Please somebody show me the way

[Litchfield]

I have been lurking and lurking since last year when I bought and installed my 27 ft above ground pool. With the info and expertise I gleamed from you kind folks, and the highly suggested tf100 kit, I keep my pool crystal clear and (seemingly) safe last season.
I need to know what I am looking for when doing the cya test. I have always been able to see the dot at the bottom of the tube. Could I really have 0 cya?? Last year I added stabilizer. I think I am messing up on the testing. As I understand it after adding stabilizer it may take some time to show up in the test. I added more of my stabilizer from last year (approx 2ish pounds) in a sock in the skimmer basket. I still am not getting any reading on it. I have been wary of adding too much as I read story after story about needing to drain and refill. Just to clarify, I used a ton of chlorine last year.

In an attempt to move forward, I shocked the pool the other day (tuesday morning) and have been running the filter nonstop. I started with two gallons of liquid shock. By the time I got home and checked it was gone. I hit it again with another two gallons of shock and brought that sucker up to over 24 ppm free chlorine. I also added ph raise as my ph was at 6.8


Wednesday night I screwed up and wrote 28 for my fc- I think I had 28 drops and that means I had 14ppm
cya less than 20
Ta and ph I didn't write down
cc-0



Last night I had
cya less than 20
cl above 5
fc-9
cc-0
ta-80
ph-7

This evening I had
cya less than 20
cl looks like 3
fc-6
cc-0
ta-80
ph-7
so I am waiting to see my fc level is in the morning so I can see what I am losing overnight. Still I am just guessing what my shock level is as I don't really know my cya level. Anybody have any advice?

 

[Casey]

If you can see the dot your CYA level is 20 or less and you need to add more. Add another 2lbs and hang sock and test next week.

Why are you SLAM'ing the pool?

Welcome to TFP.

 

[pwrstrk]

Welcome to TFP !
Here is the suggested way to add CYA. Put the CYA in a sock or a nylon knee high and hang it in front of a return jet. Make sure to run your pump until it's all dissolved.

 

[Richard320]

Welcome!

The fact that you're worrying about these obscure points tells me you understand the TFPC method pretty good!

Is your pool green? Are the walls slimy? That's the first check to see if you're done with the SLAM process. You have no CC, that's the second. You're doing the third, checking overnight loss. But if you haven't passed the first one, don't bother. Sleep in an extra ten minutes.

Whatever poolmath calculates as your CYA based on what you've already added, use that as your CYA value to establish chlorine levels.

 

[Litchfield]

Boy, you folks are quick.
Casey, I understood it to be that I should bring up my cl levels(to a shock level based on cya level) and hold it until I have something like a 1ppm overnight loss. At that point all the nasties are gone and once the chlorine level is back down around 3-5 or so the pool is good to go. Then it is just try to maintain it in the range? As I dont really know my cya I figured a very heavy dose of chlorine and then wait for the loss to slow down.

Pwstrk- Thats how I added stabilizer last year, certainly did dissolve it quicker than putting it in the basket

Yes Richard, when I pulled the cover the water had a greenish tint and the wall was slick. I thought at first when I looked under the cover that I had a clear pool. I will admit I was a little disappointed. On the upside the green cleared out within minutes of adding chlorine. This weekend will be spent slowly making sure I cover every inch with the brush as opposed to the fast and hurried pace before work during the week.

Still though what am I looking for with the cya test. Is the water supposed to be cloudy and thats whats obstructs view of the dot?

Thanks again for all the advice. Without TFP & it's people I would likely have four or five chlorinator tabs floating around the pool and not a clue as what I was setting myself up for

 

[pwrstrk]

As for the CYA test.... Yes the water will cloud the dot. You want to do the test on a sunny day with your back to the sun, test vial at waist height and when the dot disappears take your reading. You can do the test a more than once with the same sample to confirm your reading. It is a little tricky, but with practice you'll get it. ��

 

[Casey]

How does you water look? Have any pics you can share?

Before SLAM'ing it's good practice to know your CYA level so you're not overdosing the pool. We don't add anything the pool doesn't need and we like our chemical additions to be about the right measurements.

So you have 30ppm of CYA right now and your SLAM level is 12ppm FC.

SLAM is complete when you hit 3 criteria:

1ppm or less FC loss over night.
.5 CC
Crystal clear water.

 

[Richard320]