What to do first? CYA > 200 ppm

[PoolDoc]

2 hours should be plenty, to wait. It sort of depends how your pool's circulation system is set up, but regardless, 2 hours should be enough.

Pictures of both tile & bottom, if you can, please. Post them, or links to them, using Webshots, Flickr, Google Drive, etc, or email them to poolforum@gmail.com. To take the pool into a scale-removing state will be a bit tricky, but I've thought of a way that may work.

Also, take pictures of your equipment. PacFab changed their name to Pentair a long time ago; how much like your filter is this one: http://www.pentairpool.com/pool-pro/...filters-61.htm ?

[PoolLizard]

Here are some pictures:

Complete pad:

http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/...l/P1000708.jpg

Filter:

http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/...l/P1000710.jpg
http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/...l/P1000711.jpg

Pump:

http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/...l/P1000713.jpg

Scale:

http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/...l/IMGP0254.jpg
http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/...l/IMGP0253.jpg
http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/...l/IMGP0252.jpg
http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/...l/IMGP0251.jpg

Hope this helps.

Will go test water now.

[PoolLizard]

At 13:45 pm my time, the FC level is now 5.5.

Adding more bleach. And testing CYA.

[PoolLizard]

At 14:30 the CYA = 240. I mixed 7ml of pool water with 14 ml of tap water. Took 7ml of that for the test. Reading was 80. 80 x 3 = 240.

Also, added another 128 oz of 10% bleach.

[PoolLizard]

At 16:15 pm, the FC is now 10. Yeah!

What's next?

[PoolDoc]

OK, time for a decision. You have two options.

1. You can run a HiC2 pool (chlorine above 10 ppm, dosing 1x per week, etc) AND you can work on lowering your calcium by adding soda ash slowly upstream of your filter. Each time you do this, you will collect some calcium carbonate on the filter, but some more will cloud the pool. You'll have to turn the pump off for 12 - 24 hours to let the calcium settle, then vacuum it up and clean your filter. I'm not sure how much calcium you'll be able to remove on each pass.

OR

2. You can drain most of your pool and refill. To reach CYA = 80 ppm, you'll need to drain 2/3 of the pool. This will also lower your calcium hardness to around 230 ppm. This would be easiest; but whether it's best depends on your preference and how much water costs there. Obviously, the first option will be cheapest, even when you allow for spending $100 on soda ash, acid, and extra DE.

[PoolLizard]

OK, time for a decision. You have two options.

1. You can run a HiC2 pool (chlorine above 10 ppm, dosing 1x per week, etc) AND you can work on lowering your calcium by adding soda ash slowly upstream of your filter. Each time you do this, you will collect some calcium carbonate on the filter, but some more will cloud the pool. You'll have to turn the pump off for 12 - 24 hours to let the calcium settle, then vacuum it up and clean your filter. I'm not sure how much calcium you'll be able to remove on each pass.

OR

2. You can drain most of your pool and refill. To reach CYA = 80 ppm, you'll need to drain 2/3 of the pool. This will also lower your calcium hardness to around 230 ppm. This would be easiest; but whether it's best depends on your preference and how much water costs there. Obviously, the first option will be cheapest, even when you allow for spending $100 on soda ash, acid, and extra DE.

I did some calculations on water cost based on my last water bill, and it seems that it wouldn't be as costly as I had feared. I'm going to verify that with the Water Co tomorrow. If I'm right, then I'll be doing a drain and refill sometime this week. If my estimates are correct, it would cost around $120 to completely drain and refill. Does that sound reasonable, or am I way off?

On my bill, 1 unit = 100 Cubic Feet of water = 748 gallons. According to my last bill, 1 CCF (748 gal) = $4.55. 20,000 gals divided by 748 = 26.74. 26.74 X $4.55 = $121.66.

I hope I'm right.