Hello from Milton, Florida! bought the kit first, now ready for some help!

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bbygrl99

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Apr 22, 2017
12
Milton Florida
Hello all! I found myself searching for help on pools and stumbled on this site and was very excited that their are people that are so knowledgeable and ready to help!
I started reading posts and realized that I would purchase the kit before I even registered! I purchased the Taylor 5-2006 test kit. If I thought chemistry was above my head before.... its swimming now, but I think I managed to take my first sample and below are my readings.

Pool: Intex 22x52" Ultra Frame approx. 10,000 gal of water
Filter: upgraded to the Intex Krystal Clear Sand filter 3000gph

Soooo now for the readings:

PH= 7.0 (the color I received was lighter than the 7.0 reading pane but not by much
Total Alkalinity= 100ppm
Calcium Hardness=100ppm
Cyanuric Acid=100 ppm
Free Chlorine= 9ppm
Combined Chlorine= 16ppm

I normally drain my pool and refill during the spring, however this year I decided to close it up and cover it and not drain. The water was a beautiful shade of deep green before I started, and after shocking, chlorine and all the wonderful supplies I was told to get, it is actually blue now but very cloudy.

Thanks in advance for your help, and please if I didn't list anything correctly or need additional info please let me know!! I am attemetping to watch the youtube videos on the test kit now, I want to make sure I actually did it correctly!!!

Thanks again!
Melissa
 
Melissa,

Welcome to TFP... A Great resource for all your cloudy pool questions... :snorkle:

I'm going to take your readings with a grain of salt as this was your first try..

The one that worries me the most is your CYA level. 100 is as high as the test goes so it could be 200 or more.

The pool is cloudy due to dead algae, so you will need to do a SLAM (more on this later)

But it is pretty hard to do a good SLAM when the CYA is 100. It would be best to drain about 50% of your water and then we can do the SLAM.

Here is the process... https://www.troublefreepool.com/content/125-slam-shock-level-and-maintain-shockingl

Thanks for posting and I'm sure you'll get some more help soon,

Jim R.
 
Hi Melissa and welcome to TFP! :wave: Congrats on getting one of the recommended test kits and testing your own water. It's the only way to do things. I agree with Jim, your CYA is too high, and unfortunately the only way to lower CYA is water exchange. Apparently, either too much stabilizer was added in the past, or the previous use of tabs/pucks (w/ stabilizer) added to that CYA level. While FL gets its share of rain, I agree with Jim's note and would first consider exchanging about 1/2 of the water to get the CYA down to about 50. I say that with the assumption it is actually is 100 right now. As Jim said, it could actually be much higher. You might try this before going any further:
CYA Dilution Testing:
Add pool water to bottom of sticker.
Add tap water to top of sticker.
Shake.
Pour out half so mixture is to bottom of sticker.
Add reagent to top of sticker.
Shake.
Test outside with back to sun and tube at waist level.
Pour back and forth a few times to see if you get the same result.
Double the result.
Click to expand...

Often times owners who test CYA for the first time learn first-hand how high the CYA actually is, and when the dot disappears as fast as you think, it may actually be higher than 100. So it would be good to try that diluted test. Once lowered, it will not go up again unless YOU want it to on purpose.

Don't worry, all of this is not as bad as it may appear. You just-off to a "green" start this year, but we'll help. First we have to tackle that CYA though. Everything hinges on that test. Nice to have you with us. Please let us know if you have any questions. We'll watch for updates.
 
Welcome, Melissa! :wave:


Go look through the trash at the wrappers from "all the wonderful supplies I was told to get" and see if any of them have the word monopersulfate printed on them. If so, there's your absurdly high CC number. It's not really CC, it's chemical interference.

You probably want to repeat the CYA test using the dilution method, just to get an idea of how much above 100 you are. Pool School - CYA Step 9.
 
Thank you all! I am currently just draining the pool about half way, I just want to start this off right, so I will drain what I can and refill, when would be a good time to re-test after I am done with the 1/2 drain & refill?

Thanks again! I am super excited to get this done right and keep it that way ~~
 
when would be a good time to re-test after I am done with the 1/2 drain & refill?
Click to expand...
Once the water is back up to the skimmer opening and you have the pump on, mixing for about 30 min or so, pull another sample and post back here. We'll be watching. Have a nice evening.
 
Ok!!! I am sorry it took me so long, I drained half of the water, refilled and have had the sand filter running. My latest test results are;


Free Chlorine = 3ppm
Combined C= 1ppm
PH = 7.0 (still lighter than the 7.0 on test kit) just slightly
Total Alkalinity = 90ppm
Calcium Hardness = 60ppm
CYA = 100 ppm :-(

Ok, so what's the verdict... any advice on how to get me up and running?? I still feel like I need more practice with the test kit, but I read the directions and hopefully I did them correctly!!!

Thanks again!!!!
 
Welcome back. :) Okay, so the CYA is still 100 huh? I want so badly to help you start the SLAM, but that CYA is still too high.... at least if it is indeed 100. By draining half your pool, your previous CYA had to have been at least 200! That's how quickly CYA can get out of hand with pool store products, pucks, etc. I'm so sorry. Can you do some more water exchanging? It's very important to get that CYA down to a good number below 100. While ideal for a SLAM might be 30-40, we'll take anything below 70 at this point just to help you change that green water. But the CYA at 100 is still too high I'm afraid. If you're uncertain at all about that CYA test, by all means try one more time.

Proper lighting is critical for the CYA test, so you want to test for CYA outside on a bright sunny day. Taylor recommends standing outside with your back to the sun and the view tube in the shade of your body. Use the mixing bottle to combine/gently mix the required amounts of pool water and R-0013 reagent, let sit for 30 seconds, then gently mix again. Then, while holding the skinny tube with the black dot at waist level, begin squirting the mixed solution into the skinny tube. Watch the black dot until it completely disappears. Once it disappears, record the CYA reading. After the first test, you can pour the mixed solution from the skinny view tube back to the mixing bottle, shake, and do the same test a second, third, or fourth time to instill consistency in your technique, become more comfortable with the testing, and validate the CYA reading.
Click to expand...
 
Uggg I was afraid of that, the water is not green at all, its actually a beautiful blue color just not crystal clear :) I will try the CYA test one more time tomorrow and make 100% sure before I drain again.... sigh, at this point if I have to drain again I think to be safe I will just drain the whole darn thing! Thanks so much, I am willing to do whatever it takes, hopefully I'm doing something wrong and the CYA isn't as bad as I am testing it for... lol, I will update you more tomorrow, thanks again!
 
Melissa,

Just to make sure... you are doing the CYA test outside, with the sun to your back, with the tube about waist high, correct??

A CYA of 100 will make the dot disappear almost immediately... Is this what is happening?

Thanks,

Jim R.
 

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I have to admit that I did the test inside- I had no idea it doesn't say anything on my kit about outside testing, and yes almost immediately the dot disappears, So tomorrow outside I will go to do my test correctly!!! Keeping my fingers crossed!!!!
 
This pool will be the death of me! my kids better swim every single day!!! lol Ok, so I repeated the test 3 times and got the same results - OUTSIDE this time :) I have attached the pictures of where the mark is because on my tube there isn't a mark for the where the water line ends once the black dot is gone.- so hopefully you can educate me further on this! I can't thank you enough for taking the time to help me!
IMG_4065.JPG
IMG_4066.jpg
IMG_4068.JPG
 
Thanks again, I sure hope this works!
Click to expand...
I can imagine the disappointment. After all, many of us had to do that as well ..... ONCE. Just once. :) Once the CYA is back down to earth, it will NOT rise again unless YOU chose to let it rise on purpose. Hopefully your next CYA reading will show the black dot disappearing somewhere around 50 or so...... +/- some. Anything below 80 we can work with. Hang in there!
 
I am very excited at the new possibility of maintaining it correctly! I think I am going to do a complete drain, make sure the walls and everything are clean and free of everything and just re-start, so it may take a few days, but I WILL be back! Hopefully with some good results to start off with!!!!
 
If you decide to do a "healthy" drain, that's fine, just keep two things in mind:
- No matter how much you wash & scrub, we will still need to implement a TFP "SLAM" to get the residual algae still hiding in the plumbing, filter, etc.
- With an above ground pool, don't drain to the very bottom. That's a no-no. If I were you, I'd leave at least a foot, maybe even closer to two feet in the bottom to keep it stable and prevent the walls from collapsing or vinyl from pulling away.

When you do return, TFP members and myself will look for your update. If I miss your post updates, shoot me a PM and wake me up. :) I'll be curious to see what your new CYA is. Have a nice day.

Oh, one more thing ... when you get a chance, please update your signature. You can click EDIT YOUR SIGNATURE. It will help us later.
 
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