heaters and auto cleaners

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B

BillyT

0
Jul 23, 2009
16
a few miles south of New Orleans Louisiana
Hi all,

I've had my pool for about a month now and am in the process of converting to BBB. I have the TF100 test kit and my current numbers are...

PH 7.6 I'm colorblind so this one is hard.
TA 130 I've brought this down from 150 but I still have to lower it more.
FC .5 I've been lazy with the bleach. :oops: I'll get it up to 3 or so this weekend.
CYA 25

First off I do know about the Pool Calculator and even have it for my iPhone. It does help but it only works when I get out there and keep up with it. :wink: I understand how to lower the PH and TA and will do so this weekend when I have time to keep up with it.

About CYA, is 25 too low? I started with CYA of 70 and let some water out but overshot the goal I had of 40. I don't want to buy a big container of CYA just to bump it up a few points. Would Trichlor tabs raise it enough? I have an inline feeder for the tabs and this seems like an easy ( lazy ) way of raising it. Another reason for getting the tabs is I have some green "stains" on the bottom of the pool that I can't brush or even (gently) scrape off with a fingernail. I assumed this was stained from the other side of the liner, but I read here to use a Trichlor tab to see if it disappears, if not try vitamin C to see if it's a metal problem. I'll try sticking my camera in a zip lock and taking underwater pictures of the stains so you can see them.

Second question is about automatic cleaners. I have set my mind on the Hayward Aqua Bug Pool Cleaner. Any thoughts on why or why not to get this one for my pool?

I was thinking of converting to an intex SWG next season when I open the pool but I keep hearing/reading SWG's are not good for AG pools. Any thoughts?

Lastly I would like to keep the pool open for as long as I can so I am researching solar pool heaters. The Fafco ( or similar ) panels seem to fit the bill. I think one 4x20 panel ( or two 2x20 ) would be enough but the panels would sit on my roof facing North. They would still get sun all year round, but not a "direct hit" in the winter months although the pool would probably be closed then anyway. I've been tempted to empty the houses hot water heater tank into the pool for some hotter water but that may not be the best idea. :wink:

BTW thanks for this great forum, the research here convinced me to get the pool in the first place. I guess some of these are actual questions and some are just to reinforce what I am thinking. :)
 
Hi, Billy,

Welcome to the forum.

I have to damper your welcome with just a little scolding..........get your FC up to at least 3ppm now! :hammer:

Chlorine is the single most important thing in pool water maintenance and you have let yours drift too low.

Disregard all your other numbers but get some chlorine in there.

Use Clorox or liquid chlorine. Do not be lazy about the chlorine.

You can be lazy about the TA, CH, CYA and perhaps even pH (a little bit lazy....not much) but you cannot be lazy about the chlorine or Mr. Algae will come visiting. It may also reduce that staining if you will get your chlorine up to around 5 or so and leave it there.

I can't comment on your CYA level because I don't know where you live.....it makes a difference.
 
I just got out of the pool, vacuumed and scrubbed it down. :)

I'll get the FC back up tonight. I ran out of pucks a few weeks ago, that's when I lowered the CYA and tried to start the BBB method. I'll have to use the FAS/DPD for all my chlorine tests as I can't tell some of the yellow shades apart on the test tube so I keep thinking I have more FC than I do. That's what led to the .5 number I thought I was good the last few days but apparently I can't match the shades :oops: then I did the FAS/DPD as well as other tests today.

I live a few miles south of New Orleans Louisiana. The weather is still warm, but is getting cool enough at night to make the pool a bit on the cool side.
 
That far South, a CYA of 40-60 would seem to be the best bet. You are fine to leave it where it is @ 25ppm, but it may result in FC loss daily of around 3-4ppm. With a higher CYA, it is pretty common to hold your FC loss to 2pppm daily.

I'd measure my FC daily loss at 25ppm and figure out how much that costs. If you don't like the result, consider bumping it up into the 40-60 range.
 
With the CYA lowered you do have the luxury of using the tabs in the automatic chlorinator.

I suggest that you use the Pool Calculator to determine how many tabs you can use to get the CYA to the level suggested here. You will want to weigh a tab, or 10, depending on whether you have a good scale in the kitchen that can do ounces or have a postal scale or something else that will be accurate in that range. Expect that one is 6 or 7 oz.

Then at the bottom of the Pool Calculator you can enter weight of one weeks worth of tabs or 10 tabs and see how much CYA that adds to the pool. Then you can just count out whatever, maybe 24 tabs and when those are all used up retest the CYA. I am assuming here that if you have strips they will be worthless to determine this fine a detail on CYA and you don't want to waste reagent in the TF100 kit to test CYA more than maybe once a month.
 
BillyT said:
I'll have to use the FAS/DPD for all my chlorine tests as I can't tell some of the yellow shades apart on the test tube so I keep thinking I have more FC than I do.
Click to expand...
A lot of people have that problem, actually, and we use FAS-DPD all the time. I am currently doing both tests each time, trying to train my eye to recognize the right shades of yellow. We'll see how that goes.

You previously mentioned difficulty with the pH test as well. I find I get the best results if I view the tube in front of a brightly lit (preferably sunlit) white background. Also look at the pH test first, before the chlorine; I have discovered that after looking at the yellow chlorine test, looking back at the pH test causes it to go up by about .2; color fatigue in the eye, I think.
--paulr
 
An update,

My levels as of today are...

pH - 7.5 ( had my wife verify color :wink: )
TA - 110
FC - 5ppm
CC - .5

The chlorine seems to be holding as I did the overnight test and it held at 5ppm. I do have something on the bottom of the pool I used to think was algae, but now I'm not so sure. It turns up in the same places every week and while I see it elsewhere it only collects in divots and ridges in the liner on the bottom usually in the same places every week. Last week I actually put a trichlor puck directly on one of the spots and 24 hours later it didn't disappear or change. I have shocked the pool for a week although it was before I got the TF-100 test kit, but with the amount of bleach I was putting in I can't imagine it wasn't effective unless other factors TA, PH level counteracted it.

Here's a pic of the bottom. Taken from my phone so I couldn't get too close and it was windy so the water wasn't exactly calm.

BTPool091309.jpg


Anyway, unless you think different I'll shock this week to see if that changes anything. The pool is pretty darn cold right now so I'll have to vacuum from the outside which isn't too easy as the pool is sandwiched between the house and fence. One more reason for the Aquabug. :)

P.S. I just bought a solar cover

http://www.aquasuperstore.com/produ...olar-Blanket-12-mil--12'-x-24'-Oval~3214.html

I'll see how that does before I invest in a solar heating system. The best spot on my roof (south facing) would be on the other side of the house from the pool so it would be a pretty long run. It's either that or get four 1x8 Enersol panels and put them on my shed which is right behind the pool. Two of those would be south facing and two would face north although it's not a steep slope so even the north facing ones would get some sun.
 

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I have the aqua critter (I assume that's the same as the aqua bug) and I think it was a waste of money. I spend more time adjusting it and making sure it's getting the entire pool. I can vacuum my whole pool in half the time I spend adjusting this thing. I have a 15x26 ft. oval pool, and it looks like yours is just a little smaller. Maybe it'll work for you, but I think it's a pain.

here's what I have:
http://www.lesliespool.com/browse/Home/ ... 30/I/57988
 
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