Starting to look better...but.

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Niteowl said:
If I drain off some of this rain water, how will that effect things? If at all. The water is so high right now that I don't think the skimmer is working correctly, it's probably about 4 inches higher than it should be.
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Hopefully it will help dilute some of the high CYA (though not a whole lot most likely)
Do you have liquid chlorine on-hand/ready?
Are you going to try and remove some extra water and refill with fresh water to lower your CYA intentionally?
Since you'll be battling "something" causing high CC's, you are going to go through quite a bit of liquid chlorine with CYA/80 (it won't hurt anything, just whatever you prefer, it's been handled both ways successfully)
 
I have 5 gallons on hand right now. I have 2 empty jugs, so I can get those filled tomorrow and that will make 10 gallons on hand. I am also going to do another CYA test in the morning, using the tips everyone gave me. Keep my back to the sun and just glace at the dot, don't stare it down the whole time..
 
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splashpad said:
Hopefully it will help dilute some of the high CYA (though not a whole lot most likely)
Do you have liquid chlorine on-hand/ready?
Are you going to try and remove some extra water and refill with fresh water to lower your CYA intentionally?
Since you'll be battling "something" causing high CC's, you are going to go through quite a bit of liquid chlorine with CYA/80 (it won't hurt anything, just whatever you prefer, it's been handled both ways successfully)
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If I am going to drain some water and replace with tap water, now would be the best time to do it right? So I am not sending the chlorine down the sewer?
 
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Niteowl said:
If I am going to drain some water and replace with tap water, now would be the best time to do it right? So I am not sending the chlorine down the sewer?
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If you want to replace water, now is definitely the time. If your CYA is down closer to 30-40 it will be easier to SLAM the pool. It will mean replacing about 50% of your water if your CYA is 80, though.
 
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Nite,

You've made a lot of great progress!

You have two choices at this point. SLAM now and prepare for high liquid chlorine needed. This is sometimes tough because SLAM requires you maintain the 31 FC not just reach it. So it's way more effective if you check FC and adjust at least several times per day. Second choice is drain/replace water. In parts of the country with high water table (like us in Florida) we recommend you do this via exchange method. This method involves putting a small measurable sump pump in one end and adding water at the other end. See here for details. There's a danger of "floating" your pool by simply draining then replace water. With all the rain we've had water tables are above normal.

If it were me, I'd probably bite the bullet and do the exchange since I'm so anal about my water balance the high CYA all summer long would drive me nuts. But you're new to all this and it may be easier just to SLAM and get the hang of this then learn about water exchange. Choice is yours.

Rest assured that once you get your levels right your pool will be super easy to maintain. Too bad you got the typical bad advice on use of pool shock and tablets but you're certainly not alone. Good news is you're pool isn't nearly as bad as it would have gotten if you continued with pool store methods. We've seen many of those that start here with super mess of green pool. Whichever choice you make on the next step you'll get your water balanced once then stay with TFP methods and it'll never happen again.

Chris
 
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Just want to double check something since you are in south Florida. What temperature is your pool, and is it in full sunlight all day long? Or how much sun does it get all day?

While slamming at 80 is going to be hard, I would not try to get the CYA too low. I think the OP can manage a SLAM at 50 CYA. Depending on the temp and sunlight on the pool and the fact that we have entered VERY rainy season we can probably expect his CYA to drop about 10ppm monthly anyway.
 

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Niteowl said:
Still testing at 80 CYA today or somewhere between 70 - 80. At 80 I can still barely see the dot when I glance at it. 2 or 3 more drops does not make it to 70, but can no longer see the dot.
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Yup, that's CYA/80.
So you need to decide if you want to tackle & buy lots of liquid chlorine or drain/exchange enough water to lower CYA.
 
Katodude said:
Just want to double check something since you are in south Florida. What temperature is your pool, and is it in full sunlight all day long? Or how much sun does it get all day?

While slamming at 80 is going to be hard, I would not try to get the CYA too low. I think the OP can manage a SLAM at 50 CYA. Depending on the temp and sunlight on the pool and the fact that we have entered VERY rainy season we can probably expect his CYA to drop about 10ppm monthly anyway.
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I don't have a temp for it, is that something I should buy also? The pool is on the east side of my house and get sunlight about 11 hours per day.
 
setsailsoon said:
Nite,

You've made a lot of great progress!

You have two choices at this point. SLAM now and prepare for high liquid chlorine needed. This is sometimes tough because SLAM requires you maintain the 31 FC not just reach it. So it's way more effective if you check FC and adjust at least several times per day. Second choice is drain/replace water. In parts of the country with high water table (like us in Florida) we recommend you do this via exchange method. This method involves putting a small measurable sump pump in one end and adding water at the other end. See here for details. There's a danger of "floating" your pool by simply draining then replace water. With all the rain we've had water tables are above normal.

If it were me, I'd probably bite the bullet and do the exchange since I'm so anal about my water balance the high CYA all summer long would drive me nuts. But you're new to all this and it may be easier just to SLAM and get the hang of this then learn about water exchange. Choice is yours.

Rest assured that once you get your levels right your pool will be super easy to maintain. Too bad you got the typical bad advice on use of pool shock and tablets but you're certainly not alone. Good news is you're pool isn't nearly as bad as it would have gotten if you continued with pool store methods. We've seen many of those that start here with super mess of green pool. Whichever choice you make on the next step you'll get your water balanced once then stay with TFP methods and it'll never happen again.

Chris
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Could I get away with just vacuuming to waste instead of a sump pump, then run the hose to refill it as it vacuums?
 
Niteowl said:
Could I get away with just vacuuming to waste instead of a sump pump, then run the hose to refill it as it vacuums?
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Your pool pump will likely empty much faster then you can refill with hose. Plus you don't want the water to circulate/mix as that would defeat the purpose of the water exchange.
Most hardware stores have sump pumps you can rent, you wouldn't have to buy one, though they aren't bad to have on hand for pool owners :D
 
The exchange method requires water temps to know where to place the sump pump and where to place the hose, so I need to go rent a sump pump then buy something to measure water temps. I will if I have to, but I wanted to get started asap. What would happen if I drained 1/4 of the pool, or whatever I feel safe doing without floating the pool, then refilled with hose water. waited an hour or so and retested? If still not low enough CYA, repeat.
 
So to do an exchange, you buy a sump pump. I have a 1/2 hp one off Amazon. Superior brand.

You can do as you just said, only drain 12" or so and then refill. Will probably take 4 or 5 iterations to get where you want. You would be best to buy a sump pump for that.
 
mknauss said:
So to do an exchange, you buy a sump pump. I have a 1/2 hp one off Amazon. Superior brand.

You can do as you just said, only drain 12" or so and then refill. Will probably take 4 or 5 iterations to get where you want. You would be best to buy a sump pump for that.
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The water level was already about 6 inches higher than normal from all of the rain, taking out that 6 inches plus another 18 is about where I feel comfortable. So I am going to try to drain off 24", then refill. How long should I wait after refill to test for CYA again?
 
Niteowl said:
Still testing at 80 CYA today or somewhere between 70 - 80. At 80 I can still barely see the dot when I glance at it. 2 or 3 more drops does not make it to 70, but can no longer see the dot.
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You're getting better and better at this just like we all did initially. From your description I'd say you have 80.
 

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