new construction

[Charlie_R]

Thank you, BigDave, for clarifying a few of my points. Yes POP is important, as I learned last year! As a new pool owner/maintainer that IS one of the more important aspects of pool care that needs to be learned/practiced.

Charlie

[kenny6269]

I want to thank you all for the help, it's been quite helpful. I added about a guess of 1 quart of muratic acid on Saturday. Here are my numbers as off today:
Free chlorine: 14ppm
Total ALK: 330 ppm
PH: 7.6

I added the rest of the gallon of muratic acid after running the test. We finally got in the pool over the weekend for the first time, it was a little cool but it smile on the wife and kid's face!

[kenny6269]

Just tested again:
Alk: 270 ppm
Ph: 7.4
FC: 10 ppm
No combined chlorine

I think I need to add a couple more gallons of muratic acid over the next few days. I also think I should add some stabilizer. Any thoughts?

[BigDave]

Woah! there. A gallon took your pool from 7.6 to 7.4 pH. Two gallons may move it farther than you want. Add a second gallon, let it mix, retest and see where you want to go from there. Maybe all of the third gallon, maybe part of it. I definitely wouldn't take the pH lower than somewhere between 6.8 and 7.0. Then it's time to aerate and wait for the pH to rise.