CYA 220 & TDS 5500 - yikes! new to this pool - only 3 weeks.

[sundel]

Moved to Tolleson (west Phoenix area) 3 weeks ago & rented a house with an in-ground pool - between 8-10k gallons. First day in the rental house I noticed slight green tint to the walls of the pool. Brushed the walls and could see green coming off the walls. Bought a cheap pool test kit at HDepot, couple gallons of liquid chlorine and AlgaeGone. Used the AlgaGone as directed. Tested pool - pH was LOW (very) and so was the free available chlorine. Added 2 gallons of liquid chlorine. Algae was gone for a few days, but then returned. Found this website and bought a better pool test kit - the taylor test kit as recommended.
Used the Taylor test kit and found the CYA levels were so high that just with a few drops the black dot was completely covered, pH Low 7.00 (or less), free chlorine low, total chlorine high.
After reading the posts I figured the CYA (stabilizer) was so high in the pool water that the liquid chlorine was being bound up - which meant drain the pool - UGHHH! I just moved in and clearly this problem was preexisting to my move in, but pool care is the renter's responsibility. So what to do and be most cost effective especially since this issue was NOT in my single mom's just moved across the country budget??

I took a water sample to Leslie's pool supplies and they (unfortunately) confirmed what i had suspected - CYA too high and Total dissolved solids 5500 - very high and Free available chlorine too low. their solution - full draining of the pool - UGH!
[ their results: FAC: 0 LOW. TAC: 1 Too High. CH: 900 High. CYA: 220 High. TA: 120 okay. pH: 7 low. Base Demand 50. Copper & Iron levels 0.
TDS: 5500 VERY HIGH. phosphates: 200 High. Temp 80 ok.]

I read and watched videos (here and on you tube) how to drain a pool, how to do a chlorine wash, BUT my concern is it is august in phoenix. Leslie's pool cautioned me about draining the pool in the summer heat - floor and walls cracking. They recommended to wait until the night time temps drop below 75 degrees.

I would like to swim in the pool THIS summer, so can I safely drain the pool in the high phoenix summer heat? I figured i could time it and drain the pool at night (90's) and chlorine wash first thing in am (5:00 am) and then start to refill the pool.

I also wondered about partial draining and treating exposed walls with chlorine and adding new water and then partially draining again. Leslie's pool supply said that would be ineffective since my total dissolved solids are at 5500.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome to TFP!!!

One of the first things you will come to realize if you read much around here is that we do NOT trust pool store testing, I think I see that you noticed this and already got one? Which one?
Use it and post up the results and forget about Leslie's testing.

You really do need to replace a lot of water, but it is not safe to drain right now.
There are methods where you use a lower rate submersible pump to drain water at the same time you are adding it. Likely you should be draining at the bottom and filling at the top with the pump off and the water still. You might have to leave it running that way for a few days to exchange enough water to get the CYA and CH down (we do not really care about the TDS)

I understand that it may be the renters responsibility to maintain the pool, but it was not provided to you in a working state to begin with. Sorry about that. Might you be able to go after the owners for compensation?

Also note, that once you get the CYA reasonable, you likely need to follow the SLAM Process to ensure the algae is eradicated. Then keep the correct FC level for your CYA according to the FC/CYA Levels.

Check out:

 

[JamesW]

Do you have a picture of the equipment?

 

[s_dubb]

I’m in AZ also, had the same issue, previous owners used pucks all the time, of course it was June and above 100 everyday, I ended up doing the water replacement, pump in deep end and fill in shallow end. Took me 4 days non stop to get back down to 60 CYA. I feel your pain. In the past few months it’s dropped to 50. I was to scared to do a full drain and figured better safe than sorry.

 

[sundel]

I’m in AZ also, had the same issue, previous owners used pucks all the time, of course it was June and above 100 everyday, I ended up doing the water replacement, pump in deep end and fill in shallow end. Took me 4 days non stop to get back down to 60 CYA. I feel your pain. In the past few months it’s dropped to 50. I was to scared to do a full drain and figured better safe than sorry.

Thank you for your response! It was what I needed to hear, and I decided to do what you did. I did partial draining of the pool for 2 1/2 days with a lot of the draining 3-4' each night, and total refill by morning. I got my CYA from over 200 down to 40. now I am working on adding the correct amount of liquid chlorine each night - seems like 1/2 gallon+ to my 10,000 gallon in ground pool. My pH is much better now at 7.6. Before the draining it was 6.8 How much liquid chlorine (if that is the method you use) do you need to add each night?

 

[sundel]

I’m in AZ also, had the same issue, previous owners used pucks all the time, of course it was June and above 100 everyday, I ended up doing the water replacement, pump in deep end and fill in shallow end. Took me 4 days non stop to get back down to 60 CYA. I feel your pain. In the past few months it’s dropped to 50. I was to scared to do a full drain and figured better safe than sorry.

Oh - forgot to mention that after a week i then added some CYA raising the level to 50 thinking that will help the liquid chlorine last a bit longer. I am hesitant to go above that considering what I just went through ;-). Thanks,

 

[s_dubb]

Some days it’s a half gallon other days when I want to keep the chlorine higher I do a gallon each night.