Water looks great but everything is off

[Lexifa]

Filled a 1200 gallon pool 4 days ago. HTH test showed FC 0/0 PH 8.4 TA 240. Shocked it 2 days ago and put a Chlorinator floater in it 5 hours later. Yesterday it showed the same results and I put 4oc HTH PH minus in it. Today it still showes the same results. I dont know what to do, water looks still super clear and nice.

[Watermom]

Hi and welcome to the Pool Forum! We have a section of the forum all about caring for smaller Intex type pools. In that section, there is a stickied thread giving a 'recipe' for starting up a new pool. Take a look at that thread and see if that will help you get going. If you have further questions, please feel free to come back and ask. (Until your registration is completed, you'll have to log out first to be able to read the rest of the forum.)

[CarlD]

Are you using tri-chlor tablets in your floater?
What did you shock it with?
I'm wondering about your test kit. Is it the 6-way HTH kit from WalMart or something else?
Have you tested your fill water with the same test kit, too? You know, to get a baseline.
Tri-chlor tabs are heavily acidic and should drop pH in a 1200 gallon pool rapidly. If not, something else it going on.
Also, don't worry about your T/A at this point. When you get your pH down in the mid 7's T/A will drop as well, and anything under 200 in a vinyl pool is probably OK, and under 180 is definitely OK.
Since it's only 1200 gallons, can you consider emptying and refilling your pool?

[Lexifa]

Hey Carl, thanks for your fast answer! I use the 3.-in 1. chlorinating skimmer tablets in the floater, I shocked it on Monday with Super shock n'swimm and my test is the 4-way strips from Walmart everything is from HTH. I did not tested our fill water but I know we have very good water quality! What is a baseline??? I go in the pool every day with my 4 years old and the water is really really clear. Maybe we just have a miracle pool LOL

[BigDave]

... 3.-in 1. chlorinating skimmer tablets ...

Hmmm - what's the 3? I'll take a cold guess and say copper, chlorine and stabilizer. Let me know if I'm wrong (or right). We don't recommend Copper in pools for a number of reasons - some are less of a problem in small pools that can be readily drained and refilled. Copper can stain pools, fingernails, and blond / colored hair green. It can also lead to an unsanitary pool that looks clean. Copper is much better at suppressing algae than killing bacteria.

If you have a filter, check out the stickies in the Pool Chemistry for Intex-type Pools forum. If not, take a look at Kiddie Pool Care - Guide to Kiddie Swimming Pool Care.