Confused Newbie needs CYA advice

[PoolDoc]

If your pump is running, you can pour the bleach into the pool, right now! Just don't pour it over the trichlor in the skimmer!

BTW, AO Smith made the motor, not the pump.

[dognostrils]

Thanks - I dragged all the bleach out there and am about to start pouring. I checked the pump and there was a small label that said Hayward with an ID # and serial # but no other info so I'll see what I can dig up from the original paperwork and send that along with my new test results. Should I test immediately after I add the last bottle or wait a while?

[BigDave]

Wait a little while to let it mix.

[dognostrils]

I just checked and the Cl is 5+ (even more yellow than the top color) and pH is 7.5. Will run the pump all night and see if it is less green in the morning. Hayward got back to me and, for the record, I have a 1.5 HP Hayward Super II pump.

Thanks so much to everyone today for all their help! Can't wait to get the kit to find out what the CYA level really is.... and what I need to do from here.

[Watermom]

Until your kit arrives, you can use a dilution method to force your kit to read higher. Not super accurate and doesn't replace getting a good kit, but better than nothing. More about it here:

Testing Without a Good Kit

Hope this helps!

[BigDave]

Dark yellow OTO is a good start but i'd be happier with orange. With the apparently high CYA in your pool, you'll need to maintain at least 25ppm FC to clean up the algae.

[dognostrils]

After your last post, I am beginning to see that not knowing the CYA level is going to keep me from going much further. After adding 7 gallons of bleach yesterday and running the pump all night, visually the water doesn't look much different. The 7 gallons only got me to 5 or 6 Cl yesterday and when I tested this morning the Cl is at 1 and the pH is as 7.2, and I understand that I need to be at 25 ppm to kill the algae. So without CYA info I could be adding bleach all day.... 15, 20 or more gallons to reach the 25 ppm goal. Then who knows how much I would need to continue to add on a daily basis... Wow! I think at this point I should drain at least half of the pool and refill to get the CYA down to a more manageable level in order to moderate the amount of bleach I'll have to add in the future. Will let you know the test results after the drain/refill and after I get the kit with the CYA test in it we will have some actual numbers to work with.