Newish Pool Owner

[BigJohnsonsWife]

Greetings from Sin City! My husband and I purchased our home 2 years ago and thankfully we have a pool to entertain our kiddos all summer long. We had a pool company taking care of the pool for us the first year. Then I took over the pool for 8 months. Our CYA was high so we had the pool company drain it in March and take care of it for 3 months. I took over the pool June 1st and to my surprise my CYA was 120. I contacted the pool company and asked how on earth it was that high after only a few months. He was surprised it was that high and said that since we drained the pool when it was still cold out he didn't add any stabilizer in it and only used the chlorine and pucks. It's August and Vegas is 110° daily so I can't drain my pool for a few months. So that's why I'm looking into the BBB method.

Today's Accublue test results:
FC .1
TC .45
pH 8
TA 94. * Total alkalinity has been adjusted due to the effect of CYA on tested total alkalinity
CH 324
CYA 117
Iron 0
Copper .1
Phosphates 93
TDS 1050

There is copper because I use Bio-Dex Skill-it to kill the paper wasps when they land in the pool.

My typical routine includes brushing the pool 1-2 times a week, empty the skimmer weekly, vacuuming once a month (if its windy I do it more often but with the skim-a-round everything ends up in the skimmer instead of the bottom of the pool), muriatic acid to lower the ph, phos free as needed to lower phosphates, power powder plus 73 to shock the pool once a week, 4-5 pucks a week and 5oz perfect weekly once a week.

My hope in switching to the BBB method is that it will help lower my CYA since I can't drain it.

-Megan

 

[newdude]

Hey Megan and welcome !! First things first, you need a proper, reliable test kit. Leslie's tests are designed to empty your wallet so their accuracy is not trusted in any capacity. Get yourself a TF-100 from tftestkits.net. once you have it we can have an actual value for your CYA (and the rest of them).

I hate to break it to your pool guy, but pucks either raise your CYA or your Calcium. If the CYA is in fact high, those are the pucks they were using. We can walk you through a water exchange so you don't have to worry about the sun exposure during the process. The FC/CYA Levels is what you will follow once we know the CYA level.

ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry is how the rest is done.

 

[Texas Splash]

Hello and welcome to TFP! I'm a Vegas native myself and know the climate quite well. But let me tell you this .... you CAN manage your own water. But, you must have the right test kit. None of this pool store testing or cheap test kits/strips. Accuracy is everything for proper water care. So please get yourself a TF-100 (link in my signature) or a Taylor K-2006C tes kit. See Test Kits Compared. I recommend the TF-100, but you must have one or the other.

Now, let's save you some money. No more PhosFre or Perfect Weekly! There, you just paid for your TF-100. That stuff is junk and not helping anything. In addition, stop using the powdered shocks and other store products. The are killing your CYA and CH levels. Now I saved you a few more bucks.

Here's your Rx for now:
1. Get a TF-100 (or Taylor K-2006C) and post a full set of results. We need to see YOUR test results, not theirs.
2. For chlorine, use liquid chlorine or regular bleach only. Check Walmart for their Pool Essentials or Home Depot for their HDX pool chlorine in the pool section. If you use regular bleach (same thing) just make sure it's plain - nothing splashless or scented and no Clorox brand bleach. Bleach is the #1 best sanitizer for water with no ill side effects. Easy to add each day.
3. Since we expect your CYA to be in excess of 100 (for now), add a half gallon of chlorine per day until you get your test kit. Your FC is way too low for that CYA - see the FC/CYA Levels and compare your FC to the CYA.
4. Read and save those Vital Links in my sig. They will help you.

Once you get the right test kit, post a full set of results. If your CYA is as high as we anticipate, trying to lower it a bit would be ideal, but we'll see how it goes first. Thanks for posting. Go Knights!

 

[Msch99]

Welcome to TFP!
Nice job putting your pool information into your signature.

First off, to follow TFP, you need your own test kit, either the TF100 or the Taylor K2006C. Link in signature to compare. I prefer the TF100 with speed stir, but either will work.

The pool store tests are notoriously unreliable, frequently creating more issues than they fix.
TA does not significantly affect the CYA.
Phosphates are not an issue when maintaining proper FC level.
The only way to lower CYA is to drain and replace enough to lower to a manageable level.
The pucks are adding CYA or calcium.
I suggest you read ABCs of pool water chemistry, link in signature.

Good luck!

Edit. I type way too slow I guess lol.

 

[newdude]

^^^^^^^ OK megan, 3 of us responded with nearly identical posts at almost the exact same time. As long as you listen to one of them, you're golden !!

 

[BigJohnsonsWife]

I already have a Taylor kit. I stopped using it after getting the same results from the pool store. My daughter has dance lessons next door to Leslie's so I always just have them run the test since I'm next door for an hour anyways

 

[Texas Splash]

Which Taylor kit do you have? The one we are referring to has a "Powder & Drops" portion that allows you to test FC independently to high levels separate from Combined Chlorine. See the link below.

FAS-DPD

 

[newdude]

Pretty much any Box store is managed in a way to fleece the customer. Walk into a nutrition 'center' and they'll ask you if you've tried their shakes and power bars. Go 'stop' for video games and they'll do their best to force their rewards program and used games on you. The tellers at the bank need to get X amount of CDs and checking accounts opened each month. Chain pool stores are no different. If the employees of any of those don't meet XYZ goals, regardless of whether or not it helped the customers, they get cut.

We have nothing to sell you but good will.

 

[BigJohnsonsWife]

I can't seem to find our Taylor kit so I just ordered the TF100 w/ the speed stir since y'all love it so much. I also got extra of the cya testing liquid since I know I'll need it. I put in 19oz of muriatic acid this morning to bring down the ph and according to the pool chemical calculator I need to add 143oz of bleach if the cya level is correct.

 

[newdude]

Sounds like a plan. The CYA test only tests to 100 so if it's over that you need to dilute it. You use half pool water and half tap water and double the result. 70 = 140 for example. Also all readings round up to the next 10. 52 is 60 and so on. Just fill right to each line because the in between #s don't matter with the rounding up.

 

[BigJohnsonsWife]

Will do! I'll update my post once it arrives. I did also order a 1/3hp sump pump so that I can drain as needed. I figure if I use a garden hose to pump out the water I can use a different hose to fill the pool at the same time from the spigot. Hopefully it works

 

[newdude]

It works great !!! #3.5 on the list

Draining - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[BigJohnsonsWife]

What if the temperature is similar? My pool is only 10k so it's pretty warm throughout since the deep end is only 5ft deep. The water coming out of the hose is also pretty warm since it's so hot here in Vegas.

 

[newdude]

@mknauss should know about draining at lava temps.

 

[BigJohnsonsWife]

My pump, hose and thermometer arrived about and hour ago so I just got everything hooked up. I've had Leslie's do my water every morning this week and even though I've added 175oz of 6% bleach my chlorine was only at 1.7 this morning. So I put in another jug early this morning so it could circulate until my pump arrived. Since I needed to clean my filter anyways I'm gonna do it while the water is getting swapped out. Wish me luck! It's waaaaay too hot to be dealing with this right now

 

[BigJohnsonsWife]

Since I was waiting on my new test kit to arrive I've been having leslies run my water test for me and today I got a 100% balanced result (this has never happened before). My test kit arrived tonight so now tomorrow I can figure it out and run my own numbers but it looks like my CYA dropped from 117 to 60. Can anyone point me in the direction of a video of how to do the tests in the tf100? I couldn't find anything earlier.

 

[Texas Splash]

The instructions card is quite good, but here are two links that should also help you. If you have any questions about any of the tests, just post back and let us know. By the way ... store testing. ha. There's no way CYA can change like that unless you exchanged a LOT of water. Just confirmation of how poor their testing is.

TF100TestKit

The TF-100 sets the standard for excellence in Pool Testing Kits. It contains 7 separate tests to give you accurate readings on each important pool water par...

www.youtube.com

Extended Test Kit Directions Archives

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[mknauss]

looks like my CYA dropped from 117 to 60

Have you done the water exchange you mentioned earlier?

 

[BigJohnsonsWife]

Yes! I did the water exchange over 2 days. Since the exchange was even I had no way of knowing how much was being swapped. Guess I'll know on my next water bill . My goal was to exchange 50% since my CYA was so high originally. I ended up testing my water that night since my kit arrived and my numbers were super close to leslies and the cya was 60 as leslies said it was.