High cya in swg and cloudy water

[Vinnyd0810]

I am in the process of transition as far as disconnecting with the pool store routine and learning how to maintain the pool with knowledge. That being said, my water is cloudy. It sucks. I accidentally raised my cya to 100. My FC is 2, TC is 2. Ph is 7.6. Phosphates are high but im hoping that will improve with cleaning more often. Must i drain right now or will cya gradually decrease. What is correct cya for my pool? I have read on this site that my FC should be 7.5% of my cya. Should i make that happen with bleach or just drain and lower cya first? Could this be the source of constant cloudiness?

 

[mknauss]

You need a proper test kit to manage your pool water chemistry. See Test Kits Compared. I recommend the TF100 from TFTestkits.net.
Once you get the kit post up the test results. While waiting, add 5 ppm FC worth of liquid chlorine each day to your pool in the evening with the pump on.

 

[Vinnyd0810]

Thank you. I will do so. One thing in dont fully understand though. Ive read here that a good cya level for a swg pool is 70-80. Mine is now 100. If i manage to drain/dillute a portion of the water to get myself to cya 80, i would have to maintain fc level at 7.5% of 80, which is 6. Isnt 6 a pretty high level to ask the swg to produce on a constant basis? Would i need to always add additional chlorine to get to 6?

 

[jmikeb]

you’re swg will only need to replace what was used up during the day...typically 2 to 4ppm. get it there with liquid chlorine.
BUT, your big problem is your cya. when it test close to 100ppm, that is the limit of the test. so it could be much higher. your have to do the “diluted test” which you can find on this site.
but since you’re water is cloudy, you need to slam. which becomes more difficult with higher cya’s.

 

[mknauss]

Mine is now 100.

Are you sure? That is a pool store test right? Your real CYA could be 30 or 300. You need a proper test kit, and if necessary, you will need to run the dilute CYA test as jmikeb described.

 

[Vinnyd0810]

I agree on taking my own reading. The tester is on the way. Im just recently transitioning slowly away from dependency on the store and going into a DIY direction. However, as far as the speculation that my cya could be any random level, that’s unsettling and a little scary. The owner of this establishment gave me a green light to allow my kids to go swimming. Now, if there is some reasonable doubt that my current fc of about 2 is not sanitizing the water and removing bacteria(because of the high cya), why would she endanger us like that? Im trying to get a good balance of knowledge and advice but also staying reasonable.

 

[mknauss]

green light to allow my kids to go swimming.

You can safely swim in a pool as long as the FC is above the minimum and at or below SLAM level based on your CYA. You must also be able to see the bottom of the pool in the deep end of the pool.

 

[Vinnyd0810]

If my cya is 100 and i want it to be 80, do i just drain 20% of the water? Do i figure this out by how many inches i lose while pumping out water?

 

[Griswald]

If my cya is 100 and i want it to be 80, do i just drain 20% of the water? Do i figure this out by how many inches i lose while pumping out water?

That would be correct...IF...your CYA truly is 100. As has been stated before, 100 is the top level of testing, so it could be 100 or 140 or 200 or 300. You need to do the diluted test first.