New pool owner, trying to get my chemicals balanced

[mitchryan912]

Thanks! Just ordered the K2006 through your Amazon store/link. I won't get it in time to measure for this weekend's pool parties, but the store I'm using is willing to perform 5 free tests, so I used the last one today. Thankfully they said that my levels went from (and to) this over the past few days:

0 to 15ppm stabilizer (I added 5 lbs of CYA)
0.5 to 5ppm TC (I added 2.5 gallons of 12.5% hypochlorite)
7.6 to 7.2 pH (I added 2 quarts of muriatic acid, 31.25%)
100 to 110 TA (I added 4 lbs of baking soda after I *thought* that I added 1 quart too many of acid)
160 to 160 CH (didn't touch this)

Trust the cheapo OTO/phenol red drops kit. Ditch the AquaCheck strips.

Yeah, those strips were showing my pH at 6.8, but I think they could be handy for stabilizer and/or TA until I use them up.

=> *ORDER* the K2006; we've still never heard of a pool store carrying these. (Why would they stock a kit that will tend to put them out of business.)

So it turns out that the store I've been going to DOES indeed carry the K2006. They're all behind the counter, so I never noticed them until today. However, I called them yesterday afternoon and asked for it (specifically), but they asked if I had a commercial pool or not. When I said no, they suggested another kit instead. They totally missed out on a sale of ANYTHING because of that! Granted I saved $20 by buying it from/through you guys, but the impatient side of me would have thought it was worthwhile to get it and not have to wait for the K-2006 to ship here.

EDIT: Either way, it's good to know they have the kits AND all the replacement vials, should I run out or need to replace some of the test chemicals next year (I assume some chemicals in the Taylor kit are only good for one season?)

=> Any pool store that tells you to add calcium to a vinyl pool is not to be trusted: they are selling you chemicals that are worse than useless in your pool, since they have NO benefit, but can cause problems.

I mentioned that today when they said I have a vinyl lined pool, but they said that my 160 ppm CH was fine, but they I don't want it to drop too low (it was 120 ppm when the pool opened, so I'm not sure it's going to get too low?)

=> If your pH is between 7 and 8 --AND-- your chlorine is greater than 1.0 OR 10% of the CYA level, whichever is higher --AND-- you haven't added any funky chemicals like foamy algaecides, mustard algae treatments or non-chlorine shock . . . it should be fine.

My father-in-law added algaecide when we opened the pool, but I think it was some standard, good quality stuff. Nothing funky. IIRC, it was a blue liquid that he walked around the whole pool.

=> Wait time after adding chemicals is often 5 minutes, but it depends on your pool, where you added them, what you added, and how the pool circulates. If you want a safe number that's pretty much arbitrary, but almost certain to be safe, then go with "1 hour after chemical additions WITH THE PUMP ON and CIRCULATING".

That sounds good. That sounds reasonable, or at least much more reasonable than "I added [insert chemical here] today, so you can't swim," which is what we used to hear when we wanted to swim here when my in-laws owned this house (before we bought it last year.)