1st time pool owner

[BJohnston]

Hello,

I recently purchased a new home last fall that came with a pool. I have never owned or even helped any friends with their pools, so I'm pretty green when it comes to knowing how and what to do. I have been excited all winter for the weather to break so that I could begin using it. We opened the cover on June 1st, and began the process of getting everything in order. My pool is open, and seems to be ok right now, but I know I have lots to do still.

I have been reading as much as I can every day on pool info, and have visited my local pool supplier a couple of times for chemicals and water testing already. The previous owner left me an assortment of chemicals from last year, 6 bags of HTH "shock", a couple bottles of clarifiers, Alk+&- , Calcium, and a small amount of algecide. I used up all of the shock per my pool supply recommendations and started to follow their regiment. I already purchased PH-, and CYA from them too. My PH was around 8.6, now is close to 7.6. I don't remember my CYA readings, but my pool seems to be stable according to their initial and follow up testing. The water looks clear even after a few heavy rain storms. I am planning to order your recommended test kit tonight when I get home and begin doing things myself.

I stumbled upon this place a few days ago, and I'm very glad that I did so early into my learning and this pool season. I want to start following the BBB method.

My Stats:
In ground 14x28 pool. ~3ft shallow end, ~5ft deep end.
I'm at work right now, so I don't have the make or stats of my pump or filter (its a sand type, Hayward). My heater is a Laars Lite 2 LG 175

I can fill in the rest of the gaps when I get home. I'm excited to be a new member and look forward to learning a lot.

[Watermom]

Welcome to the Pool Forum! Glad you found us! Let us know if you need any help and we will try!

[CarlD]

Welcome! Easy first step is go to our sister site, Poolsolutions.com, and start reading! It is easy and fun! Then read the stickies here that seem similar to your pool.

[PoolDoc]

. . . membership upgraded.

[BJohnston]

I have been reading as much information as I can handle over the last 2-3 weeks, so i might be totally confusing this site with another one. I thought that when I first registered, there was a link to a form or document that I was able to import all of my stats, like pump and filter type, pool type and dimensions, etc. I'm not sure where this information went, but I guess it was attached to my profile somehow to help with questions and such? I wasn't able to complete this because I didn't have all of my information. I wanted to complete it now, but can't find it anywhere. Can someone give me a link? Thanks.

[PoolDoc]

I just updated the record. I haven't granted read-access to users, because the form currently contains user email addresses. I've mostly used it to create signatures, like yours. I'm going to be updating it, and there is some new capability to allow form users to edit there data. I'm not sure exactly what that makes possible, but it's on my to-do.

By the way, your gallon value is very, very unusual, in that it's LESS than what I calculated. I assumed nearly square corners, and an average water depth of 4' and came up with 11,700 gallons. If you have radius corners and a small-ish 5' area, then your figures may be correct, so I didn't change them, and your PF valve is based on your gallons, not mine. (PF = ppm increase from a 100% value addition: 1 pound of cyanuric acid will increase your CYA by 12 ppm; 1 lb of chlorine gas will increase your FC by 12. Dichlor, with 61% available chlorine will give you a 7 ppm increase (0.61 x 12) )