400 cya

[atkinson40]

Tock H2O sample to dealer and he measured over 400 PPM CYA. Said the only way to reduce is to drain pool. Any other suggestions? Thanks kevin

[Watermom]

WOW! That is some bigtime CYA! The only way to reduce is to drain, but you don't always want to do that. Depending on the type of pool and level of water table you can either destroy a liner or float a pool out of the ground. Give some more information about your pool.

Having said that --- how did your dealer measure your CYA? Did he use a disappearing dot test? Even if he did, the test cannot differentiate values over 100. Did he dilute the sample?

We need more info .........

[PoolDoc]

There are 4 ways to reduce CYA:

1. drain and refill.
2. run with unstabilized chlorine for a couple of years.
3. use melamine -- it's been a mess, but Kem-Tek's chief chemist told me they expect to release a melamine kit with an effective clean up process this year.
4. let your pool go slimey . . . and let the bacteria eat it. Takes 1 month or more, and results are unpredictable. You can end up with ammonia as an end product and that's huge mess.

If you go with #2, it IS possible to run your pool, perfectly successfully with a CYA = 400, but it will take some adaptations. If you have a SWCG (salt water chlorine generator) it will be really easy -- even easier than if the CYA was at normal levels. And, if you have good access to inexpensive liquid chlorine (commercial bleach) that's pretty easy, too. But that stuff is more often available in Florida, than California. You have to make it nearby . . . and California doesn't like companies making much of anything in-state, especially not chemicals.

You WILL need accurate test results -- see the test kit info page in my signature -- and I wouldn't trust the results you got from your pool store. Your actually CYA level may be 100ppm (no big deal) rather than 400pmm.

[atkinson40]

You WILL need accurate test results -- see the test kit info page in my signature -- and I wouldn't trust the results you got from your pool store. Your actually CYA level may be 100ppm (no big deal) rather than 400pmm.

I have an in ground pool. Around 36000 gallons. My dealer diluted the water twice and still got a reading over 100ppm. The pool was drained once before when it was resurfaced about 10 years ago and didn't float. I'd prefer anything except draining if I could. Nobody uses our pool if that helps. Thanks kevin

[PoolDoc]

That's fine.

For now, buy some polyquat, to keep algae under control. You can get it locally, or here:
Kem-Tek 311-6 Pool and Spa 60-Percent Concentrated Algaecide, 1 Quart

That's a pretty good price, and if you have Amazon Prime, you can order Tuesday and have it Thursday. You'll probably want three quarts. What you don't use will keep indefinitely.

Also, order a K2006. You will HAVE to have one, to manage a pool with CYA that high. Info in the test kit page, in my signature. Depending on how you decide you want to run the pool, you may need to buy a pH meter, as well, since phenol red isn't reliable when you push chlorine levels as high as you'll need to do, with 400 ppm of CYA. But, we can work all that out later.

Meanwhile put 15 gallons (yes, 12) of plain 6% household bleach in the pool, to 'keep' the pool, till we get another program going.

Check your pH FIRST -- if it's above 8.0 or below 7.0 it has to be fixed BEFORE you add that much chlorine, since you won't get accurate pH readings after. In that case, only add 3 gallons of bleach (but, buy all 15)

[atkinson40]

Where do I get a PH meter?

A little more history.

The pool went green a couple of months ago and I've been fighting it ever since. I've added about 60 lbs of the granular chlorine and about 6 quarts of copper algaecide (%6). Pool went cloudy for about 2 weeks.

Now is clear but I have some algae growing along the walls again. I tried to upload a picture, but couldn't figure it out. The bottom of the pool is now covered with a fine white silt.

Dealer said chlorine level was off the chart. I'll get algaecide and kit ordered tomorrow. Also try to find liquid bleach. Thanks Kevin

[PoolDoc]

I've been working on a meter page, but hadn't finished.

Here's the best choice I've been able to find:

Milwaukee Instruments PH55 Waterproof Ph Dual Level LCD Tester
Milwaukee Instruments, Inc. pH 55 Specifications (mfg page)

and

Atlas Scientific pH Calibration Solution Kit 4, 7, and 10 - 4 Oz Bottles

That's a fairly new meter on Amazon, for a really, really good price. Stay away from the Hanna Instruments -- I bought a boatload of those years ago for cheep, and they were cheep, cheep, cheep!

I would strongly recommend reading the manual before you buy -- testing with phenol red drops is pretty goof proof (unless you have problems with color perception). Testing with pH meters is NOT goof proof. Even a $2,000 lab meter that's capable of accuracy to 0.001 pH units can and WILL read ANY weird value under the sun, if it's not calibrated properly.

Here are the basics:
+ pH meters break when you drop them -- this is a characteristic, not a defect!
(They have super fragile glass bulbs on the wet end, unless you get some REALLY expensive industrial electrodes.)

+ pH meter sensors must NOT be allowed to dry out.
(Sometimes, you can restore them. Often, you have to trash the electrode, which means the entire unit, with an inexpensive meter like this)

+ pH meters MUST be calibrated regularly! Do NOT order a meter without calibration solutions!
(You might as well try to measure pH with a ruler -- you'd be about as accurate.)

In reading through some of the negative reviews on various meters, I noticed that frequently the complaints were from people who never understood what they were buying, and never bothered to learn. There are bad cheap meters out there (Hanna) and bad expensive ones. But even GOOD meters will NOT work, if you don't learn to use them.

They are not a 'dip, read, forget' tool. The one above appears to be about as easy as they come. It's not difficult or time consuming, if you just treat the meter right. If you do get one, please let me know how it works for you. I'm planning to get one shortly, but it's hard for me to evaluate things like that through a pool owner's eyes.

[atkinson40]

I'll hold off on the PH meter until you think I need it. My phenol red drop test indicates my PH is OK. Can this be correct?

Is liquid household bleach OK? I can get it for 99 cents a gallon. Do I need to add any immediately or wait until the level goes down from adding so much granular?

Is there a way to upload images after the thread is started. In reading the FAQ I understood it could only be done when starting a new thread.

Is it possible that my CYA is reading off the chart because I added a ton of granular and will go down if I stop adding stabilized chlorine?

Thank Kevin

[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