Hi pool nerds 
I found this forum after testing my pool yesterday with Aquachek strips and discovering I had 10x too much CYA levels in my pool. I have just spent sh*t loads on a new pump and automatic chlorinator / acid doser / gas heater and spent the night panicking and researching how to safely drain a fibreglass pool.
You guys all said … don’t trust the strips… so before I started the draining process - I took a sample to the pool shop ( yes I know I shouldn’t trust the pool shop too - I have already ordered the recommended Aussie test kit but it hasn’t arrived. They used the drops and seemed pretty legit) and the pool shop said I have 0 CYA - what a relief!
I had a leak in the skimmer box for years that I didn’t know about and had added a lot of water to the pool over the years. I have fixed that a couple of months ago - and had to add 15 bags of salt to the pool - so that is probably why it is zero. I have struggled with swamps for years - in hindsight the water chemistry has been way out of wack for years because of the leak. I thought the water loss was evaporation…
Anyway - I recently had my old salt cell fail - and as my pool equipment was all 15 years old - I decided to replace the pump and chlorinator last weekend. I purchased a Halo Chlor 25 with acid doser and an astral variable speed pump. I needed a new pump because mine was costing a fortune to run and I wanted to be able to operate my pump and chlorinator and heater from my phone - i have adhd and keep accidentally leaving my pump running for days and costing a fortune in electricity. This way as soon as I remember I have left it on I can fix it - where ever I am. I thought being able to monitor the ph and chlorine levels instantly and being notified when it went bad would also help me.
Anyway - so I have a fancy new wifi chlorinator and it has an ORp? Sensor and ph sensor with an acid dosing pump. I have a fibreglass pool - 53,500 litres - with a spa built into the side running with the same water. The pool has an IXI gas heater - I can change a couple of valves and have the water circulating through the spa to heat it. I can also use the gas heater to heat the pool but it’s very expensive so I don’t.
I am trying to figure out the “ideal levels” for my pool math app.
The chlorinator instructions say that the CYA levels can’t be more than 20. From this forum - I figured out that this is because the ORP chlorine sensor doesn’t read accurately with higher CYA levels. I am wondering whether it would it be better to keep my cya levels at say 40, and just schedule my pump to run 3 or 4 hours morning and night and track the free chlorine manually, and ignore the orp. I am not very reliable though - even with the best of intentions …
There are several other levels that seem conflict to with Pool Math recommendations - like Total alkalinity between 80-120ppm in my manual and the pool shop - mine are at 110 - Pool Math says 50-80.
The calcium levels from the pool shop say aim for 150-250 ppm and mine are 220 ppm - but pool math says it is too low and I should aim higher?
Also - the app and this forum is amazing. I have struggled for years - and spent way too much on the wrong stuff to help fix the problems. I wish I found this years ago.
Thanks so much in advance… i am in Perth, Australia if that helps.
Thanks heaps
Carolyn
I found this forum after testing my pool yesterday with Aquachek strips and discovering I had 10x too much CYA levels in my pool. I have just spent sh*t loads on a new pump and automatic chlorinator / acid doser / gas heater and spent the night panicking and researching how to safely drain a fibreglass pool.
You guys all said … don’t trust the strips… so before I started the draining process - I took a sample to the pool shop ( yes I know I shouldn’t trust the pool shop too - I have already ordered the recommended Aussie test kit but it hasn’t arrived. They used the drops and seemed pretty legit) and the pool shop said I have 0 CYA - what a relief!
I had a leak in the skimmer box for years that I didn’t know about and had added a lot of water to the pool over the years. I have fixed that a couple of months ago - and had to add 15 bags of salt to the pool - so that is probably why it is zero. I have struggled with swamps for years - in hindsight the water chemistry has been way out of wack for years because of the leak. I thought the water loss was evaporation…
Anyway - I recently had my old salt cell fail - and as my pool equipment was all 15 years old - I decided to replace the pump and chlorinator last weekend. I purchased a Halo Chlor 25 with acid doser and an astral variable speed pump. I needed a new pump because mine was costing a fortune to run and I wanted to be able to operate my pump and chlorinator and heater from my phone - i have adhd and keep accidentally leaving my pump running for days and costing a fortune in electricity. This way as soon as I remember I have left it on I can fix it - where ever I am. I thought being able to monitor the ph and chlorine levels instantly and being notified when it went bad would also help me.
Anyway - so I have a fancy new wifi chlorinator and it has an ORp? Sensor and ph sensor with an acid dosing pump. I have a fibreglass pool - 53,500 litres - with a spa built into the side running with the same water. The pool has an IXI gas heater - I can change a couple of valves and have the water circulating through the spa to heat it. I can also use the gas heater to heat the pool but it’s very expensive so I don’t.
I am trying to figure out the “ideal levels” for my pool math app.
The chlorinator instructions say that the CYA levels can’t be more than 20. From this forum - I figured out that this is because the ORP chlorine sensor doesn’t read accurately with higher CYA levels. I am wondering whether it would it be better to keep my cya levels at say 40, and just schedule my pump to run 3 or 4 hours morning and night and track the free chlorine manually, and ignore the orp. I am not very reliable though - even with the best of intentions …
There are several other levels that seem conflict to with Pool Math recommendations - like Total alkalinity between 80-120ppm in my manual and the pool shop - mine are at 110 - Pool Math says 50-80.
The calcium levels from the pool shop say aim for 150-250 ppm and mine are 220 ppm - but pool math says it is too low and I should aim higher?
Also - the app and this forum is amazing. I have struggled for years - and spent way too much on the wrong stuff to help fix the problems. I wish I found this years ago.
Thanks so much in advance… i am in Perth, Australia if that helps.
Thanks heaps
Carolyn
