just purchased a home with pool - algae, high CYA, no FC

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dave18

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Aug 10, 2012
18
Sacramento, CA
My wife and I just purchased a home with a pool. I've never owned a pool before and I think this site just saved me from my local pool supply store!

A week ago, the water was a little cloudy but not green and there were chlorine tablets in the two skimmers. Now, the water is more cloudy and has a tint of green. Yesterday, I took a sample to my local pool supply store and got these numbers:

FC=0, CC=0, CH=280, CYA=100, TA=100, pH=7.8, TDS=1200

They recommended 2 pounds of shock (Power Powder Plus). Luckily, I only added one as I was just starting to read Pool School on this site. I added it in the evening. In the morning, I added 3 gallons of 6% bleach, waited one hour, and then took another sample back to the pool store. This is what I got:

FC=0, CC=0, CH=300, CYA=110, TA=100, pH=7.8, TDS=1100

Needless to say, I won't be adding any more of that product as my CYA levels are already high and they only made it worse.

I've just ordered the Taylor K-2006 test kit, and after everything I've read here, this is what I'm thinking of doing:

* Drain some pool water (not all at once) and replace with tap water.
* Shock the pool with lots of bleach.
* Scrub the pool every day.
* Maintain FC with bleach, not tablets.

Here are my main questions:

(1) How much should I drain? It's been sunny and 100+ degrees here day in and day out with no end in sight. What CYA levels should be my target? 50? 60?

(2) How long should I keep FC levels at the shock levels?

(3) I've consulted the CYA/FC chart on this site. It suggests, for instance, a target FC of 12 with a CYA of 100. Is it safe/desirable to swim with 12 ppm chlorine in the pool? Many of the products at the pool store suggest not getting into the pool with FC levels above 4 ppm. According to the CYA/FC chart, that would mean maintaining a CYA of 30 or less. But that wouldn't work with full sun day in and day out. So something doesn't add up.

That's it for now. My wife is hoping to swim within the next week. Is that a possibility? I'm telling her to be patient. Is it possible to swim after a successful shock? I assume that's when all the bacteria will be killed.

Thanks for any help! This site has been awesome so far, but still so many questions. I hope to learn because I want to maintain my pool myself. It looks like I should consider upgrading to a SWG system, but that's probably not in the budget until next year at least.

Thanks again!
-Dave
 
Hi, welcome to TFP! You would need to drain about 50% of the volume of the pool to lower your CYA. If you are not sure how high the water table is in your area, you can do a series of drain and refill cycles until you have replaced about 50% of the pool water. You should not have any trouble draining to just below the skimmer each time.

Try and keep the CYA between 40-50. You can swim up to shock level, but if the pool is cloudy enough you can't see the bottom it is safer to wait until the pool is clear. You want to be able to see if a swimmer is having problems or not.

Shocking the pool is a process and not a one-time mega dose of chlorine. You will know you are finished with the shock process when your CC is 1 ppm or less, you pass the overnight chlorine loss test, and the water is clear.

It sounds like you are on the right track. For more information on the shock process read shocking your pool and defeating algae.
 
Thanks for the welcome! And the links.

zea3 said:
You will know you are finished with the shock process when your CC is 1 ppm or less, you pass the overnight chlorine loss test, and the water is clear.
Click to expand...

Bama Rambler said:
Once you've completed the drain and then the shock process you cna swim up to shock level for your CYA.
Click to expand...

I think that covers it!

Thanks again for the help. I'm going to head over to the house now (we're still not completely moved in) and start with the drain/refill process.

I'll be sure to post back with some results. And probably more questions. :)

Thanks again.

-Dave
 
Thanks linen!

I've replaced approximately 7,500 gallons so far, so I'm getting there.

A friend of a friend is a pool guy and he has offered to come out and give me a hand. I'm a little worried because he says that 100 CYA is fine. He's suggesting using an algaecide to kill the algae and then dumping in about 3 gallons of 12% liquid chlorine. That's not enough to shock the pool, but if the algae is killed, then is a shock not needed?

So much conflicting information everywhere. I guess I'll give each method a try and see how it goes. I just won't let him bump up my CYA levels because I don't want to have to dump any more water out in the event that things don't go well.

I'll update on my "progress".
 
algaecide does not kill algae, it tries to prevent it. And some adds copper to the water which we do not recommend.

Stick to the liquid chlorine and the shock process in Pool School. Trying to mix advice is just going to cause confusion and likely more money spent.

Posted from my Droid with Tapatalk ... sorry if my response is short ;)
 
Thanks jblizzle. After sleeping on it, I've decided not to let the pool guy near my pool. Last night he said that chlorine does not kill algae, algaecide does. That right there should be a red flag. Chlorine in the right dose, as I understand it, can kill just about any organic matter. And, as you mention, many algaecides add copper, which I definitely do not want.

As you mention, mixing advice is usually a bad idea. I've decided to stick with lowering CYA and doing a shock and going from there.

Thanks again for all the help. It appears that some people in the pool business really don't understand what they're doing. They just add a lot of chemicals and then add some more.
 
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