Newly Filled-Stonescape Pool WAY OVER CYA'd by Pool Builder

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WarmWater

WarmWater

0
Jan 11, 2012
8
Northridge, Southern CA
My Pool just got a new Stonescape finish, acid washed/scrubed, pressure washed and drained before filling with fresh water. Ran pump 2 days, very clear water, looks GREAT.

3rd day I was about to do my own start up (using TFP site and my new Taylor kit) but others convinced me to get the PB to do it so he can "hand off" the pool to me. Well on the 4th day, he came when I wasn't home, put granular "conditioner" in and said its "done", and I should add chlorine in another day. I am just starting to understand pool chemistry the proper way after all these years so I am going to do this all myself from now on, but I believe the PB messed up my CYA so bad that I'll have to partially drain the new pool water to fix this.

Here are my levels: 3 number: 1st is hose water, 2nd is after water was in pool 2 days and CYA was added, 3rd is from this morning
FC-1.2 then .2 then .2
CC-0.8 then I've not checked since
PH-8+ then 7.6 then 7.7
TA-110 then 130 then 120
CH-100 then 100 then 130
CYA- 0 then 0 then 120

My CH is improving because I added 5lbs Calcium Chloride and another 5lbs this morning. I'll add more in the coming weeks.
PH is almost there, I've been adding Acid about 6 cups, 2 days apart. I think I'll leave it were it is for now.
TA is this an OK level?
CYA is way high.
FC is low, but now, after PB added the CYA 2 days ago, I'm adding chlorine. Just put a gallon of Hasa Sana-chlor but didn't test yet.

Is it too early to get angry or start crying about CYA? Is it possible its high because there was no chlorine in it yet? Is the pool water still somehow "too new" or fresh?

I'm still brushing twice a day and have the filter going 24/7. Pool looks beautiful, but for the last 10 years (before I drained and re-finished last week) all the pool-store people would test my water and get wide-eyed at my CYA levels and forbid using floaters/tablets (which I did, I use liquid chlorine only now unless I'm on vacation) and waited to drain water until now, when I re-finished the pool. I wanted to start out with the correct CYA use this forum site to maintain my pool. But I feel like dejavu with CYA so high that my chlorine wont work.

Is it too early to panic and change water?
Thanks, Dean
 
What type CYA did the PB add? Did he pour in liquid straight into the pool (not a good idea), pour CYA powder into the pool (horrible!), or pour CYA powder into the skimmer (not great but eventually sort of ok)

If they used liquid, and it was properly circulated, brushed vigorously, etc., then your CYA is 120ppm. I assume you did the dilute test to get that number?

If so, then you should drain about half your water. You might get away with 2/3rds, but will need to manage high FC for awhile. Not a big deal, but do NOT forget to maintain it as a SLAM at high CYA is problematic.

Do not stress on TA. Your pH will rise due to new plaster and you will be adding acid regularly so your TA will fall.
Be careful on how much calcium you add. I would not go over 250CH as your fill water I am sure has some calcium and with evaporation your CH will increase naturally.

Let us know -- it will all work out.
 
The CYA was in granular form, and poured dry into the skimmer.
I tested twice using disappearing black dot method in the Taylor Kit. It has no markings for ove 100ppm so but the dot disapears below that mark, so I'm guessing 120ppm.

In the 3rd paragraph, are you saying that I should keep my FC relatively high so that I don't have to SLAM because slam'ng doesn't work well with high CYA?.... I just finished reading other posts on this site about that: The high CYA will mean extremely high FC levels to SLAM... This is what I had to do before this new fill: lots and lots of chlorine, but still constant algae. I don't want that again.

Looks like I'll be draining half the water in a few weeks and yelling at my PB.

I'll do some more daily brushing and see if anything changes.

thanks!
 
Just talked to the pool builder. He said he added 18 lbs of granular CYA. He said "don't worry about it...wait for 2 weeks, it hasn't all dissolved yet".

So I'll just bring my FC up, run the pump just during the day now, and check the CYA in 2 weeks, and he said I can change out the D.E. in 3 weeks. I'll post after 2 weeks any changes in the CYA and see if what he says is how it goes (... we'll see....,)
 
How many days has it been since the PB added the granular stabilizer?

The granular stabilizer takes a long time to dissolve so there might still be a bunch caught up in your filter, so you may continue to see CYA rise as water passes through the filter. I'd probably start with a quick backwash to help prevent further CYA rise.
 
18 lbs of stabilizer would take your CYA from 0 up to about 100ppm.

Where are you taking the water sample from? I would try to take a sample from a point which is as far as possible away from any returns from the filter and at about as deep as you can reach comfortably.
 
Try step 8 in Pool School - CYA

Folks above are right about the CYA not dissolving very quickly doing it the way he did it. Also that IF your pool is 22000 gallons, he added CYA for 100 ppm.

I bet your pool volume is lower than 22000 gallons.
 
Any CYA that hasn't dissolved might be in the filter - as others above suggested I would backwash to get any extra I could out.

Then I would ask the pool builder why he used 18 lbs of CYA - normally pool builders (mine included) never want CYA above 40...seems strange he would add so much.
 
You are all correct, I will backwash 1st thing tomorrow morning. And my pool is accurately 22,000 gal: I have a separate 'yard water meter' and I measured the cubic feet going in (without using any other hose or watering). AND it actually matched my calc when I drew my pool up in autocad, measured the perimeter and partitioned 3 sections for 3' 4' and 4.5' that came up to 23,000 gal, on paper.

thanks again everyone
 

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