400 cya

[aylad]

Household bleach is okay. Keep in mind that the doses that Pooldoc advises are with 6% concentration--check the label on your bleach to make sure it's 6%, because it's also sold as 3%, in which case you'll need double the amount. Most of us around the forum do use bleach--just make sure it's plain, unscented...no additives, boosters, scents, etc.

You can send pics to poolforum@gmail.com and Ben can post them--just make sure you reference the URL so he'll know which thread they belong to.

If the "granular" you're talking about is dichlor, then yes, that's probably why your CYA reading is off the chart. CYA has to be added to your pool water--it's not a part of any fill water source that I know of. You shouldn't be using anymore stabilized chlorine at this point. That includes dichlor powder and trichlor tabs. The CYA will not go down just because you stop using the granular chlorine--once it's in the pool, there are only a couple of ways to remove it: 1)replacement of water (splashout, backwashing, drain/refill, etc), or 2) let the pool go slime green and the bacteria will break it down. Unfortunately, one of the byproducts that is created when you do this is ammonia, which consumes gimongous amounts of chlorine to break down--and with CYA as high as yours, I'm not sure that there's enough bleach in the state to do that. So...you'll either have to run the higher chlorine pool per Pooldoc's suggestions, or drain/refill some water.

[atkinson40]

Thanks Janet

I understood from Ben's post that the CYA would go down if I used unstabilized chlorine for a couple of years. Maybe I misunderstood. Regardless, I think I could figure out a way to void the water from the pool when I vacuum instead of returning it to the pool. Over time this would reduce it?? Correct?

I've ordered the algaecide and test kit from Ben's post. What should I test when I get it. Will I be able to redo the CYA test with the kit Ben suggested?

Thanks Kevin