First pool ever... Need help!

[LJCRAIN]

Ok, so me and my husband just bought our first home and it has a 40,000 gallon inground pool. Ever since we moved in the pH has been high. I have used pH minus and i can get it to 7.8 but thats it. I am super new to this and have heard horrible stories about getting the pool store guys involved and them getting you to spend 1,000s on stuff you dont need, HELP!

Also how often should you shock your pool?

[Watermom]

Do you have a test kit? Can you post some current numbers taken with a drops-based kit. (No test strips.) Please fill in your pool's information in our pool chart to make it easier for us to help you.

Pool Chart Entry Form
Pool Chart Results

Regarding shocking a pool --- you shock it only when you need to, not weekly like many pool stores lead you to believe. You need to shock a pool whenever you get a CC reading over 0.5 or whenever your water is cloudy.

Welcome to the Pool Forum!

[aylad]

In addition to what Watermom said regarding when to shock your pool, a dead give-away is chlorine loss overnight. But you have to have a reliable accurate way to measure chlorine in order to use this tool. So...I second the advice to get the good kit!! It may seem a little expensive right now, but believe me when I say it will save you hundreds of dollars and lots of headaches, just in your first season alone.

Congratulations on the new house and pool!

Janet

[PoolDoc]

Hi LJ;

You included your address in your registration, so I looked at your pool on Google maps -- it's NOT 40,000 gallons. I'd guess 30,000 or less. But, if you'll enter the measurements into the pool chart, I'll calculate the volume