Quote Originally Posted by bluecamel View Post
New couple just moved in across the street. Previous owners told them to keep the chlorine high. Popular pool store has been perpetuating the problems that have now led us here. I am a convert, former newbie who has had no pool problems since I found this forum. This one is out of my league, so here goes. I am using a Taylor K-2006 testing kit.

Vinyl pool (not positive but I think 18,000 gal)
ph: so low I couldn't measure it (30 drops of base demand made no dent)
alkalinity: Test was red from the beginning (I think because of the cya????)
cya: dot disappeared well before the 100 mark on my tester (high)
chlorine: 1.0
Located in Alabama, so water is cool but not freezing yet

My husband and I had a similar cya when we bought our house/pool and had to drain portions of the water in 3 cycles to lower our cya and calcium. I am leaning towards recommending the same, but I need help with the alkalinity/ph issues since I don't know what that alkalinity result means. I would also like to know your thoughts about the cya and whether to recommend that they consider draining some of the current pool water. My neighbors are going to join the forum as well and will be reading along. Thanks in advance. Man the pool stores stink.
(The pool stores stink because of all the chems they store there )
Seriously, I have seen the exact same thing on so many pools, it's not funny (unless you don't like the pool owner - in which case, it's a reason to raise a toast ) From my experience with many pools with the same problem, they have used a tri-chlor feeder and not bothered to test (even weekly ) their pH and alk, this results in a very high cya and a very! low pH. When I see it, it's because the owners have dissolved the heat exchanger in their heater (acid likes to disolve metals, like copper), and we have to do a $1200 replacement. I also have seen the 'warning signs - the nut on the DE grids will be 'brick red' or 'teal green' when we clean the filter. If your friends have a heater, tell them to start saving up for a heat exchanger.
As you may know from reading this site, trichlor pucks have a pH of ~ 2.5 and will raise the cya, if left unchecked you have a recipe for algae and rotting metal. At the very least, your friends should test their water once a week, AND adjust whatever isn't right (I've seen pool owners who say that they 'DO test every week'(but don't doanything about the levels being off, "we were only told to test every week" ) In addition to this, their liner has most probably been weakened by it's acid bath.
My best advice for them is to come here and learn how to properly care for their investment, and do it in a less expensive way. Pools are expensive to install, but the upkeep can be fairly cheep when one uses the advice and methods from www.poolsolutions.com and here