CYA ridiculously high, throw it all away?

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sean65

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May 7, 2015
8
Walpole
Folks,

18x36 inground pool, roughly 20k-26k gallons, sand filter (Hayward S200), 2 skimmers, 2 return jets, no main drain.

I had organic staining on my liner and recently learned that Ascorbic Acid would remove it. I applied two containers of Ascorbic Acid and my pool was gorgeous on July 4th. By July 9th, after some record heat, we had cloudy water with a tinge of green. The staining came back so I applied more Ascorbic Acid and tried to clear the pool with flocculent and clarifier. For the last 2 weeks I have been fighting my pool with liquid shock zero results and it is now neon green.

At this point, I decided to try a new SLAM round but what I find is a CYA of 100-150! I added 2 gallons of stabilizer to see if it would have an effect, nothing and roughly

Instead of throwing more chemical at it, I'm considering draining the entire thing and starting over by buying a pool worth of balanced water from a local firm.

I would appreciate your thoughts. Thank you.
 
How are you getting that CYA level of 100-150.. that's a pretty big range? Are you testing yourself, or is this a pool store test. If testing yourself, what are you testing with. If you are testing yourself, are you doing a "diluted CYA test". With levels supposedly that high, you can't just do a normal CYA test method.

If you feel your CYA is already so high, why add two more gallons of stabilizer. You do know stabilizer is CYA right? So you added even more to a pool that you felt already had way too high of a CYA level? Did a pool store tell you to do that? Do you mean liquid chlorine, and not stabilizer?

Adding two gallons of even 12% to a pool that you suspect has as much as 26,000 gallons of water in it will not get you to SLAM levels.. even with a pool this big that has a "good" CYA level.

Step 1 is getting an accurate CYA level by doing a dilluted CYA test yourself, using a TF-100 test kit or something similar.

If you can confirm CYA is 100+, step 2 is draining and refilling at least half or more of the pool water.
 
Hello and Welcome to TFP!!

First off, don't add any more stabilizer!! it is CYA.

Second, if Ascorbic Acid removed the stains, then they are not organic, they are metal stains. Are you on a well or city water? Do the fixtures in the house have any iron stains on them? Have you added any products from the pool store with copper in them? Adding chlorine back in can make the stains come back. Take a water sample to the pool store and have them test for metals (copper and iron) DON"T BUY ANY CHEMICALS FROM THEM, DON'T ADD ANY CHEMICALS TO THE POOL, NOTHING!! except chlorine.

If it is indeed metal stains, then yes it would be great to drain the water and start over. Since you have CYA way too high, that would fix that also.
What is the pool surface: plaster, vinyl or fiberglass? Let us know before you drain so we can give some additional advice.

You need to get a proper test kit such as the TF-100 from TFTestkits.net.
 
I used the TF100 test kit to get CYA over 100 (thats as high as the measurement goes), my wife tested with a strip that showed CYA between 100 - 150 (I'm traveling and not at home to see it).

It's a vinyl liner. I originally thought it was metal as well, pool store employee said they thought it was organic. I have a bottle of Metal Free which I haven't applied yet because it says to only add it when the pool water is fully balanced (I feel like I should have added it back on 7/4 but that ship has sailed).

The origin of the metal is from the town water. Approximately 6-7 years ago, after an extended trip, I came home to a very green pool that I couldn't clear quickly, so I drained it and filled the pool from the hose (town water). I mistakenly believed that I had stained the liner from all the chemicals that I has poured into pool. So years later, I'm back to where I started.

This time around I will purchase fully balanced water. So in the end, I think I'm just looking for validation that I'm not over reacting with another full pool drain and refill.
 
Don’t use the Metal Free (at this time). Can you post a picture of your pool with your brush in it so we can see what it looks like.

Edit: And you can't purchase fully balanced water. You could try to purchase water from a clean source. Be careful because many pool fill trucks just go to the local town water station and get their water there. It would be the same water out of your hose. Make sure you ask the pool fill truck where they get their water and ask for a water report.
 
I wouldn't pay for "balanced" water.

How much is that going to cost vs using fresh hose water. If the answer is anything other than "not really much at all"... then just fill from the hose.

Depending on how "bad" the algae is in your water right now... draining 50 to 75% and refilling is a decent option. It might take a few weeks of SLAMing that pool once you get it down to the proper CYA level.. but it should clear.

I don't know what you pay for water. But I'm guessing 20,000+ gallons of water is going to cost more than even 100 gallons of 10% pool chlorinating liquid. I'm guessing 20,000 + gallons of "balance water" is going to cost significantly more than the hose water will.
 
Well the reason I believe I'm in this jam is because I did fill the pool off the hose 6 or 7 years ago and I've had this metal issue since. Our town water is know to be rich in mineral.

The pool water I would buy is very expensive, for sure, but I'm hoping it will save me pain and aggravation down the road. This is the service:
http://www.daltonwater.com/swimming-pool-water

I'll get a picture of the pool later on when I get home.
 
I assume the Walpole in your location is Walpole, Mass. That would we good to add for those who didn’t go to college in Worcester and then live in Rockland for 20 yrs.

Just wanted to point out a cheap source of liquid chlorine close to you, in case you haven’t already found it. Ocean State Job Lot has 12.5% for 2.99/gallon. Their other pool supplies are well priced too. Just stay away from their stabilizer. It’s useless. Of course, you don’t need any of that right now anyway.

The only advantage I see to that pre balanced water is they say it has no metals. The Chlorine and pH are easy and cheap to do yourself. Maybe you could take a tap water sample to the pool store for testing to see if there are metals in it now. Public water supply sources can change, I know it does on the South Shore, and the content of the water can change depending on how full the reservoir is.
 
sean65 said:
Well the reason I believe I'm in this jam is because I did fill the pool off the hose 6 or 7 years ago and I've had this metal issue since. Our town water is know to be rich in mineral.

The pool water I would buy is very expensive, for sure, but I'm hoping it will save me pain and aggravation down the road. This is the service:
http://www.daltonwater.com/swimming-pool-water
Click to expand...

I'd get a quote from them and also see if there is any other water/pool fill services out there. Compare prices. Could you give us a ballpark on the cost they quoted you?

It just may be worth the additional cost if you don't have to deal with staining and special product costs.

Have you ever thought of rain water collection to top off the pool once it is filled?
 
20180727_155304.jpg

Daltons is $430 per truck delivered to Walpole. Each truck is 9000 gallons. Just spoke to Daltons and theyre nervous about me draining the pool due to the potential of the walls caving in.

My plan was to rent a pump, drain the pool in hours, fill that same day. Now I'm going to call a pool company for advice.
 

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Over the weekend I've once drained 12" of water and refilled, and then drained 24" of water and refilling now. All from the hose, God help me. Yesterday's CYA registered around 125. We'll see what today looks like after it refills and starts recirculating.
 
According to the dimensions in your first post, 12" of water removed from your pool equates to just under 5000 gallons. Or ~20% of your pool volume.

So you can do the math and see how many drains it will take to get the CYA to a target level. Remember each time you drain/refill, the CYA is going a bit lower so you remove less with each cycle.
 
So if I follow your thinking there, 20% replacement brought me down roughly 20% in CYA (150 down to 125 or so). So then removing 24" should be less than a 1 to 1 because I already did one cycle. So I should expect maybe a 30% decline? Just under 100 maybe. Jesus, I'll be doing this for the rest of the summer.
 
STOP! I think you're just mixing up terms, but DO NOT ADD STABILIZER. Stabilizer is CYA! Now if you meant "add chlorine and slam" then add away...
 
@sean65 the suspense is killing me. What have you done to the pool since this morning's post? I know there have been 2 replies letting you know NOT to add any stabilizer and asking if you're just using the term stabilizer instead of writing chlorine. But you haven't come back and said what you're doing.
 

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