Ok people - I'm on my own - HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dr. Spike]

Gracy101,

Don't panic! There are many knowledgeable people here that will help! (I'm not one of them, I am a newbie myself).

Also don't feel bad about being 'pool stored'. Many people have been. I am one of them, now a have a bunch of 'junk' that I will never use.

You are in good hands here. No need for panic.

[Gracy101]

Geez you'd think I was handling explosives out there!

What amazes me most is I've spent over a week poring/analyzing/copying stickys off this forum and taking notes like crazy and in the span of 6 hours I went mental when faced with actually doing it the first time.

Anyway - I added bleach, borax, baking soda and stabilizer - kept running back and forth searching the forum for HOW TOs on adding the different things...you gotta love you guys, all the answers are right there.

I'm feeling a bit better now that there is something in the water...Will wake up bright and early to test and see what happened. For now it's after one and I'm emotionally drained!

Mom, Tundra, bparks and DrSpike - a HUUUUUGE thank you to all of you for the support.

Carl - a special thank you for talking me down.

Good night.

[bradjo]

Grace;

Before dumping anything into that pool make sure you are following the builders instructions!

If you are not the owner/builder get a print out of the start up instructions from your builder and follow them to the letter! If you don't follow your builder's directions and that plaster delaminates you could have voided your warranty!

If you are an owner/builder and you hired a pool guy for start up get his instructions for what you should do next during transition to normal chemistry levels.

Essentially if you began an acid start and you raise the pH to soon you could create problems for yourself. Don't panic 6.2 isn't a panic level I was lower than that initially. Just do not run pumps or equipment while the pH is that low just brush your plaster 2 to 3 times a day. As the plaster dust comes off the plaster within a few days your pH will rise on it's own.

Anyway here's' the best start-up instructions I could find.

http://www.npconline.net/start%20up.pdf

I've been following them and my pool is looking perfect!
hth,
Jo

[Gracy101]

JO - thanks for the heads up. However, my pool was started up by my builder on June 8 and they have been maintaining it until yesterday when they "turned it over to me." The pool guy had consistent trouble running a high ph but supposedly had it balanced by yesterday.

In taking care of some punch list items before "pool school," he utilized 2 jugs of muriatic acid to clean some stains from the plaster in various areas. Then he left and those were the numbers I was left to deal with.

[bradjo]

Hi Grace;
I was just concerned that you might neutralize to early. I'm glad you are ok.
Jo

[tundraSQ]

So what are your numbers tonight?

[Gracy101]

Tundra thanks for asking. My numbers as of 8 p.m. tonight are as follows:

FC 3.0
TC 3.0
Ph 7.2
Alk 120
Calc 350
CYA 50

this morning when I woke up I ran the numbers and came up with a higher chlorine and a zero CYA. I was confused after having added stabilizer per CarlDs instructions the night before. In researching on the forum I found a post from the 12th of June referring to a problem with the CH test and my Walmart kit specifically. Waterbear suggested a way around it and when I followed those instructions tonight, lo and behold I got a Calc reading of 350.

I think I'm ok, right?

[CarlD]

If your water is clear, you look pretty good. But with a CYA of 50, I suggest you maintain FC at the high end of the 3-6 ppm scale. If the CYA range is 30-50 and the FC matching range is 3-6, you probably want to match your CYA to the same side of the range.

But otherwise your numbers look good.

[tundraSQ]

I'm concerned that you say you had zero CYA this morning...yest 50 tonight?

[Gracy101]

I was concerned too. But in researching what could possibly be causing that result (ie tester error ) I came across a post from 6/12 on another part of the forum which was relevant. It seems the particular kit I'm using from Walmart, seems to have a problem with the hardness test. Waterbear posted an alternative way to conduct the test using the kit, sorry I'm not too well versed to explain the why of it. When I conducted that part of it following those instructions it came up 50.

I printed out those instructions so that I could conduct it again this morning to compare. I'm sure that it is a more realistic result, consistent with previous numbers.