CYA finally got me?

[Thinkly]

Greetings. I have a ~10,000 gallon fiberglass pool. This is my 3rd year of ownership. Each year I have gotten along marvelously with 1" trichlor tabs and shocking with dichlor weekly. Until now. This season I have been struggling to get the beautiful sparkling water I am used to. The water continues to have a bluish/green haze to it.

I have shocked and reshocked and yet I can't get my FC high and can't get rid of CC. Yesterday I put in 4 bags of shock hoping that would do it. Yet this morning nothing had changed. I still had a CC of 2.

Regardless, I decided this morning to do a partial (major) drain of the pool. I estimate that I drained approx. 8000 gallons of the 10,000 capacity. Currently I am refilling and that brings me to my questions.

1. Once refilled what should I do? Test and treat accordingly after the pump has run awhile?

2. Should I add an algaecide? Is there a test for algae? Or should I just assume that if I get rid of CC that there will be none?

3. Should I expect good results?

I have been a member here for awhile and have read pool school and understand everything pretty well. However, I must admit that I have been a skeptic of CYA being a culprit until today. I know my CYA readings are off the chart. I haven't tested for a couple years mainly because I knew that my readings were very very high and I didn't want to quit using stablilized chlorine because of the convenience. And also because my pool remained beautifully clear.

I am past that now. Now I have seen that dumping massive quantities of dichlor into my pool did nothing to clean it. Thanks for any help.

 

[woodyp]

Scratch the algaecide, and just get everything else back up to your "new" normals------FC according to CYA.

 

[dattia]

I think the overnight Chlorine loss test is the test to determine organics in the pool. With a greenish tint and a CC of 2, it would seem that you likely have algae trying to take hold of your pool. I think after refilling and testing, you should probably start shocking according to the directions in Pool School and forego the algaecide... but definitely get a reading on your CYA so you know what your shock level should be, without that, you are fighting a losing battle. Good luck.

 

[Lershac]

Oh, the dichlor works... it just (like you said) catches up to you after a while.

#1- yes. you may (definitely) want to just shock (the process! not the bag of stuff) the pool coming out of the gate, as you know you have some algae in there.

#2 - I would not add any algaecide. Just use good ole chlorine bleach and shock the pool.

#3. - Based upon thousands of documented cases here, absolutely!

Good luck, and where are the pictures?

 

[Thinkly]

I should have taken pics but was to busy scratching my head and cussing. I'll try and post pics when the good results show up. Thanks.

 

[JasonLion]

You should post a full set of water test results. It is quite possible that several of your levels are off and need to be adjusted.

 

[Thinkly]

You should post a full set of water test results. It is quite possible that several of your levels are off and need to be adjusted.

I will post test results when pool is full and pump has run for awhile. Still a couple hours till pool is full. How long should I wait to test?

This is what i tested this AM before draining. (following 4 bags of shock last night.)

FC= 2
CC=2
TC=4
TA=120
pH= 6.8

Didn't test CYA as mentioned above, but know it was VERY high. As it always has been.

Last night when i tested I had

FC=0
CC=2
TC=2
TA=100 (added baking soda)
pH= 6.8

 

[anonapersona]

I am a bit wary of the pH of 6.8. As that is the limit that most kits test, it could be far less than that. You may need to address that soon. Low pH can damage pool equipment.

 

[JasonLion]

You definitely need to bring the PH up to at least 7.5 before doing anything else. Then, because CC is above 0.5, you need to shock the pool. However, to properly shock the pool you need to know your CYA level. I am worried that CYA might be quite high because you have been shocking with dichlor. At very high CYA levels it is extremely difficult to kill of algae.

 

[noaliasneeded]

Don't take this the wrong way, but you might want to revisit Pool School.

 

[ultra800_96]

Since you just did a 80%ish drain, as others have said, raise your ph to 7.5, test for CYA, if it's still high, another partial drain may be in order. If it's low add enough to get to 30ppm in socks by the returns & shock accordingly to the FC/CYA chart. When you've met the 3 criteria for shocking as listed in pool school, raise your CYA up to 40-50 & quit using pucks, or save them for vacation. Good Luck..