Thanks

[SwimAustin]

I've been lurking for a while and learned so much. I bought a house with a 20K gal pool (my first) and we insisted on replastering as part of the deal. It was mess. I kept the same pool guy handling chemicals longer than I should have, especially given the trichlor dispenser and high water prices. He only visited once a week and I know now that thing change faster than that. My CYA was 120ish by the time I took over and mustard algae blooms were getting more and more common. It could have been worse.

Things I learned:
check and lube your seals
brush often and learn where to brush more often
get a mask and snorkel and look around
learn your pool
test and retest (get a good kit, seriously, your blind without it)
test strips don't work (two in a row don't even match!)
it gets easier and easier
I got lucky on my first batch of Walmart bleach
I got extra lucky I purchased lots (yeah!)
I may never find bleach concentration per price like that again (boo)
don't glue your spider gasket in or the next guy (me) will hate you (b*stard)
muriatic acid really does fume, hang back
I love having a pool 10x more than I thought I would
learn your pool

So, I've been living with mustard algae with high CYA and high water prices. Austin water prices are punitive, so I can't replace water. I'm going to SLAM over Xmas, but first I want to use as much rain to lower the CYA as possible. During the summer I could keep the algae at bay as long as I kept the chlorine above 6 ppm. Wow did it drop fast when a bloom started. The water today passed below 50 degree and it hardly gets any sun, so I add very little chlorine and see no algae. It's nice to relax. I've never once read any CC. Not even the tiniest color change from slight pink.

(Oh and the light nook was nasty. I'm not sure it was an issue, but I'm glad I cleaned it.)

I've got a few questions and stories to share, but I wanted to say "Hi" and thanks. TPF has been an amazing resource.

I'm looking forward having the time to do a full suite tests this weekend. It's been a while since I've done CYA and CH and we've had a bit for rain. I'm really hoping my CYA is down below 100.

 

[pwrstrk]

Welcome to the forum !
Very good post. Congrats on you taking the time to learn the methods taught here. Give yourself a pat on the back !

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome to TFP!

You have certainly come to the right place, and appears you have been doing your homework.

 

[Patrick_B]

Welcome to TFP, and that is a fantastic post!
I loved it, and really enjoyed reading it laid out like that. I think the spider gasket was my favorite, but it's very cool when somebody gets it, and you clearly have done so.
Awesome.

 

[SwimAustin]

Y'all made it easy. I'm glad you enjoyed the post. I spent hours scraping out little tiny bits of rubber when I changed the spider gasket. It was even glued up the sides. I was careful and got it all out and the new seal works great.

Did my full set of tests today.
Cl 5.5 (oops, I took too many days off) added bleach
Ph 8 (2 drops reduced to 7.4) It's probably not 8, I can't tell those top few colors very well, so I always titrate to 7.4. Added HCl to get things back in line
TA 125
CH 325
CYA 160 (yes, that's insane. To get a reading I had to dump half the solution and dilute with tap water back to 14 ml and double the result)

So, no real trouble except that crazy CYA. I guess I'll exchange some water this weekend. I'll check the water meter and see how much cheap water I've got left this month. Next month my water usage counts extra, because they judge my sewer usage based on it. Between that and prices which rise exponentially, replacing water can get very costly.

I'm able to keep things clean and clear without much effort, so I can't really complain. Still, I was hoping for something lower than 160!

 

[linen]

Welcome to tfp, SwimAustin

CYA 160 (yes, that's insane. To get a reading I had to dump half the solution and dilute with tap water back to 14 ml and double the result)

The method you used for the cya dilution may or may not work properly since you may not have enough melamine to bind to all of the cya. The proper way to do the cya dilution is to pre-mix 1/2 pool water and 1/2 cya free water (tap water is fine), then use that to fill the vial 1/2 way and then fill the rest of the vial the rest of the way with the cya reagent. The result will then be multiplied by two.

With that said, you should reduce your cya or you will run in trouble. If you cya truly is 160 ppm then you need to keep your FC above 12 ppm to prevent algae.

 

[SwimAustin]

Welcome to tfp, SwimAustin
The method you used for the cya dilution may or may not work properly since you may not have enough melamine to bind to all of the cya. The proper way to do the cya dilution is to pre-mix 1/2 pool water and 1/2 cya free water (tap water is fine), then use that to fill the vial 1/2 way and then fill the rest of the vial the rest of the way with the cya reagent. The result will then be multiplied by two.

Yes, a very good point. I'm cheap and I was trying to save reagent from a failed test. At least I now know my CYA is over 160. I'd believe (hoped really) it was lower than 100. I really should have done it as you explained from the start. Since I knew for sure my CYA was over 50, diluting before mixing would have been the best choice. It would have given me both more range and more accuracy for the same reagents. Live and learn.

With that said, you should reduce your cya or you will run in trouble. If you cya truly is 160 ppm then you need to keep your FC above 12 ppm to prevent algae.

My CYA was that high most of the summer and you're right, there was trouble. I was swimming every day and mostly with a mask and snorkel, so I got very good at catching it early. It was a game. I found that over 6 ppm growth was very very slow, but you're right, it was still there. Some of this is while the pool guy was running the chemicals and I was learning my test kit. He only came once a week and other factors (algae, sun light, temp, rain) can change in just a few days.

As I said, I'm cheap. I was keeping my chlorine levels as low as I could while still avoiding rapid growth and add lots at once. Now that it's winter my pool gets very little sun and chlorine consumption is really tiny. I may as well run higher levels. I really need a less sensitive test. It's a lot of drops even at 6 and up. I might get a vial with a 5 ml line. I've been amazed at how accurate my repeat tests are. I bet I could do a 5 ml one close enough.

My lovely women pointed out that I could buy a huge amount of bleach for the price of water. I had a hard time justifying exchanging water even at the cheapest price I can get all year, but I really wanted to lower my CYA. Now we're in sewer-use monitoring, so I don't dare add water to the pool unless really needed. Oh, and she told me to dump the pool guy earlier and I was an idiot for not listening.

Thanks for getting me to reconsider my target Cl. I'm less happy to realize that I could have easily maxed out the reagent and might have an even more insane CYA level. We've got more rain coming, so I'll wait until after to do another test. I'm thinking I could live at this house for the rest of my life and never finish that nearly full bucket of trichlor. Good thing it keeps.

Friends don't let friends abuse trichlor.