What the heck happened to my levels..?!

[ninjajim4]

I'm a little sad and concerned here... Topped off for the start of the season and checked levels.

My Taylor CYA test showed levels below readable, i.e. the black dot was clearly visible with the test all the way full of water. I read that temperature could affect the test, so I re-did it, keeping the bottle in my pocket to warm it up while conducting other tests, and then checked again with the same results.

Tested the salinity. Checked with PoolMath, added the prescribed amounts, admittedly not precisely. I added what I thought was 3/4 of a full 40lb bag of salt. For CYA, worked off the assumption that my CYA level was very low. I'd had what I thought was half a 4lb bag left of stabilizer. dumped it in.

Now my levels are off the charts. Where did I go wrong..? The salt seemed on par with what I thought I'd have to add, given that I drained below the return, and I'd never topped off any splash/spill loss from last season, when I first filled and added the prescribed amounts. Perhaps the CYA was foolish and I should have thought about the fact that I was re-adding pretty much the same amount as what I'd added in last season into virgin water. Well, obviously I went wrong by not dumping smaller amounts in increments, but how are these numbers so drastically off?

And is it ok to have CYA and salt levels so high? Particularly concerned about the salinity wrecking anything and I'm likely to get a pool heater too which I also don't want to subject to too much corrosion abuse.

 

[mknauss]

Was the pool very well mixed, pump run for at least 24 hours and well brushed after refilling prior to taking samples for water chemistry testing?

 

[ninjajim4]

Was the pool very well mixed, pump run for at least 24 hours and well brushed after refilling prior to taking samples for water chemistry testing?

well brushed, no. but it had been up and running for a week at least

 

[mknauss]

well brushed, no. but it had been up and running for a week at least

Before the test that showed low CYA and salt?

 

[ninjajim4]

Before the test that showed low CYA and salt?

Before I had touched or tested anything, I had pulled the cover and filled up the pool to full, turned on the filter and saltwater generator to start making chlorine and then it just sat and ran on its regular open season timer. There was a lot of debris and a little greenish on the walls at the drained water height and I left the filter to do the work and then vacuumed up after procrastinating at least a week, probably longer. And then I tested everything.

 

[PoolStored]

Clean your test vial with rubbing alcohol, or a dilute bleach solution, and then retest.

How old are the reagents?

 

[mknauss]

I would retest the CYA and Salt. If still those numbers, you need to drain enough water to get them in line with target levels.

 

[mgtfp]

What was your salt level at the end of last season? I can't find any salt readings in your logs from last year.

 

[ninjajim4]

What was your salt level at the end of last season? I can't find any salt readings in your logs from last year.

I never checked. I set it up new last year, dumped in the prescribed 115lbs and let er run the whole season.

Clean your test vial with rubbing alcohol, or a dilute bleach solution, and then retest.

How old are the reagents?

a bit under 1 year old now

I would retest the CYA and Salt. If still those numbers, you need to drain enough water to get them in line with target levels.

This makes me sad

 

[ninjajim4]

I would retest the CYA and Salt. If still those numbers, you need to drain enough water to get them in line with target levels.

Re-testing FTW! Good news and bad news here.

The Bad: I'm a moron who can't read directions

The Good: I thankfully performed the salt test correctly the first time, but post salt add, I'd done the test incorrectly. I filled the vial up to the 25ml line, not the 10 ml line. When re-testing with the proper amount of pool water, I'm actually slightly below ideal at 2600 PPM. Did the test 2x and both times came out identically down to the number of drops. Very happy about not wrecking my stuff with heavy salt levels!

The CYA level is still pretty high, somewhere around 90 - 100. I guess this is ok..? This makes sense as again, I am sure about putting too much in having not thought much about what I was doing beforehand.

My FC is pretty high at 20, guessing in part due to the higher CYA but also I've not uncovered the pool at all, so not a lot of direct sunlight, unless the solar cover counts (I'm curious to know the answer to that).

Feeling overall like I may just leave this as is for the time being (or adding no more than 5-10 lbs of salt).

 

[mknauss]

You can use the CYA at that level. If you can, replace some water with rain water, splash out, etc to lower it to 70 or 80. Be very careful to maintain your Target level FC with the CYA this high.

A covered pool can have less FC loss. Typically the pH also goes down some or does not rise when the pool is covered.