High CYA and algae

[tyandnikki]

I just have a wal-mart drop test kit and some test strips. Our pool store doesn't carry the Taylor kit. Is there any other way to test the chlorine to 25 ppm? I'm ordering the Taylor kit, but I don't know how long that will take to get here.

Thanks,

Ty

[Watermom]

The ideal CYA for most pools is around 40-50. CYA sometimes goes away over the winter but not always. However, during the summer, once you get your level where you want it, you are pretty much done with worrying about it for that season.

What ingredient is in the shock you are using? Do you have a reputable pool store that can test a water sample for you? But, don't buy all the stuff they will try to sell you. Usually it just makes things worse.

Until you can get a test kit, you can force your drops-based kit to read higher by using a dilution method described below. It is not meant to replace getting a good kit as it is not super accurate.

Testing Without a Good Kit

In order to test high cl levels, you DO need the Taylor K-2006 or 2006C which is the same kit but with 2-oz. bottles of reagents insead of 0.75 oz. But, their website is down today. Ben talked to them this morning and they do have kits in stock, but you'll have to phone in your order instead of doing it online until their site is back up. The phone number is 800-992-6286.

[tyandnikki]

What ingredient is in the shock you are using? Do you have a reputable pool store that can test a water sample for you? But, don't buy all the stuff they will try to sell you. Usually it just makes things worse.

I have been using the PoolBrand Quick Dissolving Shock-24/1 lb. pouches and Chlorinating Tab's made by PoolBrand from Sam's. I just read the label and they both say they are Stabilized. Should I just throw these away since they just keep adding more and more CYA? Or, is there a way to use these without the CYA rising? We had just bought a box of the shock and I hate the idea of throwing away $60.00.

Also, with the chlorine level at 25ppm, will the water be swimmable tommorow?

Thanks,

Ty

[Willjay]

I used to buy my pool shock(er) at Sam's too. They carried the Pool Brank Quick Dissovling Shock:

MSDS:
link removed by moderator so I could mod the post in quicker.

EDIT by moderator: The MSDS sheet showed that the product has dichlor in it.

[Watermom]

If it has stabilizer (CYA) in it, you should not be using it. Just use bleach. Don't throw them away. Close them up and you can use them next year if your CYA drops over the winter.

Do you have a reputable pool store that can test for you? We need a CC (combined chlorine) reading.

Also, do you know how much chlorine you lost overnight from sundown to sunup?

I know your party is tomorrow, but it is unlikely that your chlorine is going to come down much between now and then. I wouldn't want to invite people to my house to swim in my pool where I was fighting something in the water. The high chlorine level won't hurt people really but they should wear their old suits.

I wish that you had come here to the forum sooner than yesterday. It is kinda hard to help somebody clear up their pool in 2 days. I know you can't for tomorrow, but you might want to consider doing a partial drain and refill and try and get that CYA to a more manageable level or you're gonna struggle with having to run really high shock levels anytime you do have any problems (which will be any time your chlorine drops lower than 8.) If you haven't already done so, take a look at the Best Guess table in my signature below where it explains the correlation between CYA and chlorine levels.

Especially if you decide not to do that partial drain but instead are just gonna live with that high CYA, having the good kit is imperative!

I'm sorry we aren't being more help, but the time frame is just not enough to adequately take care of this properly.