Drain it or fight it?

[mepage]

I got a little lax (understatement) with my upkeep this winter and tried to maintain the status quo by using trichor tabs. Needless to say, my CYA is well over 100 and the pH dropped to below 5. I pulled the floater, added ~50lbs of sodium carbonate and got the pH in line (7.4) but of course the algae took over that night. I added 2 gals. of 6% bleach and got the FC up to 4. I am assuming this this will be a continuing battle to maintain as long as the CYA is this high. My question is do I fight that battle or would it be cheaper (and easier) to drain 60%-70% of the water ans start over? Water in my area is expensive but not as high as bleach =)

 

[Mesamav]

I'm thinking you're going to need a LOT more chlorine than that with your CYA so high.
If it were me, I'd lose some of the water and get the CYA in shape but I'm no expert. Those guys will be along shortly I'm sure.

 

[duraleigh]

Welcome. :lol: Drain your pool in stages of 1/3's so you can get your CYA down to a manageable 50 ppm. Then you can shock the pool effectively and get rid of the algae. It will be a nightmare trying to get it clear and keep it clear with your CYA where it is now.

 

[mepage]

Welcome. :lol: Drain your pool in stages of 1/3's so you can get your CYA down to a manageable 50 ppm. Then you can shock the pool effectively and get rid of the algae. It will be a nightmare trying to get it clear and keep it clear with your CYA where it is now.

Thanks for the welcome and the advice. That's what I assumed but needed to hear it from an expert. I should have done more research on the trichlor tabs, the CYA and pH issues never occurred to me. I'm going to go to the BBB method this summer, it looks like a much more manageable system.

Thank you so much for this forum, I've been lurking for the past few weeks and it's been a life saver.