Restarting after partial drain (high CYA)

[minisoda]

Thanks to the guidance from this forum, decided to take decisive action and do a partial drain to get our CYA under control. Although our pool was clear, it would not hold any FC no matter how much bleach or shock I seemed to pour in. We opened the cover Sunday night to find a cloudy/milky mess and a dead mouse... clearly not good with zero FC and it was just a matter of time.

Next steps were as follows:
- Immediately drained over half of the water.
- Treated remaining water with three jugs of bleach mostly because the bacteria from that mouse just disgusted me
- Instead of starting the fill from our well water, did a bunch of research of TFP and realized that introducing the high iron well water could be a major ongoing battle.
- Monday afternoon paid $$$ to have pre-chlorinated water trucked in
- Cleaned filter
- Water was still cloudy and had the following readings:

Pre-SLAM 6pm:
Cloudy water
[FONT=&quot]7.2 ph[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]5.5 FC[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]0 CC[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Cya 20[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]TA 180

Added 8 pounds of calcium hypochlorite (yes, I know, I didn't use bleach)... this product was much easier to get home on my motorcycle

Post Shock #1 10pm
Water still cloudy
16.5 FC
1.5 CC

No more product added

5 AM next morning
Cloudy but improving
15.5 FC
1 CC


Questions:
- Once things are leveled off, is there any issue adding some pucks to get my CYA up a bit? I'm extremely skittish given the pain that CYA has created this season!
- Is the TA of 180 acceptable? I know it's high, but I really don't want to treat and bring PH down if I can avoid it. Aeration had ZERO effect on our PH.
- Anything else I need to think about here?


[/FONT]

 

[Texas Splash]

Monday afternoon paid $$$ to have pre-chlorinated water trucked in

That was a good decision.

Once things are leveled off, is there any issue adding some pucks to get my CYA up a bit?

That's fine, just keep an eye on it now.

Is the TA of 180 acceptable?

It's a little high, but if the pH isn't shooting-up like crazy, don't worry about it right now.

Anything else I need to think about here?

Focus on the SLAM as follows:
- Get the CYA to 30 as quick as you can. I know you want to use the tabs, but you could lose a few days waiting. The CYA of 30 helps preserve your FC.
- Maintain the FC at 12 as best as you can. Any higher is just a waste. Try to balance the bleach jugs on your way home as best as you can.
- For the pool itself ... Inspect everything. Anything that can hold water in your pool, look in it, behind it, around it, etc. Brush and scrub all surfaces.

Hope that helps.

 

[minisoda]

6:30 pm day two - still cloudy
6.5 FC
2 CC

Hit it with 4 more pounds to bring it back to shock level (12).

 

[Texas Splash]

Hit it with 4 more pounds to bring it back to shock level (12).

Now just remember to be careful … a SLAM can take a few days even with a major water exchange. That cal-hypo will begin to add-up in the CH department. Whenever you get the chance to grab some regular bleach, that's the ideal weapon for a SLAM.