Hey! Just got my new test kit...now what?

[DustinBrown]

That's a huge help Watermom!

Thank you. I'll see if my local pool store sells CYA tomorrow. I'm sure I'll be able to get some somewhere!

I'm about to go buy some Bleach. Just curioius...If my pool DID have a CYA of 50ish, how much bleach would you guesstimate I would need to add per week? I'm just trying to figure out how many gallons to buy.

I also have super blonde hair, so I'll take that info regarding the Trichlor tabs to heart!

[Watermom]

It's hard to say. I depends on the weather conditions, how much sun your pool gets, how big of a swimmer load you have, etc. I'd probably go ahead and buy 10 of the big jugs for now. You'll end up using it.

Most of us use generic Walmart bleach. By the way, not all bleach is the same concentration. Some places like dollar stores sell 3% bleach which is typically not a good buy. You may also find a pool store that sells liquid chlorine that is usually either 10 or 12.5% sodium hypochlorite which is the same ingredient as bleach. If it is at a good price, you can use that and it will save you from having to buy so many jugs of bleach since you have a pretty big pool.

You may be able to find CYA at Walmart. Just read the ingredients. You don't want a mystery mix.

[DustinBrown]

How about trichlor tablets with zinc sulfate monohydrate? Are those an improvement over the copper? I just noticed I had two different kinds. Thanks!

Walmart does have CYA by the way!

[DustinBrown]

Alright I added about 2.5 Gallons of generic Bleach and tested 20 minutes later. FC is now just under 6ppm (so I added a little more bleach) and after re-reading the instructions, my CC is 0.4ppm, not 0. I hope that doesn't change anything!

I had a box of 20 Mule Team Borax that conveniently had about 1/4 missing, so I poured the remainder in. I'll retest PH in the morning - not sure how long borax takes to have an impact.

Also, I purchased some CYA granuals at Walmart. According to their dosage instructions I needed to add 4lbs to raise my CYA to about 20ppm. Per your recommendation, I filled an old sock and tossed it into the skimmer basket. I bought an extra 4lbs in case I needed to raise it higher.

Now I'll wait 3 or 4 days to retest CYA, and I'll check the FC, CC, and PH in the morning...

I really appreciate the help!

Anything else I should do now that I have all of that heading in the right direction?

[Watermom]

A CC reading of 0.4 is ok but if it goes higher than 0.5, you'll want to shock the pool.

When adding Borax, generally a couple of hours is enough for it to get mixed in well. Testing it again in the a.m. will be fine.

I do not know what trichlor tabs with zinc sulfate monohydrate are. I'll run it past Ben. But, definitely don't use the ones with copper.

Sounds like you are doing fine.

[aylad]

I've already discussed the trichlor with zinc with Ben, and it's basically just a really expensive way to buy trichlor tabs--if you'll look at the prices, those tabs are about 1 1/2 times more expensive than the trichlor with copper in them. The zinc probably won't hurt anything, but we really can't be sure--and I'm not adding anything to my pool that I'm not sure of. You can buy a whole lot of bleach for what one bucket of those tabs cost....

Janet

[Watermom]

Thanks for that info, Jan. i don't add stuff to my pool that I'm not sure of either! All that goes into my pool is generic Walmart bleach, Borax, baking soda and CYA. Oh yeah, and ME!!

[DustinBrown]

That makes sense. I haven't opened that tub of tablets, so maybe I'll return them and buy a whole bunch of bleach.

Also, l checked my ph this morning. Apparently there was more than three quarters left in the box I added. It is now 7.8...Is that too high?