Starting this year, I took over taking care of the pool myself from a pool service. I’ve done a lot of reading and research, and testing!
Unfortunately, in the beginning, I was using Clorox shock and pucks, and test strips. Since then, I’ve run into this group, and have switched to purer chemicals (chlorine, borax, etc), but I still have the pucks.
So my problem:
My CYA is in the 136 to 240 ppm range. I’ve had to dilute the water 4x just to get the reading in range for the test kit, which also adds error to the measurement (Taylor kit)
On 6.27, it was at 136ppm (34x4), with margin of error: 96 to 176ppm
On 7.12, it was at 240ppm (60x4), with margin of error: 200 to 280ppm
First, I don’t understand how it got so high to begin with (maybe years of dichlor and thrichlor?), and how it keeps increasing. Can the pucks add that much CYA? Maybe it's still within margin of error?
The water is still nice and clear, but it’s a battle against algae growing in nooks and crannies.
I know the only way to reduce CYA is to drain the pool, and to get to the recommended levels of 40 to 50ppm, I would have to drain between 2/3 and 4/5 of the water, which scares me to do it in one go.
Any thoughts on how to proceed? (multiple partial drain, more measurements?) And I live in California, so this wont be cheap, but still less than paying for a silly pool service!
Last set of tests (07.12):
FC: 2
TC: 2
CC: 0
pH: 7.4
alkalinity: 100ppm (diluted)
hardness: 535ppm (diluted)
CYA: 240ppm
Thank you!!
Unfortunately, in the beginning, I was using Clorox shock and pucks, and test strips. Since then, I’ve run into this group, and have switched to purer chemicals (chlorine, borax, etc), but I still have the pucks.
So my problem:
My CYA is in the 136 to 240 ppm range. I’ve had to dilute the water 4x just to get the reading in range for the test kit, which also adds error to the measurement (Taylor kit)
On 6.27, it was at 136ppm (34x4), with margin of error: 96 to 176ppm
On 7.12, it was at 240ppm (60x4), with margin of error: 200 to 280ppm
First, I don’t understand how it got so high to begin with (maybe years of dichlor and thrichlor?), and how it keeps increasing. Can the pucks add that much CYA? Maybe it's still within margin of error?
The water is still nice and clear, but it’s a battle against algae growing in nooks and crannies.
I know the only way to reduce CYA is to drain the pool, and to get to the recommended levels of 40 to 50ppm, I would have to drain between 2/3 and 4/5 of the water, which scares me to do it in one go.
Any thoughts on how to proceed? (multiple partial drain, more measurements?) And I live in California, so this wont be cheap, but still less than paying for a silly pool service!
Last set of tests (07.12):
FC: 2
TC: 2
CC: 0
pH: 7.4
alkalinity: 100ppm (diluted)
hardness: 535ppm (diluted)
CYA: 240ppm
Thank you!!
which gives me all of this year to get used to TFP methods, though it’s become decidedly boring at this point. Ho hum, my pool is super clear with so little maintenance 
