Cyanuric Acid

[Watermom]

If the test was done by a pool store, that further validates what we are saying --- they don't know what they are doing if they give you cl readings like that.

You do NOT need calcium in a vinyl pool.

If you empty half, that will put your cya at a much more reasonable level that will be easier to manage. If you're gonna dump, no point in wasting a bunch of bleach. I'd wait to shock the pool up to 15 until refilled. For now, I'd just throw in a couple of gallons of 6% bleach. That should take you to around 8 ppm of cl which should kind of hold things until you get refilled. (If you don't do anything, it may turn green in the meantime and you don't want to have to fool with that problem, too.)

Get yourself a good test kit like the Taylor K-2006. A good price for it can be found here.

http://www.amatoind.com/taylor-k2006-test-p-555.html

That way, you can test your own water and not rely on that pool store. They're not doing too good of a job ..........

Repost with current numbers when you get refilled and we'll go from there.

EDIT --- Since your pH is below 7.0, go ahead and add a little Borax to take it over 7.0. Maybe try 2 cups for now added slowly to the skimmer while the pump is running. As long as you get it over 7.0 your ok. We can tweak it later.

[CarlD]

As for "when", we won't know until we get further down the process.

Calcium's SOLE function is to prevent the calcium in the walls of concrete/plaster pools from leeching out. Pool stores regularly tell vinyl pool owners they "need" it and sell it to them.

[Watermom]

Heck, most of the time, they'll sell you one of everything on the shelf if you seem willing to buy it. Do you need it? Doesn't matter a lot of the time. They'll still be happy to have you walk out with it.

(Not all pool stores are like this, but too many of them are.)

[CarlD]

Use a garden hose as a syphon. As long as the outlet is below the inlet water will flow.

[Sue225]

Well we dumped 1/2 of pool water and are in the process of refilling. One question, the liner looks like it is rippling. Is this normal? Also. there is 0 chlorine in the pool. Should I add some bleach? Will it be OK through the evening and night. Looks like we have about 8 hours left to complete filling.

[polyvue]

Well we dumped 1/2 of pool water and are in the process of refilling. One question, the liner looks like it is rippling. Is this normal? Also. there is 0 chlorine in the pool. Should I add some bleach? Will it be OK through the evening and night. Looks like we have about 8 hours left to complete filling.

As it is refilling, try to straighten out any wrinkles. I don't have a liner pool but I've read that some people have used a clean toilet plunger to remove them.

As soon as the pool is filled, re-test the CYA level and add sufficient liquid chlorine or 6% bleach to increase Free Chlorine to about 7% of CYA. E.g. If the test result indicates CYA= 50 PPM, add enough bleach to your 15K pool so that Free Chlorine is about 3.5 PPM. Or just go by this chart:

The Pool Calculator is handy for estimating chemical additions.

[Watermom]

I asked Carl to talk to you about your liner rippling . He'll be better able to help you with that than I will. As far as FC of 0, you need to get some bleach (maybe 3 quarts) in there so you don't end up with a green pool. Just pour it in front of the hose so it will quickly disperse throughout the water. Then, once it is totally filled, run a complete set of numbers again and post them. May need to add more cl in the morning if you are below about 5 -- assuming that your cya will be around 50. If it is different than that, refer to the "Best Guess CYA Chart" to determine how much chlorine you'll need.

[Sue225]

We will start to dump pool this PM. Do you know of a good technique to do this? We do have a main drain. Where do you dump this water to? Yard-street?