first time pool owner needs help, please.

[Watermom]

I'm sorry I didn't get back to you quicker. I have had a really busy day.

I hope you are drizzling in the bleach. Once your pump is full, go ahead and take a full set of readings and post them.

You'll want to add about 5 lbs. of stabilzer to your pool. That will take you to about 40ppm of CYA. Add it slowly to the skimmer so as not to clog the pipes. CYA dissolves slowly, so you'll want to make sure you run your pump 24/7 for at least the next 4 or 5 days while it is dissolving in your filter. Don't test for it for a week so you won't waste your reagents and don't backwash the filter after you add it or you'll just throw it out.

During the first week until the CYA registers, you'll have to test and add bleach 2 or 3 times per day and each time, add enough bleach to get back up to around 5. (In your pool, each quart of 6% bleach will add about 1ppm of cl.) It won't stick around long as it will be lost to the sun. After you get it to register, you'll be able to go to testing and dosing with bleach in the evenings only. Then, you'll want to maintain your chlorine between 3-6ppm all the time.

Once we see your set of readings, someone here can make other suggestions for tweaking chemistry levels. Hope this helps!

[sneal]

Thank you!! I wasn't sure how much stabalizer to add so yesterday I added 4.5lbs. I had also added tons of bleach already. I'll add the rest of the stabalizer today. Last night my chlorine levels were about zero so I added 1 gallon of liquid chlorine ( 10% ) and this morning they are about 6 or seven. Im just using a chepo tester kit from walmart now. My taylor kit should be here today. Is it ok to swim with the chorine that high? According to my walmart test strips my TA is also low. I assume I should just leave this be until I get my taylor kit for a more precise result? Thanks again. I appreciate your help so much.

[Watermom]

Your chlorine level won't stay at 6 or 7 for long. Until that CYA dissolves and starts to register on your test, the sun will deplete your chlorine pretty fast. Make sure for the first few days, you test and add some chlorine several times a day -- morning and evening. Once your CYA is in there, you'll be able to test and dose in the evenings only.

Wait on your kit to tweak TA. Go swim!!!

[sneal]

Thanks!! We've been in for a few hours today. Why on earth did I wait so long to get a pool?? LOL. The UPS man just dropped off my taylor 2006 kit... that thing looks a little intimidating. LOL. Is there a thread on here about that kit? Just to help me understand the process a little better? I'll test some things tonight after we are down swimming for the day and post here. Thanks again. SOOOO glad I found this site!!

[Watermom]

Why on earth did I wait so long to get a pool??

I think that is probably what most of us said when we first became pool owners!

Taylor Technologies has some online demos to show you how to do the various tests. You might want to check them out.

http://www.taylortechnologies.com/pr..._slideshow.asp