Newbie with a swamp

[AnnaK]

Welcome to the Pool Forum!

You need to get some chlorine in your pool right away as well as CYA. You can accomplish this by using dichlor. If you have access to a Sams Club, buy their 24lb pack of 1# bags of 100% dichlor shock. Each bag will add about 7 ppm of chlorine, and about 6 ppm of stabilizer, per 10K gallons of water. Otherwise, order dichlor from Amazon:

Kem-Tek Dichlor 22 lbs

We do NOT recommend buying dichlor locally, otherwise, at least until you are an EXPERT reader of chemical labels. The chlorinating pool chemicals sold at Walmart, Kmart, Costco, and most other local stores are diluted blends, sometimes with copper and other products with bad side-effects.

Keep the filter running 24/7.

Your targets are 30-50 ppm CYA and 10 ppm free chlorine during the cleaning process. Buy some plain 6% household bleach, about 10 gallons per 10,000 gallons in your pool. You can switch to other products, later. But bleach will work, in almost any sort of pool mess, without complicating side-effects. Use the bleach after the dichlor has raised your CYA levels to the target. DO NOT pour the bleach in the skimmer as long as you have pucks in the inline chlorinator. Instead, pour it slowly in front of a return while the pump is running.

How are you testing your water?

It's much easier to answer your questions, when we know something about your pool. We often 'waste' the first few posts back and forth collecting information. So, please complete our new Pool Chart form -- it takes about 30 seconds, but will save much more than that.

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