Clearing pool before adding cya

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T

TimIA

0
Apr 5, 2011
23
Iowa
I'm trying to clear up my pool before I add the cya just so I don't have to backwash the filter for the one week. Because I have no CYA currently, keeping a shock level of 10 is still fine for the liner and everything right? I mean you have shock of 15 when you are doing the baquacil conversion so I assume keeping it around 10 with no cya is ok until things clear.

Just some numbers from yesterday (only been using TF100 for about a week now so I think I'm getting the hang of it - almost addictive right now)

These were taken throughout the day - did not right down time.

FC CC
4 5
3 4
3.5 3
5.5 6
6.5 3.5

The last measurement was this morning. Not sure what my night reading was but maybe around 8 so I did not loose a ton over night. I have been no where near the 10 but the pool is still progressing and getting clearer. Obviously it is chewing stuff up as the CC are high. May still have some baquacil left but would have been trace amounts as I think I basically converted last fall but may have not finished completely. Water is just a little cloudy as I can see the deep end fairly clearly (6'). Seems like it has a yellow tint to it but this is getting better too.
PH was 6.8 and added 4lbs of borax. Next day still 6.8 so it was very low. Added another 4 lbs but have not checked yet. Alk is holding around 60. OH and using clorox for the chlorine. Thanks CostCo!!
 
Why is it easier to clear up if you have some CYA in it? I thought the chlorine would be the most potent without any and that is why I was going to wait. Can you explain your reasoning? I must be missing something.....
 
There are two issues. First, CC is much more common when CYA is zero. Adding CYA changes the reaction rates so that the production of CC is less common. Second, with CYA at zero you lose all of your chlorine to sunlight each day, so you end up using way more chlorine.
 
Ok, that makes more sense. It's been cloudy and drizzly here the last few days so not too much chlorine loss due to sun! Did not realize the cc build up though and how CYA helps with that. The pool calc says to add 5 lbs to get me up to 40 so I will add shortly.

Thanks Jason!
 
OK, CYA is in. Put an old t-shirt in the skimmer basket and added the CYA in there. It was all gone within a few hours. Been keeping it at shock level of 15 with cya at 40. Pool definitely has a yellowish cast. Should I be worried about this color? It's almost the same color as the bleach coming out of the bottle. CC still very high so I'm sure I'm chewing through something.
 
Don't worry about the color until CC is zero and FC levels are holding overnight. It will probably go away during shocking, but if you still have a yellow tint when shocking is complete there are other things to try.
 
Thanks Jason! It was clear before I started adding chlorine so it is not like it started out yellow. Also don't think we have any metals in our water. This could be caused by residual baquacil to I suppose and I thought I was close to converting last fall, but did not have the TF-100. So I'm sure the water if full of all the stuff that baquacil never "burnt" out of the water and now the chlorine is trying to make up for 5 years worth of that. Water is pretty clear too at shock level, not the baqua soup colors like a true conversion. Is there any truth to my thoughts about baquacil being too gentle and actually leaving lots of Crud in the water? This is the build-up that makes pools turn south after being on baqua for a few years.
 
Baqua, used correctly, works just fine for a while (say one season). It starts to fail when disinfection by products build up and start to interfere with the sanitation process. As you say, they build up over time and make things more and more difficult unless you do massive water replacement every year.

The yellow could well be related to baqua, or it could be iron. Either way, there is no need to worry about it right now.
 

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I never gave the results of my first year switch to BBB method. Worked great! no pink slime gunk in August like I had before. Once my CC went to zero, things went smoothly the rest of the year. Next move will be to a salt water pool!
 
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