CYA too high, drain or ride?

[lucasaltic]

Hey all. Long time follower, first time poster. I’m pretty well studied on the philosophies of the community as well as the pool chemistry basics etc., but needed a little help making a decision. Going against community advice, I had been using pucks in the pool at my rental for some time due to higher pH and low CYA. Unfortunately, the situation got away from me and on last test the CYA was coming in at 85 ppm (I’m using the TF-100 kit). Chlorine was also high at 7 ppm when it had been hovering around 3 so I’m thinking the pucks started dissolving at a higher rate for some reason (maybe rising summer temps?)

Anyway, need to decide, should I drain and replace to get the CYA down to the recommended upper limit of 60 ppm for chlorine pools or is it okay to discontinue pucks, and let it ride and come down through attrition? In your experience and knowledge, do we run the risk of having low chlorine activity at the 85 level? If I do ride, maybe I should maintain the chlorine at a bit higher levels for awhile?

What do you guys think?

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome to TFP! If you typically get a lot of rain and have the potential for overflow, you could just leave the CYA for now. Drain some water before a storm and let but fill for free. That coupled with a normal CYA degradation of anywhere from 5-10 ppm per month should bring it down in a month or two. Your signature is blank, but if this is a salt pool we recommend a CYA of 70-80 anyways. If not salt, then a CYA of 60-70 you can easily live with. Yes, while your CYA is elevated, just be sure to keep the FC higher as noted on our FC/CYA Levels. If you have any other questions let us know.

Pool Care Basics

 

[lucasaltic]

Thanks. That’s strange. I did fill in my signature and pool stats. I’m even seeing it in my post above. I’ll go back and correct it. My pool at home is a SWG but the one at the rental in question is chlorine. Harder to take care of this pool as I don’t want to go there and bother the tenants more than once a week.

 

[Mdragger88]

I would look into getting a swg for the rental. It’s really the only practical way to know it’s being chlorinated daily & once set up & adjusted, should allow u to check in weekly without too much more intervention.
@Jimrahbe has rentals & they all have swgs.
As far as the fc being “high”
With a cya of 90 (if it reads in between u always round up)- the minimum fc level it should have is 7ppm lest algae will grow - always follow the FC/CYA Levels as Tex mentioned. Maintaining target fc levels or above is ideal so you never broach minimum. Only maintaining minimum is risky.
You can try to take advantage of rain to get the cya level down as well.

 

[lucasaltic]

I would look into getting a swg for the rental. It’s really the only practical way to know it’s being chlorinated daily & once set up & adjusted, should allow u to check in weekly without too much more intervention.
@Jimrahbe has rentals & they all have swgs.
As far as the fc being “high”
With a cya of 90 (if it reads in between u always round up)- the minimum fc level it should have is 7ppm lest algae will grow - always follow the FC/CYA Levels as Tex mentioned. Maintaining target fc levels or above is ideal so you never broach minimum. Only maintaining minimum is risky.
You can try to take advantage of rain to get the cya level down as well.

Thank you. You correctly pointed out that my FC is NOT actually high for that CYA level. I have definitely been thinking about a SWG for that pool. The tablet feeder was nice and hands-free until it wasn’t, lol.

Why can’t one buy CYA-free chlorine tablets, I wonder?

 

[Sunnydaze]

Why can’t one buy CYA-free chlorine tablets, I wonder?

You can. There are calcium tablets but then you have the issue of raising calcium and having to drain the pool.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Harder to take care of this pool as I don’t want to go there and bother the tenants more than once a week.

Lucas,

Wow.. That is exactly the flexibility that a SWCG gives you. I have two rent houses that have pools. I maintain the pools, and I just could not do that if they were not saltwater pools.

I really don't understand your statement.. What do you have to do to your SWCG pool more than once a week at the most?

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[lucasaltic]

Lucas,

Wow.. That is exactly the flexibility that a SWCG gives you. I have two rent houses that have pools. I maintain the pools, and I just could not do that if they were not saltwater pools.

I really don't understand your statement.. What do you have to do to your SWCG pool more than once a week at the most?

Thanks,

Jim R.

Nothing. The SWCG pool at home is pretty trouble free. That’s why I’m contemplating a SWCG for the rental. The rental is currently chlorine and the only way I’ve been able to maintain it is with a floating tablet feeder. I couldn’t do it with liquid chlorine.

Thanks for your guidance.

 

[Mdragger88]

If u go the swg route for the rental be sure to get one that’s rated for at least 2x’s the pool volume. This provides chlorine to spare even in high use/high uv times as well as allowing u to have a decreased run time/% which preserves the life of the cell. Most cells have a finite life of around 8-10k hrs @100%. This especially important in sunny florida with such long pool seasons. The upgrade to a larger cell isn’t all that much more $ compared to the gains of life expectancy u get.

 

[lucasaltic]

Got it! Thanks. Yeah the one that came with my house and is rated for 40,000 gallons when the pool is less than 10k gallons! I barely run it at 20% with the pump in for 7 hours per day. Thing is a beast!