Need help getting my pool right for birthday party this saturday

[Watermom]

You need to be able to test your own water. Order a Taylor K2006 or 2006C (better buy). Not available locally but you can get it through this link:> http://pool9.net/tk/

In the meantime, go to Walmart and see if they have the HTH 6-Way drops-based kit (no test strips!) and get that. If they don't, get an OTO/Phenol Red kit (yellow and red drops) instead. Use it to test and then post your numbers. Also while you are at WallyWorld, get several jugs of their generic 8.25% bleach and a gallon of distilled water. Test your numbers and see where they are today. You may need this chart to help you with the off the scale colors:> http://pool9.net/oto-chart/

Your chlorine levels are based on your CYA level. Having a CC reading of 2.0 is not good. Assuming that you do have around 50ppm for CYA, you need to shock your pool up to about 15ppm. More about the CYA/Chlorine connection here:> http://pool9.net/cl-cya/

I'd just use bleach instead of cal-hypo. In your pool, (I think more like 5000 gallons), each quart of 8.25% bleach will add about 4ppm or chlorine and each cup will add about 1ppm. You can use that as a reference for figuring out how much bleach to add.

How does your water look?

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[walnut777]

thanks for the reply. I have the walmart 6 way test kit. i only know how to check chlorine/bromine and ph. Im still trying to learn all this.
ive been busy all week and havent had time to learn this stuff like i need to. if i only hadnt added that water and just left it a few inches low. thats what started it all id be okay for the party and then i could have went through all of this after the party. oh well, whats done is done. now im having to get everything ready for the party and fight this pool at the same time.
when i get a few minutes im gonna read those links you sent me. in the meantime im gonna figure out how to use my 6 way test kit and get those number posted. the numbers i posted earlier from the pool store are what todays levels were about 3 hours ago.
thanks so much for you time

[Watermom]

Did you add what they recommended or not?

Don't worry about the CH test. Your pool is soft-sided and doesn't need calcium. Calcium is only a problem in your pool if it is high, so don't even bother testing it anymore unless you use cal-hypo. Your total alk is a little high but not an issue. Don't worry about that this weekend either.

Just do chlorine, pH and CYA. The CYA test is the most subjective. I'm going to give you a link that shows how to use the K2006 kit but the CYA testing in this demo video works the same way as in your kit. So, go ahead and watch it and then test your CYA. (Have the sun behind your back when you do it. You want to not be able to see the black dot in the test at all. At that point is when you record the reading.) http://pool9.net/K2006-vid/

After you do the chlorine, pH and CYA, post your numbers. (We don't really trust pool store testing.)

[walnut777]

i only added the 1 pound of ph minus.
i keep thinking my test kit is a 6 way and its not. it has 6 chemicals but is a 5 kokido 5 way test kit. it test chlorine/bromine/ ph/ acid demand and total alkalinity.

i tested chlorine/bromine, ph and total alkalinity
heres what it says to do and results i got.
fill chlorine bromine cell, add 5 drops OTO-50, match color and ecord as ppm
Results: chlorine 5ppm bromine 10 ppm

ph
fill ph cell to mark, add 5 drops of ph-red, invert and mix, match color and record as ppm
results, ph 7.5 ppm

total alkalinity
fill tube to 25mL add 2 drops of alk-10, add 5 drops of alk-20 water should turn green, then add alk-30 dropwise after each drop count and swirl to mix, until color changes to red. multiply drops of alk-30 by 10 and record as ppm
it took 17 drops of alk-30 x 10 would be 170 ppm total alkalinity. so i guess my kit doesnt do cya?
or is tha the acid test?

[Watermom]

No, the acid test is not the same as the CYA test. You'll have to get a different kit to do that.

You can ignore the bromine column. You have a chlorine pool, not a bromine pool.

A pH at 7.5 is great.

On the chlorine, a reading of 5ppm on an OTO kit means 5 or higher. Use this chart to determine if your color matches 5 or how high.
http://pool9.net/oto-chart/

Then, report back on the chlorine reading. How does the water look?

[walnut777]

according to that picture id say it looks like a 9ppm maybe 13 ppm. water is still cloudy. i suppose from.dead algae. i was using that little cheap vacuum with the bag to scrub and vacuum the liner. the bag came off and i can't see it.

[Watermom]

If you see this post before you go to bed, test again, and add enough bleach to get it back up to dark yellow. Then let your pump run tonight. Check it again early in the morning.