Hello! Newb here! My pool is going on 4.5 years old. I believe I am having a problem. Here are the details and history...
21' x 52" round AG pool. (11274 gallons?)
Pentair Dynamo 1hp single speed pump.
Sta-Rite Cristal-Flo II 150lb
Hayward skimmer.
Hayward CL100 tablet feeder.
Since new we have loaded up the puck feeder with Clorox Active99 4in1 forumla tabs from BJs.
Never gave much (any?) thought about chemistry. My wife who grew up watching her dad maintain a pool said that if nothing grows, nothing stinks, and nothing feels slimy, that we were good. Fast forward to last season, upon opening of pool, there was a about 1'x1' blank spot on the bottom of the pool where the pattern had disappeared. I chalked it up to a cheap liner/pool. This season most of the print on the bottom is gone. This has led me to investigate why. Long story shortened a little, using AquaCheck strips (I will be ordering one of the recommended kits tomorrow) I find...
Total Hardness - 250
Total Chlorine - somewhere between 5 - 10
Free Chlorine - somewhere between 3-4 (I turned the feeder from 1/4 to 1/8 and that lowed the chlorine levels to where they should be.)
Ph - lower than 6.2
Total Alkalinity - below zero
CYA - 30 - 50.
From what reading I did, I think the disappearing print is due to no ph and alk (super acidic). This was about two to three weeks ago. So off to BJs to purchase Clorox pH up which is sodium carbonate. This was supposed to raise alk as well as pH. Over the next week all my numbers seemed to be reasonable except super high CYA. CYA went up to 150 (or even more maybe, will have to wait for new kit to be sure). Now this week chlorine and free chlorine have dropped to almost nothing, if not nothing. I cranked the dispenser up to 1/2 from 1/8. No change so far after a day. So now after doing some more reading, my CYA being so high, I think I am in the dreaded CYA too high to fix mode. I am also understanding that the exclusive use of the tablets are probably the cause of all of this. Here are my numbers from this morning...
Total Hardness - 250
Total Chlorine - 0
Free Chlorine - below 0
pH - 6.8
Total Alk - 120
CYA - 150 (maybe a bit higher)
So, it looks like I may be at the unfix-able drain a refill point? My plan is to do some more reading and discontinue use of the pucks once I have a game plan. For now though, any advice on how I should move forward? For the heck of it, should I dump some gallons of bleach in just to see what happens?
21' x 52" round AG pool. (11274 gallons?)
Pentair Dynamo 1hp single speed pump.
Sta-Rite Cristal-Flo II 150lb
Hayward skimmer.
Hayward CL100 tablet feeder.
Since new we have loaded up the puck feeder with Clorox Active99 4in1 forumla tabs from BJs.
Never gave much (any?) thought about chemistry. My wife who grew up watching her dad maintain a pool said that if nothing grows, nothing stinks, and nothing feels slimy, that we were good. Fast forward to last season, upon opening of pool, there was a about 1'x1' blank spot on the bottom of the pool where the pattern had disappeared. I chalked it up to a cheap liner/pool. This season most of the print on the bottom is gone. This has led me to investigate why. Long story shortened a little, using AquaCheck strips (I will be ordering one of the recommended kits tomorrow) I find...
Total Hardness - 250
Total Chlorine - somewhere between 5 - 10
Free Chlorine - somewhere between 3-4 (I turned the feeder from 1/4 to 1/8 and that lowed the chlorine levels to where they should be.)
Ph - lower than 6.2
Total Alkalinity - below zero
CYA - 30 - 50.
From what reading I did, I think the disappearing print is due to no ph and alk (super acidic). This was about two to three weeks ago. So off to BJs to purchase Clorox pH up which is sodium carbonate. This was supposed to raise alk as well as pH. Over the next week all my numbers seemed to be reasonable except super high CYA. CYA went up to 150 (or even more maybe, will have to wait for new kit to be sure). Now this week chlorine and free chlorine have dropped to almost nothing, if not nothing. I cranked the dispenser up to 1/2 from 1/8. No change so far after a day. So now after doing some more reading, my CYA being so high, I think I am in the dreaded CYA too high to fix mode. I am also understanding that the exclusive use of the tablets are probably the cause of all of this. Here are my numbers from this morning...
Total Hardness - 250
Total Chlorine - 0
Free Chlorine - below 0
pH - 6.8
Total Alk - 120
CYA - 150 (maybe a bit higher)
So, it looks like I may be at the unfix-able drain a refill point? My plan is to do some more reading and discontinue use of the pucks once I have a game plan. For now though, any advice on how I should move forward? For the heck of it, should I dump some gallons of bleach in just to see what happens?