Re: how can I adjust the water balance?
Your pool store is also testing with strips and probaboly using a strip reader (TH instead of CH is the giveaway since strips cannot test calcium hardness and total hardness is useless measurement)
If you want to get your water in balance you need good test numbers so get yourself a good test kit. The one we recommend because it is the best value for the money AND easy to use is a Taylor K-2006
IF the Walmart in your area carries the HTH 6 way test kit then you can pick that up and get started right away but you should stilll invest in the K-2006.
The main thing you have to do irght now is get some chlorine in there to keep it from turning green. I would also say that you need to bring up the stabilizer (CYA) BUT strip testing of stabilizer is really bad so I do not trust your results of 9 ppm so we will just worry about chlorine until you can get better test results. (although 1.5 lbs of stabilizer should raise you up to aboug 12 ppm so it is probably in the ballpark. If that is the sum and total of the CYA added go ahead and add another 3 lbs. This should get you to about 40 ppm, a good starting place. Pour it SLOWLY into the skimmer with the pump running, run the pump continously for the next 24 to 48 hours, do NOT clean your filter for a week and do not bother to test the CYA for a week)
In your pool every gallon of 6% laundry bleach (plain, unscented, unthickend, etc) will raise your FC by aout 4.5 ppm so get a gallon of bleach in there right away. Test your FC level (your strips are ok for this for now but get a better test kit ASAP since the only test that strips really give you any info about is whether you have chlorine or not) and keep the FC above 3 ppm at all times! Until you get some CYA in there it means that you might need to add chlorine more than once a day.
Once you get a test kit post a full set of test results and if you have any problems with the testing please post your qustions, we exist to help people like you!
Retired pool store and commercial pool maintenance guy.
Bookmarks