Im a new user & Just wanted to check in, I have learned so much just reading thru this sight and posts. Every year I have very high CYA (I don't have a pool test kit yet but will soon enough) All my testing has been done thru the pool stores "Leslies" in Houston, Tx. each year I have to drain off some of the pool water to lower the CYA. I always fight algae thru the summer, but with determination and high chlorine manage to keep it at bay.
Finally after reading this post I understand some things, Please correct me where Im wrong below.
High CYA (over 100) means I need to run higher chlorine
Trichlor Tabs are making my CYA go up up up
High CYA & not enough chlorine is why I have algae,
I never paid much attention to PH, but now I try to keep it between 7.4-8.0
I have put the Tabs & shock away in place of Borax, and Bleach
Im using the Ben's Best Guess* Guide to Swimming Pool Chlorine as my guide.
I never was into adding a bunch of chemicals in the pool, I usually kept it pretty much under control with Shock, Tabs, brushing and draining off water.
Now I will use the Borax, bleach for the most part, maybe an occasional baking soda. I drained off the water yesterday to get the CYA from over 100 to 80 and used bleach 8.25% to bring up the chlorine to around 20 after brushing some algae off the walls that was just starting, I think it might be yellow algae, I used 3 cups Borax to bring the PH up to 7.8. still have the pump running since yesterday and it looks great, I'll keep the chlorine up pretty high for a few days to see what happens with the algae, hopefully it is gone now.
Any further suggestions would be appreciated
23 year old pool, I have had it a few years and think it's gunite? parts of it chip off and I can see concrete under those chipped spots
13,000 gallon pool
Keep in mind these are pool store values below
FAC = 5 highest pool store goes, (I did the half pool water, half distilled and doubled the reading and was around 20 but I bumped that up to orange to hopefully kill any algae that might be lurking
TAC = 5
CH = 250
CYA = 80 ( I measured way over 100 before draining off a little water yesterday with my walmart test kit)
TA = 90
pH = 7.8
TDS = 250
Pho = 100
water temp = 84
Thank you for any constructive criticism
DE Filter
Hayward super II pump, 1hp
