TF100 Test Results - Am I Near a CYA Record?

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garyengr

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LifeTime Supporter
Apr 26, 2015
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Tucson/AZ
Received my TF100 Kit and ran a complete set of tests.

Time taken 1:30
Pool Temp 72 deg
FC: 20
CC: 0.5
PH: 7.2
CH: 400
TA: 130
CYA: 280

Pool was drained and refilled in early 2013. Have been using primarily 3" tablets and Powdered Shock since then.

Will drain some of the pool water and replace, not sure I want to drain 86% like Pool Math suggests, but maybe 40-50% now and some more later. Will put the Multiport Valve on waste and let the pump drain the pool.

Any other recommendations?


Thanks,

Gary
 
Thanks - planning to start now, will shoot for approximately 20" which I believe will be about 6400 gallons. At our water and sewer rates, I estimate draining 6400 gallons will cost about $53 in water charges.

- - - Updated - - -

Azgirl71 said:
That is some serious CYA!
Click to expand...

I can't claim all the credit. The company who drained the pool added the initial stabilizer. Guess I was over shocking in the winter.
 
After a couple of trips to the store, finally got the draining underway at 4:10. Its now 4:40 and the pool is down about 6". Found out the skimmer auto seal (or what ever it's called) doesn't seal 100%. As a result the pool was starting to suck air. I place a hose in the skimmer with a very small stream of water and that solved the problem. Also had an issue with the drain hose. We just had out front yard landscaped. The hose didn't quite reach the street. I put it in the river rocks but when I hit full speed on the pump, it started thrashing around and messed up some of the gravel and dirt. Hopefully I get done and repair it before the wife gets home!!

Tested our tap water for CH and it is 100.


Gary
 
Hit 20" down at 5:30 (1 hour and 20 minutes to pump out approx 6400 gallons). Stopped the pump, set the multiport valve to closed (hoping to maintain pump prime). Removed power from the pump. Began refilling the pool. Repaired the front yard. Not sure how long it will take to refill but likely 4-5 times as long as it took to remove 20" of water (filling through the fill line - 1/2" pvc and another outlet on the other side of the house through a 3/4" hose feed by a 1/2" copper line.
 
duraleigh said:
That CH seems quite low for your region. Do you have a water softener? Could you have tested your water after it ran through it?
Click to expand...

No water softener. We are outside of Tucson city limits and the subdivision had there own well (Hub Water) at one time. Metro water bought hub and then we started getting blended water.

Completed the fill last night but overfilled by a couple of inches. I checked the water just now and had these readings:

Temp 75 degrees
Time 12:10
FC: 10 ppm
CC: 0.5 ppm
PH: 7.2
CH: 275 ppm
TA: 140 ppm
CYA: 160 ppm

Also while the water level was low, noted a small amount of green algae on the underside of the vacuum fitting.

Assume I should drain another 1/3 (with the overfill I likely exceed the 1/3 by a little) and add about 100 oz of chlorine to raise the FC. Will do the drain in the evening to not subject the plaster to high temps since is will likely be close to 100 degrees today.

Any other suggestions.
 

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garyengr said:
I can't claim all the credit. The company who drained the pool added the initial stabilizer. Guess I was over shocking in the winter.
Click to expand...

Just want to make sure you understand it's the 3" tablets that are the problem and not over shocking. If you are using the TFP method of pool care with liquid bleach and common chemicals instead of the tablets and pool store chemicals you should have clean sanitary water that's less trouble and cost to maintain. You also do not need to routinely shock the pool. Instead you maintain a proper level of FC and you don't have problems.

Those tablets contain CYA and if you're using them to keep the FC up then you are constantly raising your CYA level. It's a never ending cycle who's only cure is to quit using tablets for maintenance. Please read this if you haven't already. It explains the method we use with great results for pool care. http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/122-what-is-tfpc-bbb
 
Kiss4aFrog said:
Just want to make sure you understand it's the 3" tablets that are the problem and not over shocking. If you are using the TFP method of pool care with liquid bleach and common chemicals instead of the tablets and pool store chemicals you should have clean sanitary water that's less trouble and cost to maintain. You also do not need to routinely shock the pool. Instead you maintain a proper level of FC and you don't have problems.

Those tablets contain CYA and if you're using them to keep the FC up then you are constantly raising your CYA level. It's a never ending cycle who's only cure is to quit using tablets for maintenance. Please read this if you haven't already. It explains the method we use with great results for pool care. http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/122-what-is-tfpc-bbb
Click to expand...

Thank you and do understand that. Shock also contributed to the CYA increase as I was using powdered shock which also contains CYA. (4. Dichlor - A stabilized, granular, fast-dissolving form of chlorine. Because it dissolves so easily, it is often sold as "shock". Like trichlor, dichlor adds chlorine and CYA to your water and lowers the pH. Use of dichlor can raise your CYA level very quickly.) I was using between 3 and 5 3" tablets in a floater about every two weeks and then every week or two would throw in two bags of powdered shock. In the past, I used liquid chlorine to shock but somewhere about 4 years ago I changed to powdered shock and do not remember why.
 
While I targeted removing 33% of the water, I'm was curious about what I actually removed. Using the CH and CYA measurements before removing water and after removing and adding tap water back and the measurements of CH of our tap water allows for an estimate of the percent water removed. Using the CH measurements I estimated 39.4% of the water was removed and using the CYA measurements I estimated 40.7% was removed. Since these are close, it would be reasonable to assume 40% of the water was removed.
 
Removed 25" of water and replaced tap water. Tested with the following result:

Water Temp - 74 degs
FC: 12 ppm
CC: 0.5 ppm
PH: ~7.3
CH: 200 ppm
TA: 130 ppm
CYA: 92 ppm

Reread some of the Pool School Chemistry and noted the following comment on CYA: "If you have a SWG or very high levels of direct sunlight, CYA is typically kept between 70 and 80." Our pool gets direct sunlight whenever the sun is up. Does this mean I should be shooting for 70 to 80 rather than 30 to 50 (can't get much more direct sunlight than here in the desert)?
 

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