First time Pool caretaker

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Starkeeper1a2b

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LifeTime Supporter
Jun 29, 2015
14
Davenport, Florida
Just moved in to my "new" Used place with a IG plaster pool, the previous "owner" only used triclor tablets in a haywood cl100 feeder. i purchased a TF-100 Kit and a sppedstir. have found out that the cya levels are at least 90 to 100. i was having a problem with mustard alge. slammed the pool per this site. the water is looking good. i have read that the only way to lower the cya is a partial water change... at this point that is impractical to do as i am in Central Florida and on city water with very high usage rates. i am also having issues trying to determine the gallons of my pool as it is a free form type. i will post pictures of the shape and measurements of the pool

my readings as of this morning are

FC 21
CC .5
Cya 90-100

i have stopped using the triclor and have been using the pool bleach from walmart which is 8% or 10% will have to look at the bottle again was pretty dark this morning before work when i checked. ran the pool 24x7 for two weeks to get the mustard alge under control. pool has a screen enclosure and is pretty much in full sun all day. at this time of the year we get almost daily rain . the measurements of the pool are approx 25x13 with 3ft shallow end and 6ft Deep end

many thanks
Bill2015-07-15 06.42.04.jpg2015-07-15 06.42.07.jpg
 
Welcome to Trouble Free Pool!

With the daily rain, do you have to drain water from the pool on a regular basis? If so, perhaps you can use that to lower your CYA. Draining small amounts at a time is less efficient than draining a larger percentage of the pool, but if you have municipal restrictions on water use, perhaps small drains and then refill with rain water could be a solution. Until you get there, you'll have to keep the FC commensurate with the CYA that you have.
 
hello fellow FL'er. yeah, your CYA is high, but in FLorida I see no reason why a CYA of 60 would be an issue. based on that, you don't need to do too much of a water change (1/3). I would bite the bullet and just do the drain and refill. your pool is only around 10,000 gallons....so 3-4,000 gallons really isn't going to cost you very much at all.
 
Have not had to add any water in about a month because of the rains, will call local utility and see if i can get special rate to partially drain and refill the pool. the free design of the pool makes it hard for me to determine the gals of the pool...
This site is great!!! have learned sooo much just from reading posts. i would think having water trucked in would be super expensive......
 
Starkeeper1a2b said:
Have not had to add any water in about a month because of the rains, will call local utility and see if i can get special rate to partially drain and refill the pool. the free design of the pool makes it hard for me to determine the gals of the pool...
This site is great!!! have learned sooo much just from reading posts. i would think having water trucked in would be super expensive......
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you are on city/county water (not a well), correct? way cheaper to just fill it up with that. call your water supplier and tell them you need to refill a pool, some jurisdictions will then only charge you for the water, and not the sewer portion of the bill. which is huge since the sewer charge is typically about 2/3 of your bill.

you will be able to refine your pool volume after a while too. but 10,000 gallons is a decent estimate. basically, you measure your FC and then go to pool math and then add the amount of chlorine it says to do. say you are at 3ppm and want to go to 7ppm. pool math says to add XX amount. you then retest in 30 minutes. if your FC is 8ppm, then your pool estimate is too high. if your at say 6ppm, then your pool is larger. you then readjust and then next time put the new number in. you can do that a few times until you hone in your pool volume.
 
2015-05-10 13.53.20.jpg2015-05-10 13.54.46.jpgVery cool to learn that DaninFLA, you guys are way smarter than i am about all of this, look forward to learning more and more every time i read posts,
kimkats - the enclosure is nice, as i was doing the new floors and painting the house a car of all things ended up comming off the street and through my backyard taking out the corner of the enclosure.... still waiting on insurance to get it all fixed... doesnt look so good as i have draped plastic over the open corner to try to keep pool clean,, i could just imagine how much more i would have to clean the pool without it....!!! Did get security video of the guy crashing through the enclosure
 
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I have heard rumors of areas that won't charge for sewer, or perhaps give a discount on water rate when you fill a pool. I can only day that from my own experience, the only "help" the water company gave me was the fact that they actually cap the sewer charge at 10k gallons. My pool is 12k gallons, and my bill for the month I filled it was right at $100. All in all, I feel that's not a large expense when I consider that so many people throw hundreds and hundreds of dollars at their pool just trying to get it clean and algae-free.
 
Xandraxal said:
I have heard rumors of areas that won't charge for sewer, or perhaps give a discount on water rate when you fill a pool. I can only day that from my own experience, the only "help" the water company gave me was the fact that they actually cap the sewer charge at 10k gallons. My pool is 12k gallons, and my bill for the month I filled it was right at $100. All in all, I feel that's not a large expense when I consider that so many people throw hundreds and hundreds of dollars at their pool just trying to get it clean and algae-free.
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Sarasota county allowed it. one time a hose got left on and flooded my backyard for a couple of days. I called the water dept and they adjusted my bill. they just looked at the monthly averages and how much more the month was. they charged me for the water, but not sewer since the water would have never made it to the sewer system. saved me a ton of money. same thing with a pool.

same principal goes with irrigation meters. if you can get one, will save you a ton of money. separate meter for irrigating where they only charge you the water fee and not sewer.
 

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Kimkats - yes happened about 1:30 in the am.. i am on a corner lot. strange arrangement but there is the main road and a side road that come off the main road at about a 25 degree angle. the guy blasted out of the development, didnt stop for the stop sign, turned right lost control came right over an embankment through trees, turned before hitting my neighbors fence and took out the corner of my enclosure. 2015-05-10 13.55.05.jpg2015-05-10 13.56.08.jpg2015-05-10 13.56.56.jpg
 
What should i put in the haywood cl-100 once i get the CYA to a normal level? there is a 1/4 bucket of triclor left, but being that the CYA shouldnt change can you get just plain chlorine tablets for the auto feeder? i have it turned off and empty at the moment as i am using bleach currently
 
According to the experts here, chlorine doesn't exist in solid form unless it has some other compounds in it. Dichlor and Trichlor each have CYA and the other option would be Cal-hypo which will increase your calcium hardness. The other chlorination options are either manual dosing with liquid chlorine, an automatic pump such as a stenner pump for liquid chlorine, or a salt water generator.
 
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