Quote Originally Posted by GAPool View Post
then after shocking it with 2# shock 4 days ago, the FC is at 10 and the TC is at 4 and aren't moving down any each day. Also, my stabilizer is showing maxed out.
Not possible. TC (total chlorine) = FC (free chlorine) + CC (combined chlorine). All we've learned from your test results is that test strips are really 'guess-strips'. But, we already knew that, here.

Quote Originally Posted by GAPool View Post
Ok, I've backwashed really well and rinsed and wasted to lower the pool, then I added fresh water. I know it's not been long enough to get an accurate read, but I tested the water in the shallow end where I have the hose running in and it's still all very high. I added 1 1/2# PH down and I'm on the way to Home Depot to get a drop tester kit to see if it's more accurate than my strip test kit.
OTO (yellow drops) will be some what more reliable than 'guess-strips', but you'll still need a K-2006 (see test kit info page in my sig). Other than the HTH 6-way kit, available at some Walmarts (but not yours -- I checked), there are NO good test kits available locally. Pool stores have no interest in selling kits that essentially replace them!


Do this:

1. Test with OTO -- if you are medium yellow to dark yellow, you are fine. If you are orange, you are too high . . . but do NOT panic, and drain more.

2. Take your water to the pool store, and have them test your stabilizer. Strips can't test stabilizer worth a darn, but the readers the pool stores use are a bit more accurate then just 'eyeballing' it. They will probably tell you that you must drain, refill, and add $400,000 dollars worth of chemicals, or your whole backyard will explode! Just ignore them, and tell us what the results were.

3. Stop adding ANYTHING except bleach, borax and pH down. If your pH is ABOVE 7.8, add some pH down. If your pH is BELOW 7.2, add a box of borax - SLOWLY, to the skimmer, with the pump running. If your chlorine goes below dark yellow, add a gallon of bleach. You did NOT need any calcium hardness -- you NEVER need to add that to a liner pool. You almost certainly did not need any alkalinity+ . . . and you will most likely NOT need any of the other stuff they told you to put in. So, if you want your pool to be ready soon, STOP adding all that goop!

4. Read the "Best Guess" page, the testkit info page, and the using muriatic acid page that are linked in my signature.

5. You will need a K-2006 -- pool store testing is almost never reliable and is almost always just a tool to frighten you into buying more goop, most of which you don't need. Get a good kit, and stay AWAY from the store, unless you need parts!

6. Post your pool info: dimensions, pump/filter make/model, other equipment and so on. Your gallons are almost certainly incorrect: 90% of the time, figures supplied the homeowner are the "gallons if your pool is spilling over" figure, not the actual amount of water in your pool. You've probably been overdosing, based on an inflated figure.

Good luck!