spring startup

[PoolDoc]

Hi Gerald;

I'm assuming you're opening your pool??

1. Add chlorine first: just use bleach at the rate of 1 gallon of plain 6% bleach per 10,000 gallons of water, as soon as you get your pump running.

2. If you don't have one, get a cheap OTO / phenol red test kit, like this one:
If you like, you can click the picture and order that kit from Amazon, for about $14 . . . or you can go to Walmart and look for something similar. The Taylor kit is a little better than what you'll find at Wally-world.

While you're figuring out what to do next, use bleach and the OTO to maintain chlorine levels at 3 - 5 ppm, by testing and dosing each evening.

3. Tell us what SORT of pool you have -- in ground, above ground; vinyl, concrete, fiberglass; gallons; heater?; SWCG (Salt Water Chlorine Generator). To know what you need to do next, we need to know what sort of pool you have. For example, if you have a concrete pool or a heater, you have to manage your calcium hardness level . . . but with other pools it doesn't matter much.

4. Unless you have a very small pool, or just filled it up, you'll need an accurate test for stabilizer, and 'guess-strips' don't count! You can use the link in my signature to order a K2006 kit from Amazon (or you can search online -- you're not likely to find one locally!) OR you can wait a bit, till you've opened the pool, tested with the OTO/phenol red kit, and let us know what sort of pool you've got.

Good luck!