So I bought a home with a pool this past January and am a first time pool owner. I opened my pool on 5/15 and it looked all right, just some debris in the bottom. I read a few websites, and added what it seemed I should add to the pool, and bought some Clorox Test Strips that you use with an app on your phone. These test strips are apparently useless. After going through the following, I decided to take matters into my own hands and get onto a forum and handle everything more professionally myself.
The chemicals I added around the time of opening are:
1 quart of Arch Chemical Metal Control
2 pouches of Pool Essentials - Shock
Some pH Up leftover from old owner
1 tablet of chlorine in the floater
2lb of Clorox Chlorine Stabilizer
After memorial day I took my water to Leslie Pool to be tested since it was a little foggy, and I no longer had any faith in the Clorox Strips. Here are the results of that test from 6/10
FAC - 0
TAC - 0
CH - 150
CYA - 30
TA - 120
pH - 7.6
Copper - 0
Iron - 0
TDS - 200
Pho - 150
The guy at the pool store had be purchase an 8lb tub of Hardness Plus to raise my CH, told me to add 1 pouch of shock directly to the pool, and 3 caps of the Perfect Weekly stuff I had at home leftover from the old owner. I did all of this and my pool is looking good, minus the leaves.
I guess my initial question is how am I looking on numbers? Should I trust those numbers, and should my levels be all right now?
I did read the initial Pool School stuff, and am now seeing I should be adjusting and monitoring my chlorine daily. I have not been, but the pool appears very clear today. Right now there are 2 tablets floating in the floater thing.
What test kit do you recommend? And is there a spot on here that recommends chemicals to adjust these numbers? I'm assuming you all know how to do this without shoveling unnecessary money at these pool supply stores for their fancy shmancy brands.
I have a heater, and am not sure how to run this thing efficiently. My pool temp was around 89 on Sunday, and was great for the weekend. I started running it Friday morning to attain a good temp for weekend swimming. I then changed back to my timer on Sunday night (have been running pump/heater for 5 hours a day), and today my pool is in the low 70s. I have no cover for the pool, and it gets about 5 hours of direct sun a day. It seems as thought the water heats up well, but after a day or so it loses the temp. Any tips on heating?
Also, there are many trees around my pool and it get a decent amount of leaves in the pool. The vacuum I inherited from the previous owner seems to produce minimal suction. I noticed that there is a chip missing from the round piece that covers the skimmer basket, and wonder if that is where I'm losing power. The vacuum looks cheap, and I'm thinking I may want to just replace it. Any suggestions on a vacuum for a pool this size to deal with debris I get in the pool?
Any other general tips? I am brand new to this all, so I basically no nothing.
I appreciate any help anyone can give me. Thanks for your time.
The chemicals I added around the time of opening are:
1 quart of Arch Chemical Metal Control
2 pouches of Pool Essentials - Shock
Some pH Up leftover from old owner
1 tablet of chlorine in the floater
2lb of Clorox Chlorine Stabilizer
After memorial day I took my water to Leslie Pool to be tested since it was a little foggy, and I no longer had any faith in the Clorox Strips. Here are the results of that test from 6/10
FAC - 0
TAC - 0
CH - 150
CYA - 30
TA - 120
pH - 7.6
Copper - 0
Iron - 0
TDS - 200
Pho - 150
The guy at the pool store had be purchase an 8lb tub of Hardness Plus to raise my CH, told me to add 1 pouch of shock directly to the pool, and 3 caps of the Perfect Weekly stuff I had at home leftover from the old owner. I did all of this and my pool is looking good, minus the leaves.
I guess my initial question is how am I looking on numbers? Should I trust those numbers, and should my levels be all right now?
I did read the initial Pool School stuff, and am now seeing I should be adjusting and monitoring my chlorine daily. I have not been, but the pool appears very clear today. Right now there are 2 tablets floating in the floater thing.
What test kit do you recommend? And is there a spot on here that recommends chemicals to adjust these numbers? I'm assuming you all know how to do this without shoveling unnecessary money at these pool supply stores for their fancy shmancy brands.
I have a heater, and am not sure how to run this thing efficiently. My pool temp was around 89 on Sunday, and was great for the weekend. I started running it Friday morning to attain a good temp for weekend swimming. I then changed back to my timer on Sunday night (have been running pump/heater for 5 hours a day), and today my pool is in the low 70s. I have no cover for the pool, and it gets about 5 hours of direct sun a day. It seems as thought the water heats up well, but after a day or so it loses the temp. Any tips on heating?
Also, there are many trees around my pool and it get a decent amount of leaves in the pool. The vacuum I inherited from the previous owner seems to produce minimal suction. I noticed that there is a chip missing from the round piece that covers the skimmer basket, and wonder if that is where I'm losing power. The vacuum looks cheap, and I'm thinking I may want to just replace it. Any suggestions on a vacuum for a pool this size to deal with debris I get in the pool?
Any other general tips? I am brand new to this all, so I basically no nothing.
I appreciate any help anyone can give me. Thanks for your time.