New from Souther California

[Bluesilv]

Bought a house with an in ground plaster pool. Plaster was falling off the walls. Algae was growing like crazy. After reading this site I bought a CYA test kit and I basically could never see the black dot so it was well up into the high 100’s. Prior owner said he basically threw shock in it once a week and had a chlorine tablet foster.

We knew we had to re-surface it and re-tile it when we bought the house to I nursed it along and turned a green pool nice and clear for a couple months. We decided to resurface with pebble sheen. It also needed a second drain added to be up to code. It has a 6’x6’ spa about 2’ above the pool that has a spill way into the pool. Pool is 34’x14’ approx. My rough calculations is about 16,000 gallons. Its a play pool about 5.5’ deep in the middle and 3 on the sides. Water was filled a week ago and I’m adding acid daily with the cheap test kit the builder gave me. PH seems to go up a little each day.

They put a lot of CYA in it to keep chlorine from burning off. I tested it today and it’s around 90-100. I think he added too much but what’s done is done. I’ve put about a gallon of chlorine in it this past week. The pool is in the sun all day with no shade.

I just ordered a Taylor 2006 kit to stay on top of the chlorine since the test I have won’t go past 5. I’m learning as I go but it’s kinda.

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum!
Great start on ordering a proper test kit. Can I assume you will chlorinate by adding liquid chlorine into the pool daily? Yes, the CYA is way too high. If you see a rain coming your way, figure out how to drain some water and replace with rain water. Do know that the CYA will slowly degrade but you would be best served to lower it to 50 ppm sooner rather than later.
I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry.

 

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

Welcome neighbor. What type of a CYA test kit are you using? It's hard to believe that someone would have dumped enough CYA (about 13-14 lbs) to get you near 100 ppm. I'm hoping when you check it with your new kit, it will be at a more realistic number. CYA that high would be difficult to manage.

Best of luck.

 

[Bluesilv]

It’s a pentair year kit. They had a 15 lb bucket and I would say there is about 3-4 lbs left. He did it first thing in the morning and by the time I saw how much he put in it was too late. I think it’s close to 90 ppm.

 

[Bluesilv]

Welcome to the forum!
Great start on ordering a proper test kit. Can I assume you will chlorinate by adding liquid chlorine into the pool daily? Yes, the CYA is way too high. If you see a rain coming your way, figure out how to drain some water and replace with rain water. Do know that the CYA will slowly degrade but you would be best served to lower it to 50 ppm sooner rather than later.
I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry.

I will be using liquid chlorine only. No hockey pucks. I tested the CYA when the water was at the tile line. I added a couple inches of water this morning to I will re test it. The issue is the pool has zero shade and is on the south side of the property so it gets cooked all day by the sun. If I had CYA at 50 I would have to buy a chlorine factory. I was thinking of leaving it as is and keep chlorine levels around 6-7 to keep it sanitary.

 

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

You will need to maintain your FC according to the CYA/chlorine chart. With your levels at 90 to 100 ppm, you'll need to target FC in the 10 plus range. The only thing to be mindful of is the pH test becomes inaccurate at levels of greater than 10. Just test your pH when chlorine levels are lower, and you should be fine.

The Free Chlorine and Cyanuric Acid Relationship

Managing your cyanuric acid and Free Chlorine levels is key to stabilizing your pool. Learn how these two items affect each other.

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[RobertFlagg]

Welcome to the Forum

 

[Bluesilv]

I’m getting calcium build up on the tiles where the spa over flows into the pool. I’ve been keeping the PH low in the 7.2-7.4 range. Should I go lower?

 

[mknauss]

No. You will get evaporite type scale no matter what you do. Try to brush it off as much as possible and eventually you will need to clean it with a bead blast service or attempt to use dilute muriatic acid.

Do maintain your CSI in the -0.3 to 0.3 range.

 

[Bluesilv]

Just got the better Taylor test kit and here is what I got

CYA-90
FC - 7.0 I just added a half gallon of 10% chlorine per the app to get it to 10 ppm
PH 7.2 I added 3 cups of MA this morning at 9am since it was over 7.4
TA is 200 and CH is 225

 

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

TA seems real high. Did you multiply the number of drops by 10 or 25?

 

[Bluesilv]

TA seems real high. Did you multiply the number of drops by 10 or 25?

I multiplied by 25 but it did the 10 ml year because I knew it was going to be high. I was almost blue on the 7th drop and completely blue on the 8th drop. Either way it’s too Dang high. I’m just dunking acid in the pool like crazy trying to keep it at 7.2 and lower TA.

 

[mknauss]

Do the TA, Ch, and pH of your fill water. Record that and keep it.

I would be surprised if the TA is that high from the fill water. Did anyone add a chemical to raise the TA?

 

[Bluesilv]

Do the TA, Ch, and pH of your fill water. Record that and keep it.

I would be surprised if the TA is that high from the fill water. Did anyone add a chemical to raise the TA?

They put a bottle of something in it. I can’t remember what it was. It looked like a shampoo bottle. I think it had something to do with metals.