High FC, high pH (probably false), CYA 0 and closing tomorrow

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Justify

Justify

Well-known member
May 7, 2019
74
Iowa
Pool guy is scheduled to come tomorrow to do the technical part of closing, and I am balancing the water.

Last night I tested FC 18 and pH was over roof (purpler than 8.2). I was planning to add some muriatic acid today to lower the pH, then I realized it's probably a false reading due to high FC.
TA was 90, no concern here I guess.
CC was 0, so good here as well.
CYA is 0 :eek:

My husband admit he added one gallon of liquid bleach a few days ago (he can't remember when, either Wednesday or Friday. Certainly not Thursday because it was raining all day and we didn't open the pool autocover at all on Thursday). SWG was running :(

I was sorta kinda neglecting the testing this past month (I was swimming daily, water was crystal clear and comfortable on skin).
During summer, I battled low pH (I was able to raise it some with aerating, no chemicals added) and I kept CYA in 20-30 (I know it is low, but as long as the FC was in reasonable range and water was perfect I didn't want to mess with my pH, as it figured it would go down again after adding acid).

SWG is off now and so is the heater. I will test again in few hours. If the FC is still high, what should I do? Since the night temperatures will be steadily under 32F starting tonight, I really don't want to delay the closing any further.
I should also add, we tend to open quite early, so I decided to skip algaecide as we won't get many (probably none) over 60F days from now to mid-April.

(I already posted this in 'closing' forum, but maybe this is more appropiate forum for my question. Admin please feel free to delete one of my double posts. Thanks.)
 
You don't want an elevated FC with no CYA. The chlorine is simply too strong without the CYA. If able, I would pre-soak some stabilizer in a sock and in warm water. Get it all dissolved (squeezed out) and pour it in the pool with pump on and let it mix until tomorrow. Get a CYA goal of at least 30.
 
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Justify said:
How it even happens that the FC holds so high and does not disappear when CYA is on 0?
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I guess it's just the nature of the cooler weather and low sun angle in your area. But yes, use the PoolMath APP to get a CYA goal of at least 30. With cold pool water, pre-soaking in warm water might be best.
 
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The pool was heated. My husband turned the heater off yesterday but water is still warm.

I know I don't have time for 'sock in skimmer' method as it always takes several days to dissolve.
Can I mix the cya acid inside? I plan to put 1 pound at a time in sock into a bucket with warm water , then pour the liquid (after cya dissolves) into pool and repeat until I dissolve at least 5 pounds.
But it's quite cold outside so if I leave the bucket outside, the water will cool pretty quick.
 
Justify said:
Pour it in front of a return jet, right? Not into skimmer?
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I would suggest you do pour into the skimmer. It is unlikely you will get all the CYA dissolved with that method. And you do NOT want raw CYA granules on the floor of your pool. It can stain it.
 
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mknauss said:
I would suggest you do pour into the skimmer. It is unlikely you will get all the CYA dissolved with that method. And you do NOT want raw CYA granules on the floor of your pool. It can stain it.
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Thanks. Will it have time to go back to the pool water by tomorrow morning when the pool guy comes to close and the pump will be shut down?
 
Not likely.

If you dissolve as best you can and leave the pump running overnight, you should get most of it.
 
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So should we go ahead and close tomorrow? Not sure if our pool guy can come any other time soon. He is very busy, and we just don't feel comfortable with the technical part of the closing procedure so we want him to do it.

Is there even a chance the FC will go down if I give it a time? We're expecting freezing temps overnight and high 40s/low 50s during day.

It is safe to close with FC so high?
 

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If you can't pre-dissolve stabilizer this evening, consider running to the local store early tomorrow and paying extra for the liquid conditioner. Sure it costs more than granular, but it will dissolve in the water quickly and you're done.
 
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Texas Splash said:
If you can't pre-dissolve stabilizer this evening, consider running to the local store early tomorrow and paying extra for the liquid conditioner. Sure it costs more than granular, but it will dissolve in the water quickly and you're done.
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It took me about two hours and a lot of sock squeezing to dissolve about 2 pounds of stabilizer. Now I have 3 buckets ready and each will get 2 pound sock, so 8 pounds total which (according to pool math) equals 45 ppm of CYA (maybe more because the water level is low already so less volume). I hope to be done (with squeezing/pouring) by midnight, then the pump will have at least 8 hours to return it into pool before the pool guy comes, so I hope I end up with 30ppm at least.
 
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