New pool owner, trying to get my chemicals balanced

[mitchryan912]

3. Depending on how they tested, the testing error for CYA levels at the low end can range from plus-minus 10 ppm (K2006 with experienced user) to plus-minus 50 ppm (eye-balled test strips). I don't know your pool volume, so I don't know what your CYA should have been after you added 5# . On a 30k gal pool, 5# would add 20 ppm. BUT, it dissolves slowly. People often 'lose' it backwashing before it dissolves. This most often happens when your pump is timer operated.

Next time, dissolve it in a sock in the skimmer OR use dichlor (9 ppm CYA for ever 10 ppm FC).

I just wanted to follow up on this. My store recommends dumping all 5 lbs into the skimmer, with both the skimmer and pump baskets removed while it circulates. They also warn STRONGLY not to backwash for 3 days after adding CYA. Is this something that sounds right?

If I dissolve it in a sock (a regular sock?), does this change anything with those recommendations?

EDIT: FWIW, I have a ~26k gallon pool and adding 5 lbs on Monday brought me up to 15ppm of CYA on Wednesday.

[PoolDoc]

Their recommendations are about right, if your pump runs 24/7. Otherwise, not so much.

The only reason to clean the pump / skimmer basket is to keep you from dumping stabilizer out when you clean them. If you clean the pump and skimmer basket first, on most pools they won't need cleaning again till after the CYA is fully dissolved.

On a 26k gal pool, 5# of CYA fully dissolved will give you 23 ppm of CYA, so a measured level of 15 ppm is well within the range of error.

[Watermom]

If you put it in a sock in front of a return, you don't have to worry about throwing it out when you backwash.

[mitchryan912]

I bought another 5 lbs at my last trip to the store, just to save a trip. Should I put some of this in (dissolved in a sock) to bump it up a bit, or should I save it for the inevitable rain storms that have been hitting the midwest? I was told that stabilizer should last a whole season, but with all the draining and backwashing I've had to do after storms, I'm sure I've lost a lot of it.

[PoolDoc]

When you are having to drain and backwash a lot, a sock would be better, to keep you from losing it.

A better solution for you may be to buy dichlor at Sams Club. They have a 24# pack and a 50# bucket for very good prices. Each pound of dichlor will add about 3 ppm chlorine, and about 2.5 ppm of CYA . . . and it dissolves almost instantly.

[CarlD]

I find it both sad and hilarious that a pool store wouldn't see you a K-2006 even at an inflated price. I'm guessing they want you to use one of the junkier kits and have to come them for proper readings. Inane. Like a tool store recommending you buy a bargain brand hammer rather than an Estwing. That fact that they stock the K-2006 is pretty amazing but if they stock them for the pros I'm surprised they don't stock the K-2006C instead.

Just yesterday I had to buy some CYA at a local store and the young saleswoman tried to tell me the alkalinity raiser was a "special" formulation of Baking Soda, as if it wasn't NaHCO3! "Yeah, right. I just need the CYA."

[mitchryan912]

I find it both sad and hilarious that a pool store wouldn't see you a K-2006 even at an inflated price.

Higher profit margin on the cheaper ones? Thats one big reason I could see, but I suppose that they don't expect their average customer to know much (if anything) about chemistry and/or how to use a more advanced test kit.

That fact that they stock the K-2006 is pretty amazing but if they stock them for the pros I'm surprised they don't stock the K-2006C instead.

I didn't ask if they had the 2006C. I had already ordered the 2006A earlier that day, so the only thing I was concerned with by then, was what they had in stock for replacement vials for next year.

This store might not be an anomaly by carrying the K2006, as Wisconsin Dells is just 40 minutes north of here. "The Dells" is a small tourist town (population <3000) that boasts a whopping 5 indoor and/or outdoor waterparks and 2 of the top 10 largest waterparks in the country. That might have something to do with it, as where I live probably doesn't have any more or less pools, be it public or private.

[PoolDoc]

We still haven't got a confirmed case of a pool store selling either a K2006a or a K2006c .

The purpose of these kits is to enable people to bypass pool stores; it's hard for a pool store to get enthusiastic about that sort of product!