Brand New Pool Owner wants to start off on the right foot!

We are first time pool owners of 5 children, who are anxiously awaiting their first swim in the pool that was put in last Thursday. We bought a 27' above ground pool (16,500 gallons). We were told to not use it for 5 days to let the bottom settle to not get footprints in it, so once the five days were passed and the pool was filled, we took the first water sample to the pool store (who totally messed up our installation, so I am not very happy or trusting of them at this point, hence finding this forum). They told us our start up chemicals to get the pool up and running were included with the pool- which was totally not the case once we got there with our water sample and they wanted me to buy approximately $300 in pool chemicals!! They recommend Pristine Blue, which we have family and friends that use and are happy with and we also had planned to use.
Back to the water sample....
We filled the pool with well water.
Our first results from the pool store were:

16,500 gallons:
alkalinity (it doesn't say TA) parameters 50-90 measured 260
pH level parameters 7.2-7.6 measured 7.7
Calcium Hardness parameters 100-300 measured 117
Copper measured .01

They told me to add 5 gallons of muriatic acid to lower the alkalinity over 3 days- 2 gallons a day for 2 days and 1 gallon the last day, and no swimming. Then add 32 oz. of Pristine Check and backwash the filter after 24 hours. This was included in the start up package.

Then there is a schedule of every other week of chlorine and non-chlorine and Pristine Blue for the copper level. I am totally confused. When they gave me the prices of the Scorch, non-chlorine shock, Clear, Blue, and Clean to purchase to use for the every other week thing, that's what was what I felt was so expensive and in no way could we have "started up" our pool on the chemicals given to us.

So, I put in 2 gallons of muriatic acid yesterday (diluted with 4 gallons of water in a 5 gallon bucket as I had read on here- thank you!) We bought 2 more to do today. I am trying to relay and print off information for my husband, but we really do want to start our pool off right if we are not going to follow the Pristine Blue thing, and hello, the kids just want to freaking swim! :)

I have read several posts by CarlD and WaterMom regarding pool chemistry and have found the pool calculator. I guess my question is really, what do we do now? Thanks for your help!

Get a drops based test kit and post a full set of numbers so we can see what's what for sure... :)

Here's a link to a post I just put up, but you can find this kit in some stores also... (and of course, other places online)
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=9788

Thank you. I was worried about buying online and waiting the days for the shipping. Maybe I'll try to find one in a store somewhere that I can use today to at least get me through until one could be shipped here. I was planning to order the same one you did. Thanks!

I hear that Wally World has inexpensive 5 way drop kit that works and might be good to have as a backup also...

Ok, went to WalMart & got a drop kit. Here are my results (remember, this is a new pool & the only thing we have put in are 2 gallons of muriatic acid....nothing else.)

TA = 70. I checked it twice
pH = 6.8
TC = .05 (it was completely clear, no yellow tinge at all)
total hardness was negative - didn't turn red
CYA - I don't know if I did it wrong, but it never turned cloudy.

So do I need to add chlorine & raise the pH a little?

I wish I had seen this thread before you added all that acid! That was way too much. As I knew it would, it made your pH plummet. You are reporting 6.8 but that is as low as test kits will go so it is most likely much lower. Any reading below 7.0 is acidic and will damage your pool. It is CRITICAL that you get that pH up ASAP above 7.0. I hope you have some 20 Mule Team Borax. If not you need to go back to Wally World and get 3 or 4 boxes. (Look in the laundry aisle --- used to be a green box but they recently they changed it to white.) Start with adding one box slowly to the skimmer while the pump is running, breaking up any clumps. Let it circulate for a few hours, retest and redose until you get it to 7.4-7.6. (After the pH starts to move, add smaller additions instead of a full box at a time.)

Go ahead and buy some plain bleach at Walmart. In your pool, each quart will raise your cl by just about 1ppm. I'd probably add two of the 3-qt. jugs. That should take you to between 5-6. You'll most likely need to test and add bleach at least twice a day until you get some cya in there. Do you know about cya or do you need some direction in that regard as well?

Lesson learned ---- never add too much of anything at one time. Better to do gradual additions and sneak up on a target or risk overshooting the target like happened with your pH.

Another lesson --- Follow the guidance and direction from this forum rather than a pool store. Pool stores are in the business to make money and will gladly sell you something else to fix the problem caused by what they told you to do in the first place. (Anyone with pool knowledge would have known that that much acid was going to significantly affect your pH. I bet they didn't even mention that to you, did they?)

Remember, Borax ASAP. Come back here with more questions if you need to. Also, just go with bleach and forget the Pristine Blue.

By the way -- Welcome to the forum. Hope this helps.

EDIT -- funny thing is ---- they told you to add all that acid to lower your alk. Now, your alk is actually a little too low. Don't worry about that for right now. It isn't way off. Right now just worry about pH. After pH is in range, you can add a little baking soda to bring alk up to 80-120 range.

I totally agree! Scary to think I could have added 5 gallons before bringing my water back to test which is what the pool store told me to do!! After reading here, I thought I'd check it & was shocked to see how much it had lowered...and no, they didn't say anything about lowering the pH, but I figured it would from reading here. Just didn't know it would be so much! So, I'm heading back to the store for bleach (quarts, not gallons?) and Borax. I hope you don't mind me posting again this evening after I test again. I am so afraid of the chemical thing since we are so new at this!! It's truly overwhelming (and not as easy as the pool store implied!). Lol! Thanks!!

Get the best deal you can find on Bleach (make sure it's just plain old Bleach, not the "No Spill" or anything special). It's usually 6%, but you'll want to check so you know how much you're actually adding! If you get Chlorine from the pool store sometime it's 12%, so just check. Post as many times as you need to; that's what I do :)

Re: "Quarts not gallons?"

Most bleach these days is sold in 3-quart jugs. Walmart also sells a larger 1.42-gallon. size bottle. But, I don't think many places have actual gallon jugs of bleach. Please do post back this evening with some numbers. We'll be glad to guide you.

I just added the bleach. Will retest tomorrow as we are going home (we haven't moved in yet). They didn't have borax at WalMart so I'll try the one by our other house tonight. My father in law brought us some soda ash so we added that hoping to raise the pH at least some by tomorrow. Will report back in! :). Thank you so much for your help!