New Pool, Went to the pool store! Help

[GraceByDesign]

You will need to get your TA up because it will help to stabilize your pH (which is good now, but will probably rise as you add the baking soda.)

Otherwise, hop in and enjoy!

[GA Mark]

Is it Ok to go ahead and add the baking soda or should I wait a day or two?

[Watermom]

It is OK to go ahead and add the baking soda. Also, keep an eye on your chlorine level. Until your cya dissolves in a week or so, you'll find that you'll probably need to test the chlorine level morning and evening and each time, add enough bleach to raise your chlorine level back up to 5. After the cya has enough time to dissolve, you'll be able to just test and dose it with bleach in the evenings only.

Remember, you don't want too much cya in there. So, don't retest for it, add more or backwash for a week to make sure it gets dissolved.

[GA Mark]

Let me make sure I have this correct?

I added on gallon of bleach.

I added 5 pounds of stabalizer.

I need to add 12 pounds of baking soda.

Check pool every night for FAC. Add if needed for a week then check for CYA.

Seems easy enough...

Let me know if I am doing something wrong.

Thanks,

Mark

[GraceByDesign]

The 12# of soda was what the bleachcalc spit out for a pool of your size to raise TA from 20 to 80 ppm.

Try not to overshoot (80-125) with this, because it is not so easy to lower TA once you get it too high. Similar with the CYA... only way to lower CYA if you overshoot is to drain the pool, hence the good advice not to mess with it for at least a week.

Have you been swimming yet??

ETA: the rest looks good, and it IS easy, if you keep up with things every day! (I have had pools in the past!)

[GA Mark]

Ok, Why does everyone reccomed that you keep your CYA between 30-50? I am taking my water to the pool store to have them test it everydat until Ben's kit arrives? The pool place keeps telling me the higher the CYA the better. They reccomed me keeping it @ 30-200 and they said to keep it at the higher side.

[Watermom]

The higher you keep your cya, the higher you'll have to keep your chlorine level to keep it sanitized. That is what gets so many people in trouble. They continue to add cya via trichlor pucks and yet the pool store tells them to keep their chlorine level between 1 and 3. And, before you know it, they have a green pool and can't figure out why.

[GraceByDesign]

The higher the CYA, the more stable your chlorine will be. ***

BUT

CYA reduces the effectiveness of the chlorine as a sanitizer. This means you have to keep a higher level of chlorine if you keep a higher CYA.

If you have a CYA of 200, I don't even know how much Cl you would need on a daily basis, maybe 8-15, but to shock would take a ton... at 60-90ppm CYA (the highest level on Ben's chart) shock level is 20. Higher that 20 is not recommended for vinyl pools because of potential bleaching of your liner. And while swimmimg in a highly chlorinated pool is probably ok once in a while, I personally would not want to make a habit out of swimmimg in it!!

30-50 seems to be a number that keeps the chlorine relatively stable to sunlight, while not requiring HUGE chlorine ppm's to keep your pool sanitized.

***ETA probably only true to a certain point. I am not a chem. whiz...