Thanks guys, what a welcoming committee! I take care of this pool for a friend of the family. She is widowed and loves the company that I bring out to the pool. Last year, I got everything going for around $200, so this year was not much fun. After 9lbs of the Power Chlor, I finally started to see FC. I did two more for a total of 15 lbs and got the FC and TC to SLAM it correctly. I wish I had found this site sooner. I just checked the pool a few hours ago and I have the following readings:
FC 7
TC 7
PH 6.2
Adj Alk 44
CYA 70
CH 268 (yeah, it's a problem with every pool in that area, even water that goes through a softener)
I had some left over chemicals, Balance PAK 100, from last year, so I just did 12lbs of that to get started on treating the Alkalinity. I'll do two more of those to get it up to par. I have 4lbs of PH increaser to put in tomorrow, then I hope that the TC and FC level out so we can use the pool this weekend. I am no chemist, but this has really forced me to learn a lot. I noticed when I finally started getting an FC reading that the water was fizzing a little like a club soda, which from what I read is about the time that the chloramines will start to burn off the unwanteds in the pool and convert them to gas.
I appreciate all of the info on the test kits. I always used the strips thinking wow, that was quick and easy. It wasn't until this year I realized that quick and easy means hardly accurate! I will certainly go with the TFT Kit (XL) as you also provided videos on how to use it and that's all that really made me chose the test strips, but it will be down the road considering the amount of $$ I've spent so far. Is the speed stir something that can actually help with the water hardness? This pool is 36x18 3ft shallow, 8ft deep so roughly 26,700 GAL. That a lot of hard water and I am not really sure what I could do about it without spending a lot more $$. It has a Hayward sand filter and the impeller was just replaced last year, so I feel that fixing the hardness could help make the equipment last longer, so that's how I would pitch it to the owner.
Again, I appreciate all of your replies, and look forward to being a part of this online community!
Regards,
VTDano