You really don't want to use these if possible, as they contain copper
Raising your CYA would be better performed using just granular CYA - available from your local hardware store, or Amazon etc.
0 CYA and 0 FC. Need advise
- Thread starter LovinPoolLife
- Start date
Raising your CYA would be better performed using just granular CYA - available from your local hardware store, or Amazon etc.
Sunny Blues
LifeTime Supporter
We certainly had a torrential downpour last night, didn’t we? LOL
Hopefully nothing on your solar cover is reintroducing anything into your pool? I wonder if that is possible? We stopped using ours when we started TFP. I know they are great and all but we found it a cumbersome headache to use ours. We now just use the heater whenever we need to boost temp.
I’ll wait for @Newdude to chime in since he made a good point about making sure you’re truly past the point that things can go haywire before raising the CYA
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Yes, we sure did have a fun downpour. The only reason I use the solar cover is to keep the ducks out of my pool as well as a lot of dirt, leaves and everything else blowing off of the big maple tree right next to the pool. We have a heater that warms the water but haven’t even turned it on yet.
Honestly, it was much simpler to take care of the pool using pucks in chlorinator- as I only needed to add 5 a week, then adding 3oz of algaecide bi weekly LOL. I never had to mess with PH and only once maybe twice a summer add a little balance pal 100 to raise alkalinity. I’ve gone through over 50 gallons of liquid chlorine so far (pools only been open 3 wks) and between yesterday and today, I’ve added 1 more full gallon. I think because CYA is so low.
I know I started with a serious ammonia issue which took about 17 bottles to clear it, the rest was to keep the algae at bay before doing the slam and during the slam.
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I'm with SJpoe. It wasn't really an OCLT so hopefully the fail is due to other circumstances such as the big storm not being mixed well when you tested.
Repeat SLAMs happen and are due to not being thorough enough. Say. A nasty light niche or several gallons of old water in ladder rails will start reintroducing algae immediately. A few seasons back someone found their auto fill all gunked up, meanwhile they probably stepped over it 200 times during the SLAM. Literally every last inch, both out in the open and hidden in plain sight is suspect until it's been cleaned, scrubbed or SLAM'd.
I'm hopeful that such a large drop was a fluke. Do not raise the CYA past 30 before we've proven its ok to do so. Another OCLT is in order. Keep us posted.
Repeat SLAMs happen and are due to not being thorough enough. Say. A nasty light niche or several gallons of old water in ladder rails will start reintroducing algae immediately. A few seasons back someone found their auto fill all gunked up, meanwhile they probably stepped over it 200 times during the SLAM. Literally every last inch, both out in the open and hidden in plain sight is suspect until it's been cleaned, scrubbed or SLAM'd.
I'm hopeful that such a large drop was a fluke. Do not raise the CYA past 30 before we've proven its ok to do so. Another OCLT is in order. Keep us posted.
Sunny Blues
LifeTime Supporter
Yes, please don’t forget that this is not representative of what a typical TFP year is like after opening your pool. Don’t judge it by what you have had to go through to fix your water. If you stick with us you will see next spring just how different it really is.
My opening last year (replaced liner this year so new water) was a breeze. We opened to clear water. We only needed two gallons of LC and we added the CYA. Everything was in balance by the second day. That was it.
This year it’s sort of the same breeze even with new water. We have only used 2-1/2 gallons of LC so far and my last addition only required 3C. It’s comical how clear and beautiful our water is with so little fuss.
I understand your frustration. Comparing my very first opening with ammonia to the prior four years using the pool company’s chemicals, the first TFP year seemed much more complex and anxiety inducing, exhausting, and expensive than how I remembered the easy breezy care of the prior four years. But our memories are distorted when in the middle of the chaos. We went through 90-some gallons of LC that first year to get rid of all the ammonia and get the water truly balanced and completely stable. Stability was an illusion with pucks and algecide. It’s a guarantee with TFP. And comparing the actual costs of both types of pool care it’s a landslide win that TFP is much, much cheaper year to year. It’s a sliver of the cost of using pool store product. Pucks and tabs are not cheap, and neither is algecide and clarifier and Phosphate Free, etc etc. LC is. Stabilizer is.
You are so close to breaking free. How can it have worked so beautifully and stress free for tens of thousands of people here if it really is easier and cheaper to just use pool industry chemicals? Most of us would never have stuck around here if that were true. We wanted easy and stress free.
I’m ready to get a couple of pouches of burnout 73 and just shock the darn pool. I just want to use my pool and to stop adding so much chlorine daily. It’s getting really expensive. We haven’t put our ladder in yet and I’ve cleaned every inch of the pool. I just pulled the solar cover off and water is slightly hazy in deep end, not to mention gallons of water that were on top of the solar cover (dirt and all) went straight into the pool. Despite my best efforts to avoid it.I'm with SJpoe. It wasn't really an OCLT so hopefully the fail is due to other circumstances such as the big storm not being mixed well when you tested.
Repeat SLAMs happen and are due to not being thorough enough. Say. A nasty light niche or several gallons of old water in ladder rails will start reintroducing algae immediately. A few seasons back someone found their auto fill all gunked up, meanwhile they probably stepped over it 200 times during the SLAM. Literally every last inch, both out in the open and hidden in plain sight is suspect until it's been cleaned, scrubbed or SLAM'd.
I'm hopeful that such a large drop was a fluke. Do not raise the CYA past 30 before we've proven its ok to do so. Another OCLT is in order. Keep us posted.
That happens every last time the cover comes off. The morning dew collects into small puddles plus whatever crud blew on since last time. Thousands of gallons of properly treated water will laugh at it, but that doesn't help the heartache of it making a small cloud for a few minutes.
So what is in Burnout 73 ?
Calcium Hypochlorite. Its basically the same thing you are adding with Bleach....chlorine. 1lb of Burnout 73 = $11
1 pound will raise your FC by 4.3ppm, and your CH by 3.1
2 Gallons of 12% Liquid Chlorine (at $5.50/gallon) will raise your FC by 12ppm.
Believe us...its real science.
Wish one of you could come fix my pool…. LOL this is getting physically and mentally exhausting. Especially working a full time job, taking care of a house, pets, kids and husband. I have had ZERO time for myself and believe me when I say. My Pool Is truly my sanctuary. It’s my de-stressor (prior to this nightmare). My husband and kids don’t understand why I love the pool so much, but just swimming around or laying on a floaty in it, relaxes me.
Some like to have a drink, smoke, to go golfing, read, etc —— for ME - it’s being IN my pool.
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You can do all of those in the pool. Golfing would have an entirely new set if challenges to it. But yeah. Just sayin.
You had one bad day's test - don't sweat it. My FC was lower than I expected this morning - it's been raining overnight, I popped the SWG up a notch, and I'll check it again tomorrow. Its still above the bottom of the target range, so I'm not going to go screaming for some magic bullet...it can wait a day to see what happens.
Do the overnight test (as best you can) and lets see where its at. Don't panic until there is something actually worth panicking about
If your CYA and FC levels are 'between the lines' - algae is not going to flourish - thats the whole system in a nutshell.
In 2+ years since I started doing the TFP method, I have not shocked my pool once. nothing. I opened this year, vacuumed it, turned the heater on and swam. The pool guys who closed for me remarked that my pool was the cleanest, clearest one they come and do...and they are surprised they never see me in the store.
Even then. Panicking won't make it right. We put on our big boy/girl pants and make it right.Don't panic until there is something actually worth panicking about
There's strength in numbers and we ride together.
- Mar 5, 2020
- 3,142
- Pool Size
- 66000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Astral Viron V35
I know it's frustrating.
My recommendation is that once you're done, keep your FC a bit higher for a while. Not saying to keep maintaining SLAM for ever, just making sure that everything that's still lurking in there gets eventually killed off rather than start multiplying again.
Getting rid of algae means killing it faster than it can reproduce. When there is a very small amount of algae in the water from a few spores that have been been blown in then it takes only a very small amount of chlorine to kill that off. When there is a bit more, then it will take more chlorine to keep that from growing.
The number of chemical reactions that can happen per second basically increases with the number of molecules that are available for the reaction. That's why we SLAM, it makes sure that chlorine is killing algae faster than it can regrow. In the same way the growth of an algae population is faster the more algae there is to start with. The amount of algae basically wants to double in a certain time period.
When there is only a little bit of algae to start with, then doubling that may not even be noticeable, and you'll only need very small amounts of chlorine to kill that. But then there's a lot of algae, then one doubling period can mean the difference between between green side walls in the morning and a full blown swamp in the afternoon, and you need SLAM levels to kill that faster than it can regrow.
With chlorine at "normal" levels, you can control freshly introduced algae material that always comes with the wind.
Once algae has established itself, target FC levels may be able to stop that from escalating as long as you keep adding chlorine. But you notice over time that chlorine demand is unusually high. To actually get rid of it, slamming is needed to not just kill it just as fast as it is regrowing, but faster. You don't want to just kill the regrowth, but what is creating the regrowth.
There may still some algae be lurking somewhere in a protected and hidden spot. Check behind the skimmer weir door, maybe pool lights, things like that. Give it a good brush.
And even then, in the end there might be this tiny amount left in an obscure location without much light where it grows very slowly and lets you graciously pass the first OCLT. But over time it shows itself again. That's where it helps to stay a bit higher after a successful OCLT for a bit longer. Just because you can...
My recommendation is that once you're done, keep your FC a bit higher for a while. Not saying to keep maintaining SLAM for ever, just making sure that everything that's still lurking in there gets eventually killed off rather than start multiplying again.
Getting rid of algae means killing it faster than it can reproduce. When there is a very small amount of algae in the water from a few spores that have been been blown in then it takes only a very small amount of chlorine to kill that off. When there is a bit more, then it will take more chlorine to keep that from growing.
The number of chemical reactions that can happen per second basically increases with the number of molecules that are available for the reaction. That's why we SLAM, it makes sure that chlorine is killing algae faster than it can regrow. In the same way the growth of an algae population is faster the more algae there is to start with. The amount of algae basically wants to double in a certain time period.
When there is only a little bit of algae to start with, then doubling that may not even be noticeable, and you'll only need very small amounts of chlorine to kill that. But then there's a lot of algae, then one doubling period can mean the difference between between green side walls in the morning and a full blown swamp in the afternoon, and you need SLAM levels to kill that faster than it can regrow.
With chlorine at "normal" levels, you can control freshly introduced algae material that always comes with the wind.
Once algae has established itself, target FC levels may be able to stop that from escalating as long as you keep adding chlorine. But you notice over time that chlorine demand is unusually high. To actually get rid of it, slamming is needed to not just kill it just as fast as it is regrowing, but faster. You don't want to just kill the regrowth, but what is creating the regrowth.
There may still some algae be lurking somewhere in a protected and hidden spot. Check behind the skimmer weir door, maybe pool lights, things like that. Give it a good brush.
And even then, in the end there might be this tiny amount left in an obscure location without much light where it grows very slowly and lets you graciously pass the first OCLT. But over time it shows itself again. That's where it helps to stay a bit higher after a successful OCLT for a bit longer. Just because you can...
So, I went to add more chlorine tonight and as I was pouring it in, I couldn’t smell it. So I put my nose close to the bottle opening and sniffed, still no smell, at all. I checked the date and it says 2023110. So it’s last years Chlorine!! No wonder it wasn’t boosting it very much. Same with the bottoms I put in yesterday- they came from the same box.
I just went to Wooodmans to get some, the bottles don’t have a date it was manufactured only a Best Buy date of March 2025.
. Who knows how long they’ve had it already. No smell at all from it when pouring it in. Well that’s all going back to the store tomorrow!!
- Mar 5, 2020
- 3,142
- Pool Size
- 66000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Astral Viron V35
So, I went to add more chlorine tonight and as I was pouring it in, I couldn’t smell it. So I put my nose close to the bottle opening and sniffed, still no smell, at all. I checked the date and it says 2023110. So it’s last years Chlorine!! No wonder it wasn’t boosting it very much. Same with the bottoms I put in yesterday- they came from the same box.
I just went to Wooodmans to get some, the bottles don’t have a date it was manufactured only a Best Buy date of March 2025.
But no 2nd slam. So you have that going for you. Which is nice.
Sunny Blues
LifeTime Supporter
Yep!!! That expired chlorine probably isn’t even 4% now.So, I went to add more chlorine tonight and as I was pouring it in, I couldn’t smell it. So I put my nose close to the bottle opening and sniffed, still no smell, at all. I checked the date and it says 2023110. So it’s last years Chlorine!! No wonder it wasn’t boosting it very much. Same with the bottoms I put in yesterday- they came from the same box.
I just went to Wooodmans to get some, the bottles don’t have a date it was manufactured only a Best Buy date of March 2025.
The Woodman’s with a best by date of 2025 is fresh!!! It’s good. Usually the best by date is one year after manufacturing so it was probably bottled in Feb or Mar of this year.
Mine is best by Feb 2025. I’m planning to use it before August and then I’ll buy more at that time for remainder of season.
- Mar 5, 2020
- 3,142
- Pool Size
- 66000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Astral Viron V35
Still stay on the watch. That was a significant drop over night.
Could be that it was affected by rain water still sitting on top of the pool and not mixed in, and that top layer is what you tested in the morning.
But once mixed in, rain water usually doesn't even make a blip in chlorine levels. When adding 3cm of rain water to 150cm of pool depth then this is a 2% effect, far below of what we can see with our laundry-lab testing.
No reason to panic, but keep an eye on it. And run your chlorine levels on the hot side.
Could be that it was affected by rain water still sitting on top of the pool and not mixed in, and that top layer is what you tested in the morning.
But once mixed in, rain water usually doesn't even make a blip in chlorine levels. When adding 3cm of rain water to 150cm of pool depth then this is a 2% effect, far below of what we can see with our laundry-lab testing.
No reason to panic, but keep an eye on it. And run your chlorine levels on the hot side.
Lake Placid
In The Industry
- May 27, 2021
- 686
- Pool Size
- 17000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
A couple of thoughts. You have a VSP. When you backwash does it kick into priming mode and stay there during the backwash cycle? What RPM is it running at during the backwash? I have seen and have other contacts that have seen sand being blown out of the filter during the backwash cycle because priming mode was kicking up to 3400 rpm or higher and staying there due to the length of the prime rpm program. Media loss may or may not become an issue, but you may want to inspect the filter in the future to ensure you haven’t lost any sand, and program down the priming rpm setting. Don’t be too alarmed but store nugget this in the back of your mind for a future day….
With the solar cover on, CC can’t outgas. So if your testing with the cover on, or immediately after it’s pulled, it’s possible the CC hasn’t had a chance to dissipate yet.
I lowered my prime to 3000 rpm a few yrs ago and only let it backwash until I see the water turning clear in the site glass. Then I put it on rinse for a few seconds. Then back to filter. I have my VSP set to 2600 for 10 hrs, which starts at 9 am, then it goes down to 1800 rpm for 8 hrs then to 1400 rpm for the remaining 6 hrs. These are the setting I have found to work best for my pool.