CurtisT

I have a chlorinator, but even with it turned up and feeding 2 tabs / day into the pool, it was all I could do to keep 1-2PPM in the pool. I was getting uncomfortable with the amount of CYA that would put in the pool (I had just drained it to drop my CYA down), so I turned it off and went to just the liquid chlorine. I'll turn the auto-feed back on when I head out on vacation though.

Just thought I'd post a follow-up. Because I was really getting concerned about what the sodium bromide (Yellow Treat) and high CYA were doing to me, I went ahead and did a 75% water change (overkill perhaps, but I decided I wanted to know what was in my water and keep it clean from there on). Spent about a week getting all of my parameters back in range and then hit the thing with 8 lbs of Cal-Hypo and a bottle of Copper Algecide to kill off the algae. That was 2 weeks ago and so far, no sign of any algae returning. The only issue I've got right now is keeping Chlorine in the pool with something like 9 days of 100 degree weather (even with CYA back up to about 60) so I've added some Polyquat to hopefully back me up on a day when all of the chlorine burns off. Now I head out on vacation for a week. I'll turn my auto-feeder back on (been feeding it bleach every day) and have someone drop a floating feeder into the pool about 4 days into the trip (I'll burn through the 7 tabs the chlorinator holds in about 4-5 days). Got my fingers crossed that I'll come back to no new problems!

After reading a lot of information on this board, I think I know the answer to this, but just want to confirm. I've had numerous pool store guys as well as my pool builder (who actually seems to really know his stuff in general) tell me that using alternative forms of chlorine (like Cal-Hypo) for sanitization won't work because it is designed to burn off quickly and should only be used for shock. When I asked them about the stabilizer in the pool, they told me that it doesn't work for that chlorine. From what I read here, I'm guessing that that is mostly urban legend? I'm thinking that the reason the chlorine burns off quickly after shocking are 1) because it's getting used up breaking down organics and chloramines and 2) because we're putting more chlorine in the pool than there is CYA to stabilize, so there's a lot of unstabilized chlorine floating around in the pool. Is that correct?

I think my test kit is K2005, but it still has the CYA test... I'm showing about 65 myself (that is a very subjective test, but I squint real hard and put in drops til I can't see the dot even while squinting!). Yesterday was a cloudy day and only about 92 here and I still had chlorine at the end of the day so that was much better. I think that in the summer, I'm just going to have to view the pool like my dog and feed it every day! The local YMCA actually had to close their pool yesterday morning because it tested for zero chlorine... I think it's just something about this hot sunny weather we've been having in Texas.

I'm amazed you can get along with twice a week. Right now, my CYA is still at 63, but I add 2 quarts in the evening to my 20k gallon pool. It is fine int he morning, but by noon, I'm at .5 PPM. I add another 2 quarts at noon, and back down to .5 by 6PM. I actually shocked up to 10PPM a couple of nights ago as was back down to .5 by noon the next day. I guess all of this 100 deg weather here in Texas is really taking its toll on my chlorine budget!

I've done some checking and found the following: Lowes: 1 gal 10% chlorine: $3.58 = $.28 per oz of chlorine Wal Mart: 1.42 gal 6% bleach = $2.50 = $.24 per oz of chlorine Texsun: Silk Tabs (90% cl) = $80 for 25 lbs (400 oz) = $.22 / oz of chlorine Leslies: 3" tabs (90%) = $94 for 30 lbs (440 oz) = $.19 / oz of chlorine Looks like Leslie's 3" tabs are cheapest... is this a liquid vs. solid ounces thing? Thanks.

Not sure if it's all of the sodium bromide or cya at this point, but either way, I think I'm going to have to drain some water to solve this problem. Can I just turn off the valves to the skimmers so the pump is only pulling from the main drain and open the plug on the bottom of my filter and let the water run down the drain (our MUD district requires drainage to the street rather than the sewer)?

Thanks for the response. Yes.. the test kit is a Taylor test kit where you put drops in until you can't see a black dot at the bottom of the dial any more. 100 is the highest reading in the kit and I was over that. I took samples to two pool stores yesterday to confirm my results... one got 150PPM, the other got 72.. go figure. The manager of one of the stores has graciously volunteered to come out to my house and take a look in person (that's a good way to earn my business even though they are someone more expensive than the other stores!). We'll see what he says... a partial water change seems to be the only thing I have left to try if he doesn't come up with anything new. The shock I've been using is just generic Cal-Hypo granules.

I've been fighting a problem with what I assume is yellow algae in our pool since about February. Here are the stats on the pool... Size: ~18000 gallons Type: Gunite w/ Pebble Tec finish Chlorine using tri-chlor tabs Location: Houston, TX Filter - cartridge (cleaning about every 3 weeks right now) pH - 7.6 - have actually had to work to keep the pH up this year using Borax. Alkalinity - 110 CYA - 80-150 (depending on which store... my test shows over 100 which is the highest it will read). Cl - .2 ** I believe this is artificially low because I've been using sodium bromide algecide. The algae shows up as greyish patches on the blue pebble tec. When I brush, yellow clouds float up into the water. Right now, we're brushing 1-2 times / day and get at least some new stuff floating up each time. Back in the spring, I thought it might be pollen, but this late in the year, it can't be and I'm starting to see some on the walls in addition to the floor now. Right now I have my chlorinator set so it's putting in one "puck" / day. We've had the pool about a year and I've been in the habit of putting in about 3 oz of Polyquat algaecide each week just as part of the normal weekly maintenance. When the problem first appeared, my first try was to put in a heavier dose of this per label instructions. The problem didn't really get any better so when that bottle ran out, my next try was Banish from Bioguard and 4 lbs of shock. That seemed to slow the problem for a while, but then it came back so my next try was Yellow Treat (sodium bromide) with 1.5 lbs of shock. I've done three applications of that now (to use up the container I bought), and even a day after putting it in, the algae is still coming back. One store just shrugged their shoulders when I described the problem. The next one (the one that got the high CYA reading) suggested a partial water change to drop those levels down. I'm inclined to try that since it's about the only option I haven't tried. The water is heating up fast here in Houston and I'm afraid the problem will get much worse with the warmer water. Through all of this, the water is perfectly clear. I was feeling pretty cocky after the pool was put in last year because things seemed to be going so well.. now I'm feeling pretty clueless. Any ideas on what else I can try here?