Quote Originally Posted by PoolDoc View Post
If you have access to a Sams Club, I'd buy 2 of their 24# boxes of bagged dichlor. Each 1lb bag will add about 2.5 ppm of chlorine, and 2 ppm of stabilizer (CYA). Once you've reached 60 ppm CYA (= ~30 bags of dichlor, on your pool), you'll want to switch to bleach. Dichlor ALSO lowers your pH, not immediately, but later. So, you'll need some of the borax on hand, to maintain your pH, but since your pH is starting a bit high, you may not need it aft first.
I have a Costco nearby. I still have 11 1 lb bags left from the last box I bought.

You can also use cal hypo, cautiously. It will add calcium which you will need at first.
Still have some of that.

However, you need to understand that with a pool in the desert, and with a DE filter, you are going to be constantly losing water to evaporation -- leaving all the minerals behind. And with a DE filter, you will NOT be losing water to backwashing. This means the replace water will ADD to the calcium present.
Not sure I'm following you here. True, I do have a lot of evaporation, but I also do a lot of backwashing because even though this is a desert climate, my immediate area has a lot of tree leaves and other crud flying into the pool on a regular basis. Ergo, a lot of backwashing/filter cleaning.

So, while you want to get your calcium up some now (maybe, 180) you don't want to hurry, and you don't want to go too far, since you'll also be adding MORE calcium every time you top off your water.
Got it.