No CYA

[Tay2266]

Hello,
I'm new here and just getting started on all this new information. I'm starting by getting familiar with this slam process. Here's my problem, I usually have to add a little stabilizer each year after opening the pool (new in 2011). Last year we had the liner replaced, this year we opened the pool (4/1) all was good. Water was clear and chemicals were in check. After putting the solar cover on I dialed down the SWG as I normally have so the chlorine wouldn't get real high. Here's where the problems start. I forgot to turn the SWG back up and the chlorine went to 0. Before I could get it back up the water got cloudy. I dumped 11 gallons of liquid chlorine in and the water started to clear up. A few days later we start turning green. I had the local pool store check my chemicals and all was good except chlorine was low and no stabilizer. I've dump 20 lbs of stabilizer in over a few weeks, this was about 2 weeks ago, and it still shows next to nothing. The pool store told me it was 18. I've kept my SWG at 100% with pump running 24/7 and it's all brand new this year so i know it's working. The chlorine just doesn't seem to be working. I'm struggling with the fact i've added so much stabilizer and it still shows that its low. The test kit in my signature is in route so i haven't used it yet. I'm relying on an older kit with 5 chemical reagents in it. I did get some test strips that show FC and TC. I'm keeping the chlorine high to try and kill the algae.
FC 8
TC 10
ALK 90
PH 6.9
CYA still shows next to nothing
These were taken from a test strip, I know they are junk but it's the best I could do until my kit arrives. Just this after noon, at the advise of my pool store, i added Phosfloc. Now that i have found this site i know it's not the most popular idea but to late for that. I will be shutting down the pump shortly to let the stuff settle to the bottom. Maybe tomorrow if all has settled, i will be vacuuming on waste to get the junk out. My biggest concern is the CYA and the fact it still shows very little after adding 20lbs. Any ideas? Thanks a bunch for any advise you can give.

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum!
What test kit have you ordered?
While you are waiting on your test kit, add 5 ppm FC worth of liquid chlorine / plain bleach to your pool each evening with the pump running. This will replenish the FC lost each day to the sun and also inhibit any algae in the water from growing further.
When you get your test kit, run a full suite of tests and post them here.
I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry.

 

[Tay2266]

Welcome to the forum!
What test kit have you ordered?
While you are waiting on your test kit, add 5 ppm FC worth of liquid chlorine / plain bleach to your pool each evening with the pump running. This will replenish the FC lost each day to the sun and also inhibit any algae in the water from growing further.
When you get your test kit, run a full suite of tests and post them here.
I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry.

Thanks. The test kit is a Taylor2005.

 

[CrystalRiver]

You'll need to add the FAS-DPD test to that, in order to SLAM. At that point you will essentially have the K-2006.

 

[Texas Splash]

Here's the link: FAS/DPD Chlorine & CC's test

 

[Tay2266]

I actually changed my order today and got the K2006 that includes the FAS DPD.

 

[Tay2266]

To update from my original post. The pump was turned off last night and the phosFloc did what they said. The water is clearing up and the sediment is laying on the pool floor. Hopefully tonight I can vacuum on waste, refill if needed, and continue to keep the FC up until the algea is dead and gone. Then if needed I can try this slam process for the first time.

 

[mknauss]

Hopefully tonight I can vacuum on waste

You should do that process, without running the pool water through your filter, several times so you do not get any of the Floc in the filter. TFPC does not recommend Floc as it is rarely used properly (nor is it needed) and if any of it gets in your sand filter, you will need to change the sand.

 

[Tay2266]

The vacuuming to waste was a success. I was able to get all the Crud off the bottom. The deep end is a little cloudy but the shallow end is clear. Running the pump off the bottom drains until I get the water level back up to safely turn on the skimmers. PH and ALK are perfect, FC and TC are both at 10. Salt is showing 3100. Hopefully my new Taylor2006 test kit will be here in a couple days so I can do readings on everything. Still concerned why the test strips are still showing CYA next to nothing. Pool store told me a
I was at 18 a couple weeks ago. Should I add 4 more lbs? That will take my total add for this year from 20 lbs to 24lbs.

 

[IceShadow]

Wait for the kit to test CYA. I wouldn’t trust test strips as far as I could throw them and pool stores aren’t always better. For all you know your CYA is high or perfect and adding more could cause you to need to exchange water or more water. Be patient, add liquid chlorine daily until your kit arrives, and test with that when it comes.

If you do need to SLAM you will need more FAS-DPD reagents. The K2006 doesn’t include much. That’s why we recommend the K2006c (or TFT-100).

 

[Tay2266]

Wait for the kit to test CYA. I wouldn’t trust test strips as far as I could throw them and pool stores aren’t always better. For all you know your CYA is high or perfect and adding more could cause you to need to exchange water or more water. Be patient, add liquid chlorine daily until your kit arrives, and test with that when it comes.

If you do need to SLAM you will need more FAS-DPD reagents. The K2006 doesn’t include much. That’s why we recommend the K2006c (or TFT-100).

Finally got my K2006 test kit. Everything is in range except CYA. I can see the black dot at the bottom of the small tube all the way up until the tube over flowed. So my CYA is less than 30. Using the book it should take 5lbs to raise it 20ppm. I’m a little hesitant to add any since I’ve already put 20lbs in since the middle of April. I haven’t added any in 3 or 4 weeks but I did dump around 6” of water to clear up an algae issue. By my calculations 6” should be around 3600 gallons. I’ve been running my SWG 100% 24/7. The pool is clear and I haven’t added any liquid chlorine since last Wednesday. What do you think, add the 4lb jug of CYA I have and retest in a few days?

 

[Texas Splash]

You could indeed start with the 4 lbs for now. Soak it, get it all squeezed out of the sock, and test again tomorrow afternoon. It only takes about 24 hours to get a good result that way. You can always add more if needed.

 

[jnorin]

You may have been a victim of the same problem I've been dealing with the past week. The SWG stopped while we were out of town, and upon return the pool was a light green haze with FC at 0...along with the CYA! CYA was last measured around 40 before we left town. It has taken an immense amount of 10% bleach (14 gallons for a total of ~80 ppm FC) during the evenings to break down the converted CYA that likely was in ammonia and intermediate states that don't test as ammonia. The 80ppm FC added would correspond to CYA starting at around 32 (before the bacteria had it for lunch) using the 2.5x rule of thumb described elsewhere to recover and hold FC once again. Tonight it appears I'm finally holding FC for the most part, as opposed to it rapidly vanishing. There are several good historical posts on the topic, but it is a bit unnerving not knowing exactly where all that CYA went, and where all the 10% bleach FC is going when ammonia testing shows at or close to 0 ppm and FC doesn't hold when the pool is essentially clear. I'll start ramping up my CYA tomorrow if the overnight results look good.