Quote Originally Posted by Foxeau View Post
All the urgency to get this right as soon as possible is because we have grandkids coming over, other guests this weekend, and the pool guy still hasn't shown up and so we need to start taking care of our pool ourselves now!
Going to the immediate issue, urgent care for a 20K gallon pool:

1. Purchase a cheap local OTO / phenol red test kit (yellow / red drops) at Walmart

2. Purchase 16+ gallons of 8.25% household bleach and 4 boxes of 20 Mule Team borax at Walmart

3. Purchase 1 gallon of 31% muriatic acid at Home Depot, Lowes, etc.

4. Assuming your pool is algae free, add 2 gallons of bleach this evening.

5. Retest the following evening. If you have OTO DARK yellow, skip the dose; medium yellow => add 1 gallon; clear to light yellow => add 2 gallons.

6. Each evening before adding bleach, test the pH. If the pH is below 7.2, add one box of borax, slowly to the skimmer while the pump is running. If the pH is above 7.8, add 1/4 gallon (approx) of muriatic acid directly to the pool. READ the muriatic acid safe-handling page (linked in my signature block) BEFORE using the acid.

7. Continue in this fashion, till you have a K2006 test kit and results, and have ANOTHER maintenance plan ready to go.

8. Order the K2006 from Amazon; we've never seen them sold locally. Link in my signature block.