Pool just opened, awaiting on testing kit, questions on what to do now

[PoolDoc]

Hi Vlad;

Wow, that feels weird for me -- I hope you'll forgive me, but I'm spending 1 - 2 hours each morning dealing with forum spammers, and the ones who aren't from Rats Mouth, Florida (Boca Raton) are often from places where people have names like Vlad. So to deal with an actual legitimate Forum user named, "Vlad" feels really strange!

Anyhow, it really doesn't sound like your pool guys did anything wrong at all. Actually it sounds like they are a cut above most. Keep in mind, that even though Biolab -- as a company -- markets deceptive and useless products, their dealer network includes guys who signed up because they want to "sell the best", which is how BioLab has positioned themselves. And, it's entirely possible to do a good job with pools using 100% Biolab products -- you just have to stay away from their goop, which BioLab corporate pushes.

Ok, moving on.

The best way to tell if your CYA got 'eaten' is to do two things:
1. find out from the company what the CYA level was last fall -- presumably, the previous owner was taking samples to them?
2. test the water (or have them test it) for both FC (free chlorine) and CC (combined chlorine).

If your CYA got eaten in a bad way, and went to ammonia or urea, adding chlorine will result in low FC levels, but high CC levels*.

Regardless, it sounds like your are well on your way to an easy pool season. A good kit will help -- just follow the Amazon links in my signature, to order a Taylor K2006 or 2006C. My understanding is that those prices are about as low as anyone is seeing.

Ben

* After thought -- if the product is ammonia, a chlorine dose will rapidly proceed through the classic breakpoint chlorination "hump and dip" curve, so you'll briefly have FC, then CC, then nothing as the chloramines are oxidized to gas. You can always add a big (15 gallons of household bleach) dose in the late PM -- if you have little or no FC or CC in the early AM, you likely do have a bunch of ammonia to cleanup. In this case, things will go more nicely if you use borax to gradually push the pH to near 7.8.