Newbie here, have a few questions for preparing for my first pool party.

Hello,

First I'd like to give a quick overview of my pool. This is the first pool I've ever had to take care of as I moved into a new house a few weeks ago. It's a vinyl in ground pool that holds roughly 20,000 gallons (I had to use a tape measure and some geometry to estimate since the landlord didn't know) with a sand filter and automatic chlorinator currently using tri-chlor tabs.

When we got the pool, the water was almost black and had roughly 100 pound of wet leaves on the bottom that we raked out. Desperate to get the pool in order I went to a pool supply store and bought basically whatever they told me. I shocked with 10 pounds of granular chlorine and 4 pounds of Green to Clean (whatever that is) over 4 days. After the water cleared up I took sample to back to the store and bought soda ash, sodium bicarbonate, some stuff to raise the calcium hardness, and a bottle of algaecide. I now know that the calcium and algaecides were probably a waste of money but they pool is clean and clear now and I'm ready to have my first big BBQ and pool party this weekend.

My questions are, what do I need to do to prepare for the pool party? Should I shock the pool, which the pool dealer recommended I do every week? Now that I've started to heat the pool, will this affect the water's clarity/cleanliness?

The last water sample I brought came up as TAC=3, FC=3, CYA=30ppm, TA= 80ppm, and pH=7.4.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Abram

membership upgraded . . .

With regard to your pool -- assuming that the pool store test values are correct:

1. Don't add any more calcium; it's unneeded in a vinyl liner pool.
2. Don't use the soda ash -- your pH is already high enough.
3. Don't use any more Green to Clean.
4. Do get a cheap local OTO (yellow / red drops) test kit for your pool, NOW.
5. Do order a Taylor K2006 testkit from Amazon (link in my blue signature block below).
6. Do purchase 12+ gallons of PLAIN 8.25% Walmart or other store brand bleach.
7. Do add 2 gallons of PLAIN bleach ASAP, but in the evening.
8. Every subsequent evening, test with OTO. If your chlorine level is clear (0.0) to light yellow, add 2 more gallons. Medium yellow (darkest shown) add 1 gallon. If the chlorine is DARK yellow to ORANGE (neither color on test block), skip the dose.
9. Report your K2006 readings once you have them. If you find your CYA level is significantly different than what the pool store reported, IMMEDIATELY read the Best Guess page (blue block below) and adjust your chlorine level according to that page.

Good luck!