My Numbers are in and I think I am going to cry lol

[Marines75]

Hi Guys,

Well I got my kit and hurried up to the pool. I dont know if you can see it in my signature but I have a 20,000 gal IG Vinyl with Sand Filter. I have been adding bleach, 8.3%, unscented and plain both in the morning and at night. Please help, I am at a loss. This has been a pretty bad experience so far since this is my first time with a pool.

FC-9.2
PH-8.0
Acid (7drops)
TA-300
CYA-70
CH-190

Thanks so much for all your help!

Regards,

Steven

 

[me6093]

I'm new to all this too but from what I see right off the bat is that your CYA is at 100. Follow this chart Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart. If you have a high stabilizer, you will need more chlorine to make sure you are killing any organics that are in your pool. The Higher the CYA the more chlorine/bleach you need to add. The only way you lower your CYA is to drain some of your pool. How much I'm sure people smarter than me on this topic would be able to tell you. If you don't get your CYA fixed first you'll be spinning your wheels. Start here: Pool School - Getting Started. I just joined this forum this month and there are some really great people here who want to help.

Good Luck

 

[TomHunt]

Hang in there Marines75... The aces here will get you set up ASAP. You best tell them what test system you have (TF100?), exactly what you have for a pool system (SWG?? etc), and if you have read the Getting Started threads.

 

[Marines75]

Thanks guys, I used the Taylor 2006k, and have a non SWG, just using liquid chlorine gong forward. I just updated my signature for all the specks.

 

[borjis]

your cya could be well over 100 if that is what is registering.

do the test again, but substitute half tap water for pool water.

then multiply times 2 what the cya test indicates. It is not as accurate
but will reveal closer to the actual number.

 

[me6093]

Is there a rule of thumb on how much water to remove based on gallons/dimensions to adjust your CYA?

 

[Jimrahbe]

Steven,

Good job on getting an accurate test kit... So now there is no reason to cry...

It would help us if you told us what the water looks like...

The first thing to do is determine your actual CYA level as 100 is as high as the test reads.. Take a sample from the pool and mix half and half with tap water. Then use that diluted sample and run another CYA test. What ever answer you get multiply by 2... So if you get 70 x 2 = a real CYA level of 140.

Either way, I see at least a partial drain in your future, because you want your CYA to be down around 30 or so.

There is nothing in your test results that we can't help you tackle...

Thanks for posting and let us know what your pool water looks like and what you actual CYA level is...

Jim R.

 

[richierich]

Is there a rule of thumb on how much water to remove based on gallons/dimensions to adjust your CYA?

yes. if your CYA is 100, you have to drain half to get it to 50

Are you sure you TA is 300? It took 30 drops to get the color to change?

Also, I guess the prior owner was using pucks, that's why the CYA is so high.

Do you have algae or green in the pool? If so, that high CYA is probably why you are not seeing results adding bleach.

You definitely need to drain, brush pool, brush the walls, run the filter and backwash often

I grew up in syosset right next to you by the way.

 

[Marines75]

I did a more precise CYA test and use the drip cap this time and let the water settle till I couldnt see the black dot, (other time poured it in) and got a CYA reading of 70. I will edit my first post, but still my numbers seems way off.

- - - Updated - - -

Thanks Rich! My pool is crystal clear thats the crazy part, yes it took 30 drops..and yes they were using pucks. I live in Cold Spring on the Hudson River, you might be thinking of Cold Spring Harbor in Long Island?

 

[Paul & Crystal]

Pool math will tell you how much water to drain if you input your pool gallons, your current CYA in box on left, and what you want CYA to be in box on right. Then read across to the right.

 

[Marines75]

Did the CYA text a 3rd time and got 70 again please see picture of pool

 

[Paul & Crystal]

Beautiful pool! I see you have the flamingo. Nice. Your numbers are not bad. Just a little high on the pH and TA. There are articles on pool school about how to work with those. CYA 70 probably needs to be corrected a little. Sorry if you've already said this, but are you having algae?

 

[Fingaling]

If your pool is clear, and you pass an OCLT having a higher cya is fine. Just maintain the FC at an appropriate level. With backwashing and dilution, it will slowly come down over time. If you need to slam, that might be another story.

Other than that, lower your ph to 7.2 whenever it rises to 8.0. Overtime, this bring your ta down.

Also, to save reagent, use only 10ml in the FC test then instead of multiplying (#drops X 0.2) you would multiply (#drops X 0.5). You don't need such precision.

 

[Teald024]

Nice pool!! So what exactly are you concerned with? Bleach consumption? If so, bleach is a consumable item and you will use 2-3 ppm of FC per day that you'll need to replace with bleach. In your pool that's about a gallon per day.

Your biggest issue is CYA at 70. You need to replace ~40-45% of water to drop it to ~40.

Definitely nothing to loose sleep over. Once you do that, post up some new test results and we can guide you further from there. Changing the water will get your TA more in line also. CH doesn't matter because you have vinyl.

Give the flamingo a hug, he will help you get through this. Lol

 

[Marines75]

Beautiful pool! I see you have the flamingo. Nice. Your numbers are not bad. Just a little high on the pH and TA. There are articles on pool school about how to work with those. CYA 70 probably needs to be corrected a little. Sorry if you've already said this, but are you having algae?

No Algae at all. I am going to drain some of the water tonight and replace and try the testing again. I was just thrown off by such a high TA. Thanks so much.

- - - Updated - - -

Nice pool!! So what exactly are you concerned with? Bleach consumption? If so, bleach is a consumable item and you will use 2-3 ppm of FC per day that you'll need to replace with bleach. In your pool that's about a gallon per day.

Your biggest issue is CYA at 70. You need to replace ~40-45% of water to drop it to ~40.

Definitely nothing to loose sleep over. Once you do that, post up some new test results and we can guide you further from there. Changing the water will get your TA more in line also. CH doesn't matter because you have vinyl.

Give the flamingo a hug, he will help you get through this. Lol

Lol thanks so much Teald. I was concerned about the high TA and PH. Should I continue using two gallons a day or move it back to one? Is it better in the morning or night? I am going to take your advice and replace some of the water and post the new results tomorrow. I truly appreciate it

- - - Updated - - -

If your pool is clear, and you pass an OCLT having a higher cya is fine. Just maintain the FC at an appropriate level. With backwashing and dilution, it will slowly come down over time. If you need to slam, that might be another story.

Other than that, lower your ph to 7.2 whenever it rises to 8.0. Overtime, this bring your ta down.

Also, to save reagent, use only 10ml in the FC test then instead of multiplying (#drops X 0.2) you would multiply (#drops X 0.5). You don't need such precision.

Thats I great idea with using only 10ml, I am going to replace about 40% of the water and see where the results take me tomorrow.

 

[Teald024]

Should I continue using two gallons a day or move it back to one? Is it better in the morning or night? I am going to take your advice and replace some of the water and post the new results tomorrow.

I am going to replace about 40% of the water

To find how much bleach do you need to add, take a FC reading with that nice new test kit you have.
Go over to PoolMath (link at top of forum). Add your gallons in the orange area (no comma). Right under it in the yellow section put your tested FC level on the left and your desired FC level on the right. Make sure it is set to bleach and applicable percentage. The desired FC level is given in the blue section lower on that page. Type the FC level up in yellow section.

With the draining, since you have a vinyl liner, make sure you leave water in the shallow end, you don't want your liner to move.

 

[jaduck]

Have you tested your Fill water (tap water) for TA?

 

[AftonJeeper]

You pool looks great! It can be a bit overwhelming when you first take control of your pool. The things to manage regularly are the pH and FC. My CYA was 70 and TA of 210 when I first got here. Both can be managed easily, especially with a vinyl liner pool. They are only down to 60 and 190, its a slow battle that I will win eventually.

Plug your numbers into pool math and make sure your CSI (Calcite Saturation Index) is in range. Mange your pH and FC, work on the little things, and most importantly... enjoy your pool.

 

[DeanP66]

Sometimes the TA test reads high because of static on the head of the bottle dropper. Take a wet cloth and wipe the tip of the dropper and run the test one more time. What happens is the static makes the drops come out smaller than normal, so you end up using more drops than you would otherwise. This gives a falsely high TA reading.

 

[jaduck]

If your TA is still elevated after the above testing...then check your fill water for TA.