Ideal levels for chlorine tablets?

[jenbunni]

Before buying this test kit I had just purchased about $200 in chlorine tabs that are supposed to last halfway through summer or longer.

I understand liquid chlorine is a better choice but until then, does anyone know what the ideal ranges for chlorine and cya are?

Ran the first tests yesterday and free chlorine was 0.5 (total was 1.5) and cya was like 80-90. idk if it matters but the pool is max 10,000 gallons.

I’m brand new at this, never had a pool but moved into a house with one a few months ago.

Thank you!

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum!

What Are My Ideal Pool Levels?

Use our tool to find ideal chemical levels for any swimming pool. Check TFP recommended levels on pH, free chlorine, cyanuric acid, and more.

www.troublefreepool.com

I suggest you read through Pool Care Basics - Trouble Free Pool and even look at a few of our videos TFP-TV - Trouble Free Pool

 

[Gotta Pool]

You probably want to suspend using those pucks until next year and start using liquid chlorine, instead. Your CYA is already too high, but it may drop over the winter. Do the reading as suggested above and make an informed decision as to whether you want to keep free chlorine above 7 ppm or do a partial drain of the pool to lower the CYA.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Your pool already has what most here would consider the maximum amount of CYA in it and the tablets you bought just keep adding more. You can use the tablets if you want but you already need to drain half to two thirds of your pool water to get the CYA back down to acceptable levels. There’s no other way to remove CYA from water except by draining and refilling. Using tabs means you’ll need to regularly monitor CYA and then, once it gets above 70ppm, you need to drain and refill. In a place like NJ that might be fine but here in AZ draining and refilling that much would be an expensive nightmare.

 

[jenbunni]

Your pool already has what most here would consider the maximum amount of CYA in it and the tablets you bought just keep adding more. You can use the tablets if you want but you already need to drain half to two thirds of your pool water to get the CYA back down to acceptable levels. There’s no other way to remove CYA from water except by draining and refilling. Using tabs means you’ll need to regularly monitor CYA and then, once it gets above 70ppm, you need to drain and refill. In a place like NJ that might be fine but here in AZ draining and refilling that much would be an expensive nightmare.

Thank you! I appreciate your response! We’re considering draining some of it since the pool light is out anyway. Thankfully it’s a smaller pool so it’ll cost less to refill.
The only good thing is that the tabs I got are a brand called sustain and they don’t contain any CYA at all. (Idk anything really about pools but these are supposed to be good)

It’s weird though because when we opened the pool the pool store test results said we had 0 cya and told us to add a ton. We had it tested again (and I testing it with the kit) & now it’s too high . Booooo.

 

[mknauss]

The only good thing is that the tabs I got are a brand called sustain and they don’t contain any CYA at all.

Then they are cal hypo. Be ware that they will raise your calcium hardness. That can create scale and cloudy water under certain circumstances.