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I have read several comments from "aylad" that say he runs his pool at high CYA levels (and presumably high chlorine as well). What's the advantage? I'm currently running at FC=13.0, CYA=80. Ph=7.6, TA=100, CH=200. The forum has been invaluable in helping me with my chemistry. I guess I'm trying to decide if I should drain partially to reduce CYA or let it ride.
Aylad lives in NW Louisiana and runs high CYA and high chlorine pool on purpose because otherwise she has trouble keeping chlorine in her pool. By doing so, it also allows her to not have to add bleach as often. You may find the same thing to be true for your pool. I think you could probably just let it ride at 80 and just follow the Best Guess Chlorine Chart (in my signature below) for your chlorine levels.
(It's working for her pool. I have been to her house before and her pool water was perfect!)
Thanks for the quick response. We inherited the setup when we bought the house 2 years ago which includes a Pentair chlorine feeder (320). It's convenient and trouble free for the most part. I think I'll throttle back the feeder and start using LC or bleach to maintain my FC. I think water additions due to evaporation may make the CYA come down or at least not get any higher. The pool looks really good right now, but every spring I'm fighting green algae. The pool is open all year. I think because the system only runs for a few hours a day from Nov. to Mar. the FC drops while still having high CYA. Now that I have my Taylor test kit that was recommended, I can figure the algae thing out.
The CYA should also drop because I have a leak. I have the bucket test results and I'm waiting for some test plugs/inductors. I'm adding about 1 inch per day due to evaporation/leak loss. I'm pretty sure I know where the leak is - return line - which is consistent with the pump on/off bucket test results. I was scratching my head about it until I remembered that I had several pallets of pavers delivered about the time the leak started. I had them dropped near the pool and they went right over my return line with their huge machine. Live and learn. I'm going to verify with a pressure test before I start digging. I'm thinking about replacing the 1-1/2 inch return line with 2 inch between the filter and the water valve for the in-floor system. The filter has a 2 inch fitting but the valve is 1-1/2. (Master Pools)
Follow-up question. I read that the ph test will be inaccurate in the presence of high chlorine. Some say it will be higher than reality or that the test will be "bleached out" (whatever that means). So if my ph test says 7.6 is it really less than that? I have another thread about "Sand in the bottom of my pool". With the forum's help I determined that the "sand" was actually the finish being etched due to low ph. I got my ph up and the amount of material I'm seeing is less every day. Should I be shooting for a higher ph in the presence of high chlorine? (FC=13.0, CYA=80).
High chlorine does make the pH test read falsely high but with the K-2006 kit, you can get an accurate reading as long as the chlorine is below 15. Keep pH between 7.2-7.8 and you will be fine. (I like mine to be 7.4-7.6.)