Help

[Watermom]

A CYA of 100 is WAY too high. And, in actuality, it may be much higher than 100 as that is as high as most test kits can register. Please do NOT add more CYA. I bet the previous owner used trichlor pucks for the source of chlorine for this pool. Trichlor is stabilized and adds CYA with each puck added to the pool. The only way to lower the CYA is to drain and refill. Having said that, you don't ever want to totally drain a pool, especially in a swampy place like Louisiana. Doing so can cause the pool to pop up out of the ground.

You have a couple of options. Option 1 You can either slam it with bleach and eradicate the pool of algae now and then once the pool is clear, you can do several partial drains and refills until you get the CYA to a more manageable level. (Unfortunately, it will take a lot of water replaced probably a couple of times. In a big pool like yours, that may be a substantial amount of water.) if you decide to do this, it will take shocking it way higher than 15 as I originally suggested. With a CYA that high, you'll need to keep the chlorine level at 25-30 to kill the algae. (Required chlorine levels depend on the CYA level in a pool.)

Option 2 is to go ahead and do the partial drains and refills now before adding the bleach. Then, you can attack the algae later. (That will save you some money in bleach.)

Option 3, and the least desirable one in my opinion, is to live with a high CYA level. But, you will have to run higher than normal chlorine levels as a result meanng that you will always have to keep your chlorine between 8-15 all the time or you risk another algae bloom.

Let us know what you think and we'll wallk you through any of these options.

The good news is that once you get the CYA level down to a more manageable level, we can teach you how to keep this from happening again.

[connier13]

I will have to go with option 1 as I have started the bleach. I put in 18 gallons of bleach Monday and the pool has gone from yucky green to the cloudy pale green. I have been sweeping the sides and floor down as much as I am able to. I tested the water every 2 hours Monday and added bleach if it dropped any. I am using a kit from Walmart and I have ordered a Taylor pool tester kit to be able to get better readings. I will add more bleach tonight and just go from there. As soon as the Taylor kit gets here, I will send you my numbers.

If you have any other suggestions, let me know and THANK YOU!!

[aylad]

At this point, you're on the right track--just keep hammering it with bleach and keep your filter running as much as possible (24/7 is ideal), but keep an eye on the pressure because the algae can clog it up quite quickly. You'll eventually see it go to blue/cloudy, then you know you're almost done--then it'll be a matter of letting your filter remove all the dead algae.

I am highly suspicious of your CYA result if your pool was that green--keeping in mind that CYA is a turbidity test, sometimes bad algae blooms will give falsely high results. In any event, once you get the water clean and clear, then let's get another set of test results before you add anything other than bleach to the pool.

Janet

[connier13]

I just received my Taylor K-2006 test. The CYA is 70.

[Watermom]

Wow! You got that kit fast! Glad to hear the CYA is only 70. That is much better than 100 or 100+. Test as frequently as you can and each time hit it again with bleach. You'll have that pool clear in no time! Keep an eye on your cartridge. You'll probably need to clean it frequently.

[connier13]

Test results at 11 am 02/19/11

FC 85
10 CC
130 TA
350 TH
60 CYA

Bottom of pool is black onyx, so I won't be seeing Blue

Right now the pool is a cloudy gray/green

[aylad]

How's the pool looking?

Janet