Just starting BBB method...

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ZESTR

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Oct 2, 2014
67
Jacksonville, FL
Hello!
We bught our house 6 months ago and it was "flipped"-- the pool had been sitting 4 yrs--it was drained-- new vinyl liner put in and refilled.

So-- for the last 6 mos we have ben ging to Pinch a Penny and following their directions since we were LOST as new pool owners.

Over the summer had 3 mustard algae breakouts and followed all their directions--cleared up but came back twice.

So-- found this site-- took the tablet dispenser OUT, and bought the Taylor K-2006 kit.

Did all the tests today--but the CYA must be wrong--it must, bc it got murky before it ever hit ANY line and we havent even put chlorine in for 3 weeks (been waiting for the test kit to SLAM the algae).

Trying to attach a pic of the pool, VERY green, mainly in the last 10 days since we were waiting on kit and didn't want to start the SLAM without it-- that's why CYA is off, right?
I'm concerned about damaging my liner if I add too much chlorine. We also have 3 really small kids (youngest is 1) and don't want to be unsafe with amount of chemicals, etc.

Other levels:
FC= 6.2
CC- .2
Alk- 80
Calc- 180
ph- 7.8
CYA-???

We just brushed the whole pool (after this pic was taken) and added 3 jugs (2.5 gallons each) of 10.5% chlorine very slowly as directed by TFPC.

Going to test again and see where we are at...

Grateful for this site... thak you.

One more question-- I am in N. Florida. Sometimes weather can get down to 20 degrees, but that is rare. Winter is more like 40s at night. Should we get a cover for Jan-March?

THANKS!

Emily

IMG_2784.jpg
 
^^^ this. That cya test is pretty hard to mess up. So you will do the test with a 50/50 mix and then double your result. If your cya is truly that high you will need so much chlorine to clear up that you will be better off doing a partial drain and refill.


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You didn't follow TFP because you have to know your CYA in order to know what to keep your FC during a SLAM.

The water is rarely too cloudy in order to do the CYA test. Fill the CYA tube up to the top with just pool water and if you can still see the black dot, you can perform the CYA test.

If you do the test and your CYA is 100, you need to dilute the sample with 50% tap water (tap water doesn't contain CYA) and multiply your result X 2.

If the 50/50 dilution test results in a CYA of 100, try 25% pool water and 75% tap water and multiply your result X 4.

Read up on SLAM here:
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/126-defeating-algae
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/125-slam-shock-level-and-maintain-shocking

Chlorine CYA Chart:
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/128-chlorine-cya-chart-slam-shock

Post your CYA results, please.
 
Okay-- I tested with the 75 tap/25 pool water... BUT I am currently SLAM-ing-- doesn't that affect it?
I'm just wrried I'm going to use up all that bottle testing CYA that isnt even accurate?

When I used 75 tap/25 pool water, I could see the dot all the way to the bottom. So-- it was at 30 and I could still see it... so just keep testing again and again-- using 50/50, or 25/75?

Just want to make sure it'll still okay to do if I'm SLAM-ing bc I saw TFP said CYA isnt so accurate when SLAM-ing?

FC is now at 29 (up from 6.2 this morning)-- getting rid of mustard algae.
 
You can't SLAM without knowing your CYA. You don't know how much bleach to add without knowing your CYA.

Are you sure that you are doing the CYA test correctly? The good news is that you don't have to test CYA frequently, but you do have to get reliable results.

You should have done the 50/50 test first. If you still see the dot and 30, you just keep pouring until you no longer see the black dot. It is important to have your back to the sun and at waste level when you are pouring into the viewing tube.

Unfortunately the K-2006 only has 8 tests for CYA, so you need to make sure that you don't waste any of the tests.

Can you please describe how you are doing the test?
 
ZESTR said:
Okay-- I re-tested with 50% tap water and 50% pool water and it was 35... so if I double that it's 70.

Where does that leave me if it's 70 and I;m already SLAM-ing? Is it accurate?

Again-- FC is now 29.

Thank you so much,
Emily
Click to expand...

I thought your undiluted test was above 100? If so, not sure how you got to 70 using the 50/50 method. One of these tests wasn't performed appropriately. Lighting is extremely important to getting this test right:

Here is a video of the undiluted test directions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxaqoW-_MCs

First, either result will mean that you need to drain and replace water to get your CYA down to manageable levels. I think a CYA around 40 would be okay given the time of year.

Once you feel confident about your current CYA, pool math will tell you have much water to replace, I suggest a CYA of 40:
http://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html

After you refill, 1) retest to make sure that you have a CYA around 40 and 2) make sure that your PH is 7.2 before you add bleach because the PH test is inaccurate when FC levels are above 10.

It looks like you have regular algae, but to get rid of mustard algae, you first follow the regular SLAM (raising FC to regular shock value) and pass the following 3 criteria:
1) water is crystal clear
2) you have 0.5 or less of CC,
3) you pass the OCLT

After you pass the 3 criteria above, you raise your FC levels to mustard levels for 24 hours.

You haven't passed the 3 criteria, so you need to stick to regular FC shock levels for your CYA as noted in the chart I listed earlier.

Read more on mustard algae here:
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/148-mustard-algae

My guess is that you probably don't have mustard algae... pool stores love to make money by scaring people into thinking they have mustard algae.
 
Last edited:
Yes, I did the test accurately. Read everything on the direcs first and watched a few YouTube videos-- did it in the shade of the house next to my pool under the open sky.

Well... the problem is, I am too late. I tried the CYA test 3x before SLAMing and none worked... I didn't know about the 50-50 teat and then I read that a really murky pool won't give an accurate reading, so we figured it was that and went ahead SLAM-ing knowing we'd need to test FC a lot because of not knowing CYA.

Now-- with the 50-50 test we got 35... so that's 70 CYA, but I guess it isn't even accurate bc we were already SLAM-ing.

And we have used 5 CYA tests now.

We took the tablets out of the pool this morning which I assume contributed to our higher CYA.

Anyway-- we can't go back-- only forward-- so I guess I'll just need to test the FC really frequently?

Thanks.

Also not sure if I'm supposed to shock level (28) or mustard algae level (38)?

Pool is green with it.

- - - Updated - - -

My first 3 tests were-- and I had my husband do it with me so we could be REALLY careful-- I am assuming the 7.5 gallons of chlorine made it less murky and now it is testing lower because of that?????

I couldn't even get it to the 100 mark before we couldnt see the black dot at all.
 

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It is important to do the CYA test in the bright sunshine with your back to the sun. You will not get accurate results if you do this test in the shadow of your house. The CYA test is accurate when you are SLAMing. The only test that is not accurate when SLAMing is PH. PH can't be tested when your FC is 10 or higher.

Trying to get rid of algae with a CYA of 70 or even 100 is possible, but will cost you much more $ in bleach and is not a manageable CYA level even if your water was perfect.

You should drain and replace some water to get your CYA level down to a manageable level, otherwise you will have a difficult time getting rid of the algae.

We are hear to help you, we want this process to go faster and to cost you the least amount of $, it is up to you if you want to believe the methods suggested on this forum.
 
ZESTR said:
So-- basically drain out some water while I am SLAMing now?
Click to expand...

I would stop SLAMing. Yes, drain and replace water now. Plug all of your info into pool math at the top of this page and use it to determine the amount of water you need to replace.

Retest your CYA after you have replaced water to make sure that you have reached the target CYA of 40.

Once you have a CYA of 40, post a full set of test results and we will guide you through the process of SLAMing.

Read and re-read the materials I linked and the other things in pool school. We are hear to help you learn how to take care of your pool. It can seem like a whirlwind of information, but it will sink in and you will be on your way to being a pool chemistry expert.

You don't want to run out of testing supplies while you are SLAMing.

You may need to order more CYA reagent. We suggest TF test kits: http://tftestkits.net/R-0013-CYA-Refill-8-0z-p52.html

Not sure how you are doing on the FC/CC test, but the R-0871 reagent can be found here: http://tftestkits.net/R-0871-2-0z-FAS-DPD-Reagent-p53.html
 
Okay-- thank you so much. :)
It's dark outside now and have to get tiny ones to bed, so we plan to wake up and test CYA again first thing using video above because it sounds like we did it all wrong since it was in the shade-- then we'll follow the above.

Thanks :)
 
Hi, and welcome!

One thing worth pointing out about CYA testing is that you can use the same sample more than once -- this is especially useful when you're first trying to figure out how to do this particular test. In other words, you can pour the sample from the view tube back into the dispensing bottle, and have another go at the test. That way you can practice, and you can also see how different lighting conditions (e.g. in the shade of your house, as you tried earlier I think, versus out in the sun) affect your results. Don't worry that the test seemed hard to read on your first few attempts -- of the various tests in the kit, this is the one that pretty much everyone finds the most troublesome -- it has a definite learning curve. It will get better with practice and familiarity!

And, just to confirm, yes -- you can do the CYA test in the middle of SLAM -- the higher chlorine levels don't mess up the CYA reading.

As to how to proceed, that is up to you, of course -- you have to decide whether it is more practical at the moment for you to maintain the FC level of at least 28 (assuming the CYA 70 value is accurate) until the algae is gone, or whether you want to do a partial drain and refill first (allowing lower FC numbers during SLAM).
 
Good morning!

I just did the CYA test--and I tried it about 20 times to practice-- stood in different spots of the yard with back to sun, etc... I got 100 even every time except once I got 90. Ugh.
So-- our CYA is that high because we always kept the tab dispenser filled as the pool store instructed, right? We JUST took the tabs out 24 hrs ago.

Other levels= FC= 33 and CC is .5 although it was BARELY pink when I added the one drop back in, I feel like it would have turned colorless with less than 1 drop...

Where do I go from here?

I don't even know HOW to drain the pool if we are doing that. (Also, we are bummed because we just had SO many days of heavy rain so we were hoping that might have lowered the levels down enough, but nope.)

Currently cleaning cartridge which is FILLED with yellow.

Going to wait on a next step til I hear back from you guys..
thank you SO much.

I feel kind of dumb-- everyone on here is SO skilled at this and I just feel like an idiot trying to figure this out, but I am determined to get onto the BBB method.
Also-- so tough to do this with a 7, 4, and 1 yr old running around! LOL!

Oh-- the pool DOES look better today-- I'd say about 20% better/more clear!

Thanks,
Emily
 

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