New Pool

[ajb8898]

Thanks!

I was a little confused about the start-up. It mentions using dichlor. I haven't used that in the past. Should I be?

[Watermom]

You don't have to but it is an easy way to start up a freshly filled pool since it adds needed CYA as well as chlorine. Once you get your CYA level built up to where you want it, then you can just switch to using bleach. If you don't want to use dichlor, you can just add some CYA separately and just use bleach from the get go. Either way works.

[ajb8898]

Ah, ok. That makes sense now. What is a preferable target for CYA?

[Watermom]

Most people like around 50. Some places that are extremely hot and sunny seem to be better with it a little higher. But, I'd start with around 50ppm. If you find that you are having trouble maintaining adequate chlorine levels throughout the day, you can always bump it up later. Just remember to keep your chlorine in the proper range for whatever CYA level you have so you can avoid algae. (Take a look at the Best Guess Chlorine Chart in my signature below for the correlation between CYA levels and needed chlorine levels.)

[ajb8898]

OK I think I'm on the right track with all my numbers

FC 12
pH 7.4
TA 140

except CYA is still low...somewhere at 30 or below. The other that concerns me is Calcium Hardness is reading at 30 and the charts I see in my kit say I need it to be at 200. Is that what you recommend? What do I buy to increase it?

[Watermom]

Vinyl pools do not need calcium.

[ajb8898]

Perfect, thanks!