Pool needs to open soon..new owner

[Watermom]

Your most immediate danger is damage to the liner from such a low ph. Any ph reading below 7.0 is acidic and can damage your liner. Add a box of Borax (laundry aisle at Walmart) ASAP to the skimmer while the pump is running. Wait a couple hours, retest and keep redosing until you get it to 7.4-7.6.

Also, add a 3 quart jug of regular, unscented laundry bleach. Can also be added to the skimmer. That should take your chlorine reading up to 8 or 9ppm. You'll need to get a drops based test kit. 3x a day, test your water and each time add enough bleach to raise your cl level back up to about 8. (in your size pool, each quart will raise the cl by about 2.8ppm.) The key to killing algae is to sustain the high cl reading. If you let it yo-yo up and down, you'll never clear it.

You are also going to need some cya which is also called stabilizer or conditioner. Without it, you will have a hard time maintaining a chlorine reading. You may find it at Walmart, Lowe's or Home Depot or you may have to get it from a pool store. (Don't let a pool store talk you into buying a bunch of other stuff, however.) If the ingredient says cyanuric acid or isocyanuric acid, that is the right stuff. After your pool starts to clear some, add an initial dose of cya. The label will tell you how much to add per volume. Aim for a level of about 30. Add it to the skimmer, then don't retest, add more or backwash for about a week because it takes a long time to dissolve. (The label may tell you to broadcast it across the pool, but don't. Add it to the skimmer.)

I'm skeptical that your alk is actually 0. Retest and if it is below at least 80, add some plain baking soda (again to the skimmer), wait a few hours to let it circulate, retest and then redose til you get to 80-125 range.

The most pressing need is your low ph. Borax - ASAP! Then, chlorine. Keep us posted how things are going.

BTW - I would suggest buying the test kit that most of us use. You can get it at the sister site to this forum www.poolsolutions.com It will allow you to test everything you need and you won't have to rely on a pool store which most of the time is a good thing. Many pool stores give inaccurate water testing results.

[will_m]

Well, pH is now stable at 7.6, water is a nice and clear.

Chlorine is still a bit high (just above 3ppm) but it is coming down. Still using some 3 inch slow tabs left by the previous users (put 2 in the floating dispenser when I was trying to kill everything.

Otherwise, everything is running fine.