Pool is gross but not ready to open it yet...

[PoolDoc]

OK.

On the DPD chlorine test . . . if you don't get pink with 1 dropper full, you won't get pink at all: you have no free chlorine. The ONLY time you might need 2 droppers full would be if you had extremely high chlorine (>30 ppm) and it initially turned pink, but then bleached out.

HOWEVER, if you have zero with the powder alone, it's still possible you'll have a reading once you add KI (DPD reagent #3 -- potassium iodide) since adding the iodide will expose any chloramines present (or any non-chlorine shock, or some other stuff -- unlike the DPD #1, it's not a super-specific test.)

Otherwise, it sounds like you're gotten reasonable results. Go ahead and buy a gallon of muriatic acid, to lower the pH, and if you can get a 50# bucket of dichlor at Sams, they usually have a super deal on it, around $2/lb, which is less than wholesale. But, I don't think they have it in stock in this area, yet.

Alternatively, you can buy bleach which, at $2/gallon for 6% is about the same price comparing actual chlorine content. Once the dichlor comes in, you can switch to that. But go ahead and lower the pH a little now. Use only a pint of muriatic at a time. Do NOT measure it -- eyeballs are good enough. But DO read this page:
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthr...Your-Pool-s-pH
so you do it safely. Muriatic acid is cheaper and better for your pool, but you do need learn to handle it safely.

[PoolDoc]

Watermom, you posted while I was writing! ;-)

[mikemilr]

Thanks for the great info.

Vinyl pool, inground pool. Roughly 25,000 gallons.

[mikemilr]

So here's an update on my pool.... cleaned out the debris in pool and replaced filters...that helped a lot.

Ran tests this morning and here's what I got:
SWG, 25K gallons

Chlorine:
FC: 5ppm
CC: .5 ppm
pH: around 7.0-7.1
CYA: 35ppm
TA: 40ppm

Guess I need to get CYA up higher for CWG pool.

Can't really find buckets of dichlor here... I can find tri-chlor and calcium hypo
I can find dichlor at $3/lbs in 5lb box

So, any advice?

[PoolDoc]

I'd rather use my Best Guess Chart, here;
http://www.poolsolutions.com/gd/best...ine-chart.html
not just because it's mine rather than TFP's, but because I don't like the 'fake' precision implied by the TFP version.

Even with the K2006, you cannot reliable distinguish 70 ppm CYA from 100 ppm!

As far as getting your CYA up, don't do it till
(1) your water temp is 70 or more &
(2) you have fully cleaned up your pool.

The reason the SWCG makers want higher CYA levels is they their units are too small to maintain chlorine levels at lower CYA levels -- which is a bit sneaky. However, I do NOT recommend using your SWCG to clean up your pool -- do that with bleach or what have you. Use your SWCG *only* for day-to-day clear water operation.

Since you can access to trichlor inexpensively, get a couple of floaters, and use trichlor. That will raise your CYA, by the time you open!

You can put trichlor tabs in the skimmer, but if you do so, you MUST leave your pump on 24/7 -- otherwise, the chlorine solution in the skimmer will get too concentrated, and can damage a variety of things.

BTW, if you have a friend who has a Sams or Costco membership, you should be able to get BOTH trichlor and dichlor there very inexpensively in their "PoolBrand" brand. And, it's plain dichlor or trichlor, with none of the goop the other companies are adding these days!

Oh, and buy some borax -- several boxes -- and use it to raise your pH a bit. With both dichlor and trichlor, your pH is going to tend to drop. With your pool, you can dump a box -- not too fast! -- into the skimmer, with the pump running. This will not only raise your pH, but will (over time) build up a borate levels that is algistatic.