Re: Hey! Just got my new test kit...now what?
Do NOT use those trichlor tabs! They have copper in them. You do NOT want copper in your water. Contrary to popular belief, it is not chlorine that causes blonde hair to turn green and stains pool surfaces green, it is copper! How many of the pucks do you think you have used?
I am also leery of your cal-hypo. 48% other ingredients? What does that mean? We don't like voodoo mystery mixes where you do not know what you are adding to your water.
If it were my pool, I would just use bleach for the source of chlorine. (It is what most of us use. Plain, unscented, 6% household bleach -- generic is fine.)
Since you don't know for sure what your CYA reading is, only that it is less than 30, we'll have to assume for now that it could be almost 30. I'm going to recommend that you buy some CYA and just add some directly instead of using stabilized chlorine. For now, add a dose that should give you an additional 20ppm. A week after adding it (no sooner), run the CYA test again and post your result. Then, we can decide if we need to tweak the level any. One way to add CYA is to pour it slowly into your skimmer and let it dissolve in your filter with no backwashing for a week to make sure it all gets dissolved. Also run your pump 24/7 for 4 or 5 days while it is dissolving. Another way to add it is to put it in an old sock and hang it in front of a return jet. If you give the sock a squeeze every now and then, it will help it dissolve faster. You'll want to move the sock out of the way if you add other chemicals through the skimmer, though. Either method for adding it is fine. Your choice. I would suggest a dose of about 4 lbs. When you buy it, it may be labeled as stabilizer or conditioner. Check the label ingredients. If it says cyanuric acid or isocyanuric acid, that is the right stuff.
You also need to get some chlorine in there before your water turns green! For the next week, until your CYA gets in there, you'll need to test chlorine morning and evening and each time, add enough bleach to get your chlorine up to about 6ppm. After the CYA starts registering, you'll be able to go to testing and dosing with bleach in the evenings only. In your pool, each gallon (4 quarts) of 6% bleach will add approximately 2.5ppm of chlorine. Use that as a reference to help you figure out doses you should add. You can either pour the bleach slowly into the skimmer while the pump is running or slowly in front of a return jet.
Go ahead and add a third of a box of Borax slowly to the skimmer, breaking up any clumps. Retest pH after a couple of hours and then redose with more Borax if needed. it is ok to add the bleach and borax one right after the other with no problems. Your alk is not bad, but if you want, you can add a couple of pounds of baking soda (in the same way as the borax) to bump it up to 80-120, but this is not critical. You're probably just fine where it is for now. If you find that your pH isn't very stable after you raise it some, you can always adjust the alk then.
Hope this helps. Let us know if you have further questions.
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