Hi friendly, informative pool people! Newbie here going through my first CYA battle...and the CYA is winning. Initially my readings were 100+ (so who knows exactly what the ppm was). So, I drained about 13 inches down about 6 times now over the last 3 days; I've heard too many fiberglass shell horror stories about draining too much, and I am proceeding with an abundance of caution. And as you've probably already guessed, testing after each refill has shown me next to no results. Actually, the CYA level has seemed to drop a tiny bit (or it might be wishful thinking on my part as I stare at the black dot), so I did the half-pool and half-tap test. The CYA seems to come up as 70 at this point, meaning I am likely still somewhere around 140 ppm.
Question: Before I do another 13-inch drain and refill dance while burning through another bottle of reagent, is there someone here who would boldly tell me to "get on with it" and just drain half my pool? I've read about hydrostatic pressure, and ground water, and mythic tales of pools buckling and rising out of the ground. I am in Highlands County Florida, almost pure sand soil, and as the name suggests, I live on some of the highest land in the state--it's all relative of course. We built the concrete deck ourselves, and when the county inspector came, his eyebrows went high in the air when he saw how much rebar we used to tie the pool in--he said "Wow, that pool ain't going nowhere!" I don't know what the groundwater situation is, and there is no sump in the ground. We never have standing water, even after a hard rain, there was no water in the hole when the pool was dug. The pool is a fiberglass shell, 13k gallons, 2 years old. We just converted to SWG after having used tons of chlorine pucks and stabilizer over the first 2 years...our culprit.
How safe is safe when it comes to draining and trying to correct this CYA problem? I know no one can guarantee anything, but am I being overly cautious here and just wasting time and water? Or should I just continue the 13-inch draining dance forever until results appear? Any advice welcome.
Question: Before I do another 13-inch drain and refill dance while burning through another bottle of reagent, is there someone here who would boldly tell me to "get on with it" and just drain half my pool? I've read about hydrostatic pressure, and ground water, and mythic tales of pools buckling and rising out of the ground. I am in Highlands County Florida, almost pure sand soil, and as the name suggests, I live on some of the highest land in the state--it's all relative of course. We built the concrete deck ourselves, and when the county inspector came, his eyebrows went high in the air when he saw how much rebar we used to tie the pool in--he said "Wow, that pool ain't going nowhere!" I don't know what the groundwater situation is, and there is no sump in the ground. We never have standing water, even after a hard rain, there was no water in the hole when the pool was dug. The pool is a fiberglass shell, 13k gallons, 2 years old. We just converted to SWG after having used tons of chlorine pucks and stabilizer over the first 2 years...our culprit.
How safe is safe when it comes to draining and trying to correct this CYA problem? I know no one can guarantee anything, but am I being overly cautious here and just wasting time and water? Or should I just continue the 13-inch draining dance forever until results appear? Any advice welcome.
