Quote Originally Posted by lorettasweet
OK my new friends. I finally got to the pool store with my sample, here's the results that they printed for me. You guys let me know what I should do now.

Free Chlorine: .2PPM
Total Chlorine: .2PPM
Combined Chlorine: .0PPM
PH: 7.7
Hardness: 70 ppm
Alkalinity: 19 ppm
Cyanuric Acid: 5 ppm

We have a 27 foot round above ground pool. 52 or 54" deep I can't remember for sure.

These results were taken about a week after we poured 10 bags of shock in the pool and the filters been running since. The shock turned the soupy green water into cloudy bluish water and that's is where it is now. Haven't added any chemicals other than the shock.

Soooo, now what?
First step is to get a good test kit. If none of the pool stores carry one then order Ben's or go online and get a Taylor K-2006 (Ben's is a better deal for the money!) OR see if walmart has the $15 5 way drop kit (will get you started until the kit you ordered from Ben arrives but it will not test Free chlorine....only Total!) Cloudy blusih water sounds like water with mostly dead algae. IMHO, I would put bleach in the pool and get it back to shock level (with 5ppm CYA that would be 10PPM free chlorine), keep it there, , filter 24/7, and vacumn to waste until the water is clear (but I have been know to be a bit obsessive ), then let the free chlorine drop to 3 ppm and keep it there, get your CYA up to about 30 ppm, and then bring your ALK up to 80-120 ppm with baking soda. Keep your chlorine at 3 ppm throughout. When the Alk has stabilized at 80-120 get your pH to somewhere between 7.2-7.8 (lower end probably a bit better) by adding SMALL amounts of either acid (dry or muriatic) to lower it or Borax to raise it and waiting 24 hours (wait at least 4 or 5!) retesting and making small adjustments until the pH is in range. General consensus is that you don't have to worry about calcium with a vinyl pool! You are then good to go! (swimming that is)