CYA too high, water replacement and chemical balance

[tryder33]

Hello everyone,

I’m a third year pool owner and I have struggled every year keeping my pool clean. I went to my local pool store at the beginning of the year and I think they sent me down an off path. My CYA to start was 30 and they advised adding 5lbs of CYA. After testing I was at 90 and my primary chlorine is trichlor pucks(which I realize also adds CYA).

I am going to do a water replacement and based on the high CYA i need to do about 2/3rds of the pool for water replacement?

Currently my pool is green and I believe I should do the water swap first. Then I should retest and add alkalinity first, then PH and then calcium and then should I SLAM the pool?

I was doing pretty well up until 2 weeks ago and want to get it back up and swimmable asap. Thank you for any help in advance

 

[reggiehammond]

You should consider pumping out all of the water down to ~12-18" (shallow end) to keep liner in place but to get rid of as much algae as possible. From there, refill, test and SLAM. Adjust pH, add CYA to get back to 30ppm, ignore CH, and SLAM away.

Yes, you may dump a little CYA that you have to replace, but that's better than burning more $$ on chlorine to get rid of the algae.

 

[Texas Splash]

Currently my pool is green and I believe I should do the water swap first. Then I should retest and add alkalinity first, then PH and then calcium and then should I SLAM the pool?

Basically yes. Exchange the water first being careful to keep enough water weight in the pool to keep the walls and liner in place. Once the CYA is down to about 50-60, then you can start the SLAM Process. Don't worry about the TA at that point. Your main focus before the SLAM is to (first) ensure the pH is between 7.2-7.5, that you have a good CYA reading, then increase (and maintain) the FC to the proper FC level for the SLAM.

Follow that SLAM page carefully and you'll do fine and get everything all cleaned up before fall gets here.

 

[Bperry]

Hello everyone,

I’m a third year pool owner and I have struggled every year keeping my pool clean. I went to my local pool store at the beginning of the year and I think they sent me down an off path. My CYA to start was 30 and they advised adding 5lbs of CYA. After testing I was at 90 and my primary chlorine is trichlor pucks(which I realize also adds CYA).

I am going to do a water replacement and based on the high CYA i need to do about 2/3rds of the pool for water replacement?

Currently my pool is green and I believe I should do the water swap first. Then I should retest and add alkalinity first, then PH and then calcium and then should I SLAM the pool?

I was doing pretty well up until 2 weeks ago and want to get it back up and swimmable asap. Thank you for any help in advance

First step is getting a recommended test kit and trust zero results from the pool store. 5 lbs of CYA will not raise CYA from 30 to 90ppm. The pool stores are notoriously bad at providing reliable test results. Dont do anything based on those tests.

 

[tryder33]

First step is getting a recommended test kit and trust zero results from the pool store. 5 lbs of CYA will not raise CYA from 30 to 90ppm. The pool stores are notoriously bad at providing reliable test results. Dont do anything based on those tests.

I did get the Taylor k2006 test kit recently and can confirm that CYA is high. I probably had the wrong starting point from the pool store. Appreciate the info.

 

[tryder33]

Basically yes. Exchange the water first being careful to keep enough water weight in the pool to keep the walls and liner in place. Once the CYA is down to about 50-60, then you can start the SLAM Process. Don't worry about the TA at that point. Your main focus before the SLAM is to (first) ensure the pH is between 7.2-7.5, that you have a good CYA reading, then increase (and maintain) the FC to the proper FC level for the SLAM.

Follow that SLAM page carefully and you'll do fine and get everything all cleaned up before fall gets here.

Thank you, working on the water swap and picking up SLAM supplies tonight.