New, Confused & Very Frustrated

[Texas Mom]

We were out of town & the pollen, leaves etc were very bad. When we got home we had a green pool. We got some of it cleared up but it is still green for over a month. I have been reading & I purchased a Taylor test kit & was preparing to SLAM. Hubs has been relying on pool store for testing. On Sun they said CYA=100. We tried to lower CYA by putting the hose in the bottom of the pool to get some water to drain off the top. We also were told CYA lives more at the top part of the water. True or false? CYA is still at 100. we were told we could use a pump sitting on the first step to remove a couple of feet of water off the top. We were also told that CYA gets in the walls of the pool & we might need to drain & clean the walls. I also found out that CYA was high all last summer but nothing was ever done about it because the pool looked good.
I don’t know how much or what of this is true but I need my pool back! I have 16k gallon in ground pool w/Pebble Tec In Dallas Texas. Temps have been in the upper 90‘s for the past 10 days.
I took a water sample to the store today since I am not 100% comfortable w/my testing abilities. Mainly to check CYA. Now they are talking about phosphates & using a remover. After all the reading I have done I thought I could just SLAM & be done with it but just preparing for that appears to be challenging. Grrrrrrr……please help!
I tried to post pics of water test results & pool pics but file is too big.

 

[dfwnoob]

Do not put any pool store potions in your water.

I've never heard of CYA being more concentrated near the top because that doesn't make tons of sense to me, but I'll let someone else chime in.

Trust your own testing. Which Taylor kit do you have? You will need one with the FAS-DPD chlorine test (or purchase that test separately) to perform the SLAM. CYA is typically one of the more inaccurate pool store tests, so I would test this on your own

How do you normally chlorinate your water? I assume you're using tabs of some sort for the CYA to be that high?

Can you fill out your signature with the details of your pool?

 

[Texas Mom]

Updated my signature w/more info. Thanks.

 

[mknauss]

We also were told CYA lives more at the top part of the water. True or false?

False.
In pools winterized in the north, the fresh water may sit on top of the existing water, but that is due to salt and CH concentration of the pool water. Not CYA.
Stay far far away from that pool store.

 

[dfwnoob]

Go ahead and run a full suite of tests with the K2006 and let us know what you see.

 

[Texas Mom]

Ok so ignore the part about CYA at the top of the water. What about CYA being absorbed into the walls? Then I will know if I need to drain the pool completely or just drain enough to lower CYA. Thanks.

 

[mknauss]

What about CYA being absorbed into the walls?

Another myth. The CYA is in the water, not the plaster.

 

[duraleigh]

Stay far far away from that pool store.

That's the very best advice you have received

 

[Flying Tivo]

You are going to look back at this post in a few weeks and realize you been Pool$tored.
Post your test result like this:
FC
CC
PH
TA
CH
CSI
Temp.

We will guide you every step without asking for any money.
Welcome to TFP.

 

[AK-]

We also were told CYA lives more at the top part of the water. True or false?

There is some strong evidence that on pools stabilized with CYA the chlorine in greater depths suffer less UV degradation than a smilir body of clear water without CYA. That leads to the statement CYA does most of it work on the top layer of water (was seems reasonable, but is not exactly what the evidence says). Other than that, as most most chemicals soluble in water, it will seek equilibrium whenever possible.

 

[Texas Mom]

Since I am trying to prepare for SLAM it seems like today the critical factors are CYA & PH. CYA is 90 & PH is 7.4. I am thinking to drain some water by using the pool pump to reduce CYA. Any idea about how many feet of water I need to drain to reduce CYA to a level that I can EFFECTIVELY SLAM? Thanks

 

[PoolGate]

Another myth. The CYA is in the water, not the plaster.

Is this a myth? I have never heard it at all. Just sounds like BS to me.

 

[AK-]

Every 1800 gal you drain and then refill will reduce about 10ppm of CYA.

 

[Texas Mom]

I cleaned my DE filter & then started SLAM on Thurs evening. On Fri afternoon I backwashed because the pump was not working good. I don’t see any green in the pool now. It is cloudy & there is some “dust”. What are the best next steps & order? Vac? Clean filter? I was thinking to do the overnight FC loss test tonight but should I be waiting until the water is absolutely clear?

 

[AK-]

I cleaned my DE filter & then started SLAM on Thurs evening. On Fri afternoon I backwashed because the pump was not working good. I don’t see any green in the pool now. It is cloudy & there is some “dust”. What are the best next steps & order? Vac? Clean filter? I was thinking to do the overnight FC loss test tonight but should I be waiting until the water is absolutely clear?

Keep filtering and keep at SLAM level. Dead algae creates a biofilm that can protect algae from chlorine. You don’t want it to come back.

Vac whatever is on the bottom.

Clean the filter whenever you see a pressure build up or if you are in the mood .

No harm in doing the OCLT now, but don’t let your guard down until you can pass the SLAM exit criteria.