My wife sent me here!

[Watermom]

The only way to lower cya is to do a partial drain. Concern yourself with that after you get the algae problem zapped. You aren't going to be able to get a good ph reading while your chlorine is so high. Your pool will clear in a couple of days hopefully and you can get one then. As far as how often to dose it with bleach ---- if you can, run a chlorine test in the morning, afternoon and evening. Each time, add enough bleach to raise the cl back up to 20. Having said that, let me also say that you can test as often as you want and each time raise it back up to 20. You won't hurt a thing if you do it more than 3 times a day. Sustaining the high cl reading is the key. The more consistenly you can do that, the quicker the algae will die. Keep us posted how things are going.

[CarlD]

I'm going to be even MORE radical and suggest you keep the FC OVER 20--but no more than 25 ppm.

If your pH is high and being masked by the high FC, then even more so should you be at 25.

The WORST that will happen is you will bleach your liner somewhat.

Don't worry about total alk at 140--in a vinyl pool that's just fine (no matter what the shills at the pool store tell you).

You've gotten good advice. You need to kill algae first. You CAN drain and refill your pool partially in the meantime to lower CYA, but you MUST keep your FC levels up or you are wasting time and money.

Getting the good test kit quickly was wise--Poconos gave you great advice on that. Yeah, there are other test kit options, but no better than what you got.

[bob57]

Thanks for all of the support- even through the holidays! We survived 50 mph winds last week in So. Cal. and we ended up with so much garbage in the pool that we had to shut down for 2 days. The algae bloom was a little frustrating but a couple of hours with the net (about 40 lbs of wet leaves and pine needles) and the vacuum got us back on track. We are at 20+ ppm on the FC as we speak and monitoring the cl level only. I want to make sure that I am doing the test correctly-1/4 pool water and 3/4 distilled in the cylinder before proceeding with the reagents and a reading of 5 equals 20? Thanks again for all of the support! Have a good New Year's Eve and a good new year too!

[Watermom]

Yes, you are correct. Keep us posted on how things are going.

[bob57]

Hello again. The pool is 98% blue. The FC has been steadily 20-25 and I haven't checked any of the other numbers in awhile. At this point the water is still fairly cloudy, but the algae is "gone". What steps would you like me to take to lower the CYA and clarify the water, and how do I arrange for the pH test. I can't believe the great results! Thanks, Bob

[Watermom]

Good work. I'd keep the chlorine high for a few more days just to be sure that the algae is indeed dead. It probably is, but it doesn't hurt to be sure. Probably what you are seeing with the cloudy water is just the dead algae which you'll just have to patiently let your filter handle. Keep running the pump/filter 24/7 and backwash if the pressure rises 8-10psi. You're going to have to wait until you let your chlorine drop before doing the ph test.

As far as lowering cya, the only way to do that is to do a partial drain. Where do you live? Do you keep the pool open all winter? If you drain half your water, that should take your cya down to about 50 which is a much better level.

[Poconos]

Bob,
I looked thru your posts and didn't see what kind of filter you have. Maybe I just missed it. The cloudiness could be like Watermom said, dead algae, but you said in one of the posts you had a bunch of leaves etc dumped in the pool. If you have a sand filter you could just have a bunch of particles too small to trap. Some of us have added a small bit of DE powder to our sand filters to catch the finer stuff. If you do have sand and want to try it, start by adding about 1/2 cup of DE slowly to the skimmer mixing it in a 5 gal pail of water first. After about 15-30 minutes check the pressure and add more DE until the pressure rises about 1 psi. Goal is with clean water you want to get a 1 psi rise in pressure. With a lot of crud in the pool keep a close eye on the pressure because it may rise rapidly and plug.
Al