Where did my CYA go?

[pragmatic]

For the record, I actually think that using the Trichlor pucks until the CYA gets to the level you are looking for is the best way to add CYA, it kills two birds with one stone while your CYA levels are low. After understanding the TFP approach, anyone will realize that you can't rely on them exclusively and you have to stop using them at some point, but everyone here is aware of the CYA problem and can easily figure out when to stop using them and convert to bleach. Starting up with them reduces you chlorine budget for the time that you are using them, who doesn't appreciate that?

Exactly! Understanding your pool and testing is key. We swim year-round and occasionally heat the pool as high as (95F). With splash-out, lots of rain combined with higher temps, I believe my CYA drops more than most. I'm back to using trichlor pucks (inline set very low) and supplementing with bleach. It works perfect for me!

 

[czipper]

Where is your CYA level @ this moment? Did you use the Calculator? I started with fresh water last year and there was only 3 bottles on the instant placed in the pool. My stabilizer level has stayed @ 40 all year long and I have had no issues. Each bottle does treat 10,000 gallons but it is the calculator that will tell you what you need.

I checked the CYA on Pool Math and even if you lost all your CYA and were @ 0 and needed to go to 40, you would need 346 oz. of liquid stabilizer. Unless something funky is going on in your pool and you keep loosing CYA. But this is for the experts to respond on this one.

How did you figure out that you needed all those bottles. 3 lbs. of stabilizer or 54 ounces is $5 on the K-Mart website. You would only need about $12 worth of powdered stabilizer, which is a lot less expensive then the liquid that the pool store sells @ around $25 in NJ. So the liquid form would cost $75 vs. $20 with shipping.

As I mentioned above my CYA is just under 30 right now, after about a week of the Trichlor pucks. In my pool they added between 6 and 8 ppm per week, but my pool was cold, never hit 70 degrees all summer.

My calculations for the amount of liquid stabilizer were actually indicated from the start of the season. It is my first pool, when we opened it hadn't been open in 2 years. My CYA was completely zero I aimed for 30-40. As I recall, the bottle of conditioner I got said it would raise 10,000 gallons by 10ppm, hence my calculation. Other brands of conditioner might add more CYA and I have since learned there are way cheaper sources for just about anything I can find at the local pool giant, or even the smaller specialty pool stores. Anyway you slice it, instant conditioner is way more expensive than powdered, and i realized you can add it with Trichlor so why not just do that until the CYA gets to the right level? Previous owner had left about 30 lb of trichlor pucks around, so I just started using them and stopped at CYA 50.
But you do have to be careful not to let the ease of the pucks make you lazy as the CYA climbs. The pucks kept a nice constant FC of about 2 for weeks, but algae started visibly growing in the areas of the deep end that don't get good water circulation when the CYA reached about 50. At that time I changed over to bleach. A couple days elevating the FC to the high teens took care of the algae and I maintained FC at about 6 after that with no further growth.

 

[Catanzaro]

Smart move to change to liquid. I had the frog system and mineralizer where I was told you could keep your levels @ 1 ppm. The liquid method is instant and it takes a lot of guess work out. The water was clear (I thought). Then I switched to the liquid chlorine and boy what a difference. My water never looked so good. It is 100% better. I bet you that I had algae all along and was never aware of it as the minerals were barely keeping it in check.

Religiously I tested my levels each day and added the liquid chlorine. It took a while to get a feel of how much I was using. Next year I will actually increase my FC level by at least 1-2 higher based on my CYA so I never fall below the minimum required. It will be also interesting to see how much CYA I will loose from September 15th (Pool Closing) to the start of the season in the Summer. Chances are that I will open my pool 2 weeks early so everything will be up and running. My pool is only 14,700 in gallons, which definitely helps a lot. And of course PUCKS do help when you go away for a little bit. So does a good neighbor.