All levels normal, pool still dark green

[msdunkel]

Good to hear.

Good luck.

Remember from a previous post --

You have a vinyl liner pool. So the most you can drain at one time is only to the point of leaving 1 foot of water in your shallow end. Do you have a shallow water table (water in the ground near surface)? That makes a difference.

Thanks for the reminder. No lower than 1 foot in the shallow end! It will probably take 2-3 days to refill, hoping that we can get CYA below 80 on the 1st attempt and not have to drain a 2nd time.

 

[kimkats]

msdunkel, you poor thing this rain has been unreal here in N. FL as well!

You are in VERY good hands with Marty! He is an awesome guide!

I am SO glad to hear you got the TF-100 XL. That was an awesome first step to clearing your swamp.

Watch how much your drain as you don't want to go too low with your liner. While you are draining you get to go shopping! Here is your shopping list:

-2 2 cup plastic measure cups-one is for muriatic acid and one is for all other chemicals

-muriatic acid-make sure to get the 31% stuff. Look outside by the pool stuff at Lowes. They have the 1/2 strength stuff for the same price so don't get taken

-bleach-plain, unscented, bleach OR chlorine. Store brand of bleach works just fine but make sure it is 8% or better AND it is fresh. Walmart has their "pool shock" which is chlorine at 10% I think. Do you have a pool store close by that you can swing into easy for liquid chlorine? Like Marty said you are going to need a LOT but I have a link to share to show you it DOES work!

Foreclosure swamp and errant pool service?

I want you to play with Pool Math while the pool is draining. There is a little bit of learning curve so it will be good for you to know how to work it before we start the SLAM.

We got ya! ask ANY and ALL questions you might have!

Kim

 

[YippeeSkippy]

The pool is a 30k gallon vinyl lined chlorine cleaned pool with a sand filter. We've been getting a LOT of rain over the past month and the pool has went from crystal clear to dark green over the past 2 weeks. We've shocked 3 times and used a Leslie's product called Green to Clean in the pool and it keeps getting worse.

just so you know- that Green to Clean is ammonia. You added ammonia to your pool... on purpose.

Ammonia tends to chew up chlorine so your chlorine requirements are going to be much higher until all that ammonia has been broken down and made gone.

Maddie

 

[msdunkel]

just so you know- that Green to Clean is ammonia. You added ammonia to your pool... on purpose.

Ammonia tends to chew up chlorine so your chlorine requirements are going to be much higher until all that ammonia has been broken down and made gone.

Maddie

It's the product the pool store told my wife to buy, no need to rub it in if that's the wrong thing. Would that account for my very high CYA number?

 

[mknauss]

It's the product the pool store told my wife to buy, no need to rub it in if that's the wrong thing. Would that account for my very high CYA number?

No.

Ammonia will just take chlorine to consume. You need 10x the ppm in ammonia of chlorine to consume it. Your drain will help reduce it.

Take care.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

It's the product the pool store told my wife to buy, no need to rub it in if that's the wrong thing. Would that account for my very high CYA number?

No, but can explain high CCs. I don't mean to make you feel bad, its just frustrating that stores sell these products without warning.

The only thing that explains high CYA is having added CYA... either through direct stabilizer additions or the hidden CYA in chlorine pucks and granular products.

Maddie

 

[msdunkel]

No.

Ammonia will just take chlorine to consume. You need 10x the ppm in ammonia of chlorine to consume it. Your drain will help reduce it.

Take care.

Thanks. The drain was easy, the refill is about an inch an hour. Pool is down about 2.5 feet and I can only fill every other hour. Probably be full Monday or Tuesday.

 

[kimkats]

Good job! While it is filling you can add a jug of bleach three times a day and brush the pool to mix it in good and start killing the left over algae to give you a heads start on the SLAM when you get done with the refill.

Kim

 

[jturie]

just so you know- that Green to Clean is ammonia. You added ammonia to your pool... on purpose.

Ammonia tends to chew up chlorine so your chlorine requirements are going to be much higher until all that ammonia has been broken down and made gone.

Maddie

Learn something new every day on this site. I used Green to Clean a month ago (before I found TFP) with a ton of chlor brite and I couldn't understand why my FC was 0-1. Never again. Oh yeah, after all that CB addition, my CYA hit 100.

 

[msdunkel]

Good job! While it is filling you can add a jug of bleach three times a day and brush the pool to mix it in good and start killing the left over algae to give you a heads start on the SLAM when you get done with the refill.

Kim

Thanks, I had considered this but I might need to drain the pool again to get acceptable levels of CYA. The pool company told me the pool is 30k gallons. I cannot verify this since the slope of the pool isn't constant nor am I 100% certain just how deep it is under my diving board. What I do know is my pool is 19 x 38 and I drained off something near 2' of water which is roughly 11,000 gallons. If I really have a 30k gallon pool, and I measured my CYA correctly at 150, and my volumetric math of 11k gallons removed is correct, my CYA will probably still be 100 when I'm done draining . Don't want to dump all that bleach into the environment and waste money buying more if that's the case.

Sound logic?

EDIT: btw, the refill is going more slowly than expected. I'm probably only getting 1/4" to 1/2" fill per hour instead of the 1" I originally thought. I guess if I was really curious I could get a 1 gallon milk jug and see how long it takes the hose to fill it up, I'd have a much better estimate instead of eye-balling the water level on the pool steps .

 

[tim5055]

Thanks, I had considered this but I might need to drain the pool again to get acceptable levels of CYA.

I would still add bleach while you are filling. It is going to be very helpful down the line.

 

[msdunkel]

I would still add bleach while you are filling. It is going to be very helpful down the line.

Will do.

BTW, I also found my wife had put the products "Super Blue" and "Perfect Weekly" into the pool. Would either of these have caused the high CYA levels? Trying to determine why my CYA is so high so I can prevent it from recurring.

 

[mknauss]

Will do.

BTW, I also found my wife had put the products "Super Blue" and "Perfect Weekly" into the pool. Would either of these have caused the high CYA levels? Trying to determine why my CYA is so high so I can prevent it from recurring.

A quick Google search shows the Super Blue is a clarifier, no CYA but might gunk up your filter, and Perfect Weekly is a phosphate remover, no CYA, just a waste of money.

So I do not think they effected your CYA levels.

 

[msdunkel]

A quick Google search shows the Super Blue is a clarifier, no CYA but might gunk up your filter, and Perfect Weekly is a phosphate remover, no CYA, just a waste of money.

So I do not think they effected your CYA levels.

Thank you. If I just converted to saltwater, would all these problems just go away?

 

[mknauss]

A Saltwater Chlorine Generator provides you a means to add chlorine on a daily basis with less intervention. You still need to test, daily at the start but less often after you are dialed in. You must watch your pH and add acid when it reaches the upper limit.

It is not maintenance free - but easier.

For instance - we leave for extended trips (up to several months) and I have a pool service that cleans the pool, empties the skimmer basket, and adds acid each week. I keep my FC at 10% of CYA and have never had algae. It can be a challenge to be gone if the SWCG needs to be reduced but I have taught the pool service owner how to use the EasyTouch and he texts me when the FC starts to increase and we decide how much to reduce the pump run time to match the FC needs.

Lots of info -- start looking into it.

Take care.

 

[msdunkel]

Thanks again.

I think I found the source of my CYA, we have been using trichlor chlorine tablets in our heywood dispenser. I don't want to do calcium since my hardness is about right, and I can't even find dichlor tablets -- only granular. How can I possibly keep my pool sanitized without raising the CYA to the point that I have to drain the pool ever 3 months?

 

[mknauss]

Bleach!!!!!!!

 

[msdunkel]

Makes sense. I guess if I'd put some thought into the question before I asked it I might have saved you a minute .

 

[msdunkel]

The water level is now above the filter return but still about 6 inches below the skimmers. Would it be safe for me to begin running my pump and start filtering from the bottom?

 

[mknauss]

The water level is now above the filter return but still about 6 inches below the skimmers. Would it be safe for me to begin running my pump and start filtering from the bottom?

If you can isolate to pull only from the main drain, sure. Monitor your pump to be sure it does not have an issue priming.