New pool

[Archer]

Well we have had water in pool since last Monday. I started adding chlorine about Wednesday in those floating things. I don't have a good test kit yet but am about to order one. What chemicals do I need to get it going for the few weeks of sun we have left???

[aylad]

In order to determine what chems you need, we need to know your Cl, pH, alk, and calcium levels (calcium is really irrelevant in a vinyl pool, but it wouldn't hurt to know your baseline). If you can, take a sample to the pool store and have them test it, but don't buy all the stuff they're going to try to sell you, unless it's a drop-based test kit. Or, check your local WalMart and see if they still have the 6-way hth drop kit that sells for around $18. Run a set of tests and post your numbers here. Don't bother with the CYA test yet, because if you haven't added any, there's none there and you only get enough reagent to test it a couple of times.

You also need to pick up some CYA (also labeled balancer, conditioner, stabilizer, but the active ingredient is going to be cyanuric or isocyanuric acid) and follow the label directions to target approx. 20 ppm. Don't broadcast it into the pool per the directions, rather put it into the skimmer and let it dissolve in the filter, or put it in an old tube sock and hang it in front of one of the returns to dissolve. 4-5 days after it's dissolved, THEN test for CYA.

I would go ahead and pick up some bleach while you're there--the tabs in the floater will probably be okay for a few days, but you're soon going to need to bump the chlorine up a little higher....

Janet