Question about my 100 CYA pool

[thespacepope]

Hello everybody,

I registered for the site last summer but wish I had done it sooner and actually done my testing before.

I purchased my house in October of 2015. At the time of purchase the flippers were using a pool guy and I was so busy that I just kept paying the guy for a few months after I settled in. I finally decided in January 2016 that I would do it myself so I ordered two big old 50 pound 3 inch chlorine pucks and a bunch of shock...

You know where this is going...

I have been having some green algae on the walls at times but just threw more and more shock to go with my two floating tablet dispensers.... I was at a party last weekend and a guy said that I should use pooled so I started reading and realized that I was doing this all wrong...

I finally ordered a tfp-50 to find out what my problem was...

FC - 7.5
CC - 0.0
pH - 7.5
TA - 80
CH - 500
CYA - 100

So things are not great. Obviously I need to get rid of the Trichlor tabs and stop using shock but at least it is not a swamp at this point. Would I need to drain the entire pool to get the cya bad to a reasonable level? We do have insanely hard water out here in San Diego so I am not sure what to do about that, maybe just see how things look after doing a drain and refill? if I drain about 40% of the pool the cya should go down to 60, correct? Or should I shoot for 50 cya? Water is expensive but I figure I can save time and energy if I do this right from now on.

The other question I have is how to control the chlorine level after getting the cya under control. Is it just a process of adding bleach or liquid chlorine on a regular basis? I just get concerned that I will be adding all the time if I do that. I think swg is out of the question as I have a de filter that is in good shape.

 

[pabeader]

Welcome! We are very glad to see you.
Since the CYA test tops out at 100, your pool could be higher than that. You need to do the extended version of the test to know for sure.
Here is a link to that: Pool School - CYA
Step 9 is where it's at.

There is no reason you can't use a SWG. Having a DE filter, in no way impacts the use of a SWG.

 

[Jimrahbe]

TSP,

Welcome to TFP... A Great resource for all your pool and CYA questions...

Bob has you covered... /\ /\

There are four ways to chlorinate your pool...

1. Using chlorinated 3" pucks... We do not recommend them, and you have discovered why..

2. Manually add Liquid Chlorine or plain Bleach on a regular basis. Usually daily or ever other day.

3. Use a Stenner pump to automatically add Liquid Chlorine or bleach.

4. Use a Saltwater Chlorine Generator (SWCG) to convert the salt in your pool into chlorine.


Thanks for posting,

Jim R.

 

[Richard320]

Welcome!

As stated above, your CYA may well be above 100. I started in the same place as you and my CYA was somewhere in the 220-240 range. It's impossible to be more precise when it'd diluted 1:3 or 1:4. You're lucky since Moonbeam has announced the water emergency is over and you can replace water to lower CYA. My first year that was out of the question, so I had to maintain FC up in the 20s.

Adding bleach daily is not the chore many people seem to think it is. In a matter of a couple weeks, you will learn the pool's appetite and can just go dump in the usual amount and test it only 2-3 times a week to be sure things are holding steady.

There's no compatibility issue with a SWG and a DE filter at all. Instead of a big factory creating Sodium Hypochlorite, bottling it, warehousing it, hauling it around, a store putting it on the shelf, and finally you bringing it home, you just create it on site. The pool and filter don't care whether the stuff was made a hundred miles away or two feet. Chemically, it's the same.

As far as hard water goes, maintaining the pool with CH up to about 800 is really not that difficult. You just have to keep pH and TA down at the low end. Don't use any Cal-hypo "shock" as that just aggravates the situation. My pool gains about 25 CH per week in the summer due to evaporation.

 

[thespacepope]

So what is the proper way to do the dump, fill, and SLAM?

Specifically I am concerned about the immediate situation after refilling. Do I need to get the pH under control before doing anything else? Or do I just jump right in with bleach/chlorine while attempting to settle the oH as I go?

My wife will be beyond ecstatic that we can go to salt water ...

 

[duraleigh]

Welcome to the forum

1. Replace the water in increments. Drain maybe 50 % and fill. Test the CYA. Drain again as much as needed to get your CYA down around 60 ppm.

2. SLAM your pool

Make sure you have enough testing reagents so you don't run out in the middle of the SLAM. Asl lot's of questions on this forum. Don't put ANYTHING in the pool unless the SLAM instructions tell you to do it.

 

[Richard320]

So what is the proper way to do the dump, fill, and SLAM?

Specifically I am concerned about the immediate situation after refilling. Do I need to get the pH under control before doing anything else? Or do I just jump right in with bleach/chlorine while attempting to settle the oH as I go?

My wife will be beyond ecstatic that we can go to salt water ...

If it was me, I'd start with the dilution CYA test. Step 9 here: Extended Test Kit Directions

That will tell you roughly how much needs to be replaced. Second thing: figure out how high the groundwater is in your area. Nearby creeks, percolation basins, lakes, or the beach will tell you how close to the surface the water is. If there's no standing water nearby, then you're not in much danger of floating the pool. If you're close to the ocean, the tide coming in could float the shell and shear all the plumbing.

Anyway, drain as much as you dare at a time, refill, get it circulating, and check pH. If it's 8.2 or above, you may be higher, so you might require a second or even a third pH adjustment. But once you're in range, jugs away! Ignore pH during the rest of the SLAM, because high FC reacts with the pH reagent and makes it read falsely high.

Order more FAS-DPD stuff right now. You probably won't find the stuff in stock locally and you will be using a lot of it.

 

[Analogbytes]

If you are planning on switching to a SWG soon, you could aim for a higher CYA and replace less water. That is the approach I took when I took over my pool and CYA was 140

 

[pabeader]

Under normal circumstances analogbytes would be right, but since you are needing to SLAM, you need to get your CYA down to a manageable level. Otherwise, it will take a tremendous amount of chlorine to SLAM.

 

[thespacepope]

I will do the CYA test from step 9 in order to get an idea of how much I need to drain and refill.

I also realized that this would be a good time to fix a couple of plaster issues since I will be able to work while the water is out. Trying to make the best of the situation.

 

[thespacepope]

I dumped about 10,000 gallons on Saturday, patched up a couple spots with ez patch and refilled on Sunday. My cya is now 60 or 70 depending on whether you trust my eyes or my wife's eyes. While this is more than ideal, I figure the kids splashing water out all summer will drop it more. I am also seriously considering just converting to swg so I am gonna live at 60 or 70 for now.

I added 10% chlorine to get to 24 ppm for my slam. I don't think this will be too bad at this point.

 

[Analogbytes]

That's awesome. SLAM away! Make sure to take daily pictures and share them with us as well

 

[duraleigh]

I would suggest 28 ppm for your SLAM value