CYA notes and results

Jump to latest Follow Reply
J

jstblush

0
LifeTime Supporter
Jun 3, 2015
261
Pasco, WA
I hope it's okay to post this here. I am working on my CYA because it seems like I'm losing more FC than last year. I just got my new pump motor running so that kind of set me back. But it's all back to normal now so getting back to it.

When I first checked my CYA it looked like 30. A few days later checked again and I read it as 40 and hubby read it as 30. No additions of any kind, just the difference in how we 'see' the dot. Anyhow, last time I checked I got 30ish so think my hubby was closer. It's just such a hard test to decipher. lol So I added stabilizer (in sock in front of return) yesterday. Got it all dissolved yesterday. Is it okay to test again today or wait until tomorrow? I know it used to say a week but now they say 24-48 hours.

FYI My pool is in full sun all day. Our temps here are very hot. Usually in the mid to high 90's. We've already had a few 102-104 degree days with many more to come. Sometimes we get 110- 115 degrees. YUCK! The pool water temp is probably around 87-88. The water was in the 90's and too warm about a week ago. When the water is colder, do you have to bring it in and let it get to room temp before testing for CYA or does that even matter? It seems like once I tested water much colder and then after it warmed up and the numbers were different.

Okay, enough for now. Gonna go out and enjoy the pool today instead of fretting about every little thing! But I really would like to reduce FC consumption if possible.

Let the testing begin!

Sherry:flower:
 
Yep, 24 hours is the right amount of time to wait. When in doubt round the test up by 10. It is only 1 or 2 ppm more. It is safe to swim with FC up to shock level. It is always better to have a little chlorine extra than not enough. Chlorine is your friend.

With full sun and 100+ I'd probably go up to 60. My CYA is 80 and I use 1.7 ppm per day. Water temp below 60 slows down the chemical reaction time so either let the water warm up or mix it longer. Hot doesn't matter.
 
AimeeH
you should be fine to rest today
Click to expand...
Hahaha, that's what I did today...rest. JK Anyhow, thank you and that is definitely how I check it. :D But today I was so busy resting in the pool, the sun went down before I had a chance to test it. So I will check it tomorrow.

pooldv,
I don't have a SWG so wouldn't 60 be kinda high for my CYA? I think we were closer to 30 and was going for 40 and then was going to check FC usage. If still high usage, was going to go up more to 50. I'm a little leery of going too high. When I first joined here in 2015 it was because my CYA was 100 or maybe even higher. So did the drain water thing and don't want to get CYA too high. Thank you for all the info and will keep track of what happens at 40 and see if I need to go higher.

PoolUmp,
I'm thinking it will probably be too low just like my CYA. I think I will use a lot less FC if I raise it to 40 or 50. Will post what I find out. Just doing it in smaller amounts so that I don't get higher than I need to go. I think that's what I did last year and it made a difference. I just can't remember if I got my CYA to 40 or 50 last year.

Sherry
 
LOL! Nice. :paddle: Best typo of the week!

Don't be afraid of high(er) CYA. I understand the pain lots of folks go through with CYA in the hundreds and that it becomes the enemy. :) But, properly managed CYA is your friend. I would go at least 50.
 
Hi all, I 'm back.
Well, looks like my CYA was really closer to 30 than 40. Adding the stabilizer got it to 40 which is what I was shooting for. It seems like I am using about 3-3.5 ppm a day even when there is no swimming. When we are swimming for a few hours, it uses maybe 3.5-4 ppm on average.

So I am thinking about getting my CYA up to 50, but I'm a little nervous about getting it that high. If it will help my chlorine consumption I would definitely go to 50. But if it won't make much difference, why bother?

So does anyone have any experience with 40 CYA compared to 50 CYA in regards to FC usage? I live in a very hot climate with full sun on the pool all day. Any and all of your experiences with this matter will be very much appreciated. Will wait to add more stabilizer until I hear all your experiences.
Thank you!
Sherry

P.S. I am also working on dialing down my pump usage from running 24/7 to 12 hours a day right now since we got the new pump motor. It is still only a one speed but am interested if I can lower usage from 24/7 run times and keep the pool crystal clear. I've been told here that my 24/7 is overkill! So working on a couple things right now. Chlorine usage being the most important to me first!
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Philo,
I am shocked to learn that we could maybe get away with that short of a pump runtime! But another member "borjis" told me almost the same thing, only 2 hrs. I guess I am a chicken and have to slowly dial my times down after all these years of 24/7. But I am definitely listening and working on it! So thank you.

Also, anybody have any idea about the CYA experiment? Still trying to decide on that issue.
Thanks,
Sherry
 
I run my CYA at 60 for that reason (less bleach usage). I have done this for the past couple of years, and it works.
Like you, I used to run my pump 24/7 (on low however). I just spent the last 3 days digging a trench to put a dedicated power supply line to the pool pad, and in doing so, I put my pump on a timer. I have the pump set to run 4 hours in the morning, and again 4 in the evening.
I adjusted my Stenner timer to supply 1/2 of my bleach after the pump has been running for 15 minutes during each cycle, and am now in the process of evaluating the results.
The current set-up has only been in place for 24 hours, and the jury is still out on the results.
I can say though that is strange walking out back, and NOT hearing the pool pump running. I have to keep reminding myself that "This is the new normal".
 
jstblush said:
So does anyone have any experience with 40 CYA compared to 50 CYA in regards to FC usage? I live in a very hot climate with full sun on the pool all day. Any and all of your experiences with this matter will be very much appreciated. Will wait to add more stabilizer until I hear all your experiences.
Click to expand...

Although not 40 vs 50 cya and I have a salt water pool...

My recent experience with raising my CYA from 50 to 70 2 weeks ago on my salt water pool (pool temp 87 with about 8 hours a day of sun) allowed me to reduce the SWG % from 50% running for 8 hours a day to 10% running for 8 hours a day to maintain a FC of 5-6. I didn't expect 20ppm of CYA to make that much of a difference but after 2 weeks of tweaking the SWG % that is where it landed. Initially after adding the CYA I didn't adjust the SWG % and in 3 days the FC had increased to 12.5
 
RonsPlc,
It will be interesting to see how your new schedule turns out. Keep me posted! And I know what you mean about not hearing the pump running or seeing the water moving. Even though we've only cut the time in half (12 hrs a day) it's a start. Should save some money on the electric bill too. :wink: And thanks for the info on your CYA and usage of less chlorine. I'm probably going to up my CYA to 50. YIKES! I just remember having to drain half or more of the pool when the CYA was too high...over 100! And we definitely don't want to go through that again!


dloki,
Wow, that's great news about lowering your SWG % by that much! That's a great savings! And by only 20. I first raised mine from 30 to 40. Now thinking 50. Gonna give it a day or so. And right now we are having temps 100+ so it should be interesting. I just know it would be great to get the bleach usage down cause it gets kind of pricey after a while. Thanks for all the great input. It really helps to make these decisions. :thumleft:

Appreciate both of your input and anyone else interested in adding your experience...feel free.
Thanks guys,
Sherry
 
Me again. :smile:
Well, I added enough CYA to get it to 50 this morning. CYA of 40 didn't seem to make a huge difference in FC usage so went ahead and went for it. LOL Squeezed the heck out of the sock and got it all dissolved in about half an hour. So just went out to test (4:00 p.m.) and it looks like I'm close to 50. I will check the CYA again tomorrow and hope it doesn't go much further. So we shall see what happens now. It has been very hot here ...100 to 105 so that is probably a lot of the reason for the FC loss. But anything that will help is a WIN! Using anywhere from 3 to 4 ppm per day.

I know that using the solar blanket really cuts down on the FC usage. But it's WAY too hot to even think about putting it on, plus it's a pain in the bootie.

Also, on the pump run time. Been running it for 12 hours a day instead of 24/7 and so far, so good! Still sparkly, beautiful water. So I may even get brave and lower the run time even more. Man, I'm really livin' on the edge! :laughblue:Wish me luck!

And thank you to all of you who replied with your expertise and experience. It helps me tremendously!!
Sherry
 
Hi all,
I've still been working on tracking my FC usage. I raised my CYA to 40. Thought it was already 40, but was only 30. Anyhow, raising to 40 hasn't made much difference. One thing that has been kind of interesting to me is the PH connection. I don't know why, but when I lower my PH down to 7.4 it seems like my FC usage goes down. Weird.

The last 7 or so days here have all been between 101-105 degrees and several more are coming and probably even hotter...UGH. The last 2 days I've only used 1.5 ppm FC each day. I usually use anywhere between 73 and 97 oz of 10% a day. So that is a huge drop especially when the temps are so hot and non stop. I only had to add 37 ounces! That's just crazy. I wish it was that way every day!

The one thing that might be affecting it is all the smoke from the fires in Canada and all around us blowing clear down here! It's super hot, but the sky is smoky and very hazy so the sun is not as intense through all the haze. The news actually said we have the worst air quality in the US at this time from the fires! It is unhealthy to be outside and they say to stay in until it clears out. Very bad for people with allergies or any kind of breathing problems. Even makes your eyes sting. So not sure if this has anything to do with my FC loss.

But I really did notice I started using less when the PH is in the 7.4 range. And mine keeps creeping up. So I add acid and its good for about 4 or 5 days and then it creeps back up and I add more acid. My TA has gone down since I started doing this from 90 to 70. I don't know if this is good or bad. It seems to be in range though so hopefully that's okay.

Thanks
Sherry
 
Me again! ;)

Well, I've continued tracking my FC usage and have come to the conclusion that when my PH is in the 7.4-7.6 range I use less FC. Even with the super hot weather and full, intense sun all day.

When my PH starts creeping up to the 7.7-7.9 range, I definitely see an increase of FC usage. So I add muriatic acid to bring it down to 7.4 and wait until it creeps back up to 7.7-7.9 and add more acid. And the cycle continues. Is there anything wrong with me doing this?

Does anyone else see a connection with their FC use and PH? Is this a possibility? I don't know why, but it definitely saves me some money on bleach and that is a good thing!

I was thinking about raising my CYA to 50 and see what happens. But I never got around to it and will probably just ride out the rest of this summer at CYA of 40 that I have now.

Anyhow, your thoughts on the PH and FC connection?

Sherry
 
Hi Jstblush
Yes there is a correlation between ph and FC. The FC is more active at a lower ph (under 7.5), but this is somewhat mitigated by the CYA in the water. I believe at 30ppm CYA the active chlorine drops by 15% when the ph moves from 7.2 to 7.8. However even with that drop you if you maintain the targets in the FC/CYA chart you still have quite a buffer of chlorine available to fight off algae

Your ph rises because of aeration (splashing fountains etc) or because you TA is too high. I would continue to do what you do but with a couple of tweaks
Drop your ph to 7.2 every time you add acid. This will lower your TA a bit more every time you do so until your TA will stabilise with your ph
Your ph will climb quickly in the lower half of the scale and slow down as it approaches 7.8. Wait till it gets to 8 before you drop your ph again

If your TA gets to 50 and your ph is still climbing post back with a full set of test results and ask questions. There are additional things you can do to slow the ph climb further, like add borates. But I doubt you will need to as I think a lower TA will stabilise the ph for you

CYA of 50 is nothing to be scared of. I run my pool at 60ppm in the heat of summer to lower my FC usage. After all it can only go up by adding it, you know what adds CYA to your pool and poolmath is accurate in its calculations. Next summer I would not worry about raising it to 50ppm at all.

HTH
 
Caco,
Thank you for the informative post. It tells me that the ph connection I thought I was seeing really does exist. And I do like saving money on the bleach.

I will try doing as you suggested and lower the ph to 7.2 and wait until 8.0 before adding the acid. Adding the acid the way I have started doing has lowered my TA from about 90 to 70.

We won't be using the pool much after the end of August because I go back to work (school bus driver) and the grandkids will be back in school. So not as much time for the pool. :( Do you think I should still work on the ph this summer? Or will the water have all different levels after draining down below skimmer for closing and then refilling in the spring. Maybe just work on the ph next spring?

Also considering adding CYA to 50, but not until next spring. I feel comfortable with the CYA of 40 but would love a higher CYA if it saves bleach. I have read here all kinds of info, some saying it made no difference and some saying it helped. But I won't be trying that right now. I think the problem is high CYA is what brought me here in the first place and I don't want to go through that again. But it's a lot different now because I've learned so much here and know what caused the CYA problem. Before, I wouldn't have even known what CYA was! :eek:

So thanks again for your help!

Sherry
 
You said it, NOW you know exactly what does and does not add CYA to your pool. Your not flying blind like before, so you're in total control. I would definitely raise your CYA to 50 by next season. Even though you have to keep a slight higher FC level, it will definitely save you chlorine over the long haul. Even 60 is good. The only downside is if you ever have to do a SLAM to clear your pool, you'll be using much more chlorine to do it.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply