Thanks again. The pool is 24,000 gallons. I'll have a chat with Murray to correct that.
The filter is a Jandy DE - is there more info needed than that? Sorry, this is completely new and foreign to me!
Yes, as you described, Kim, put the loose stabilizer in the skimmer basket. I wasn't with him when he put the stabilizer in, but when we put DE in yesterday, we closed the skimmer in the deep end and the main drain, so it was only pulling from the shallow end skimmer. I believe he followed that same method putting the stabilizer in the pool.
After reading through some old posts on here, I found some Tetra Flake Calcium Chloride online, I think it was just under $50 for a 50 lbs bag delivered. Given some of the numbers I saw in those older posts, I didn't think that was too bad. Our level wasn't tragically low (in my opinion, but again, this is all new!) So I didn't think I was hurting anything by letting that wait a couple days for the stuff to arrive. Please correct me if I am mistaken. If I have to drop some $ at the pool store, I will. We're just trying to learn the way from y'all. I don't want to be the person who brings a sample to the store every week and then walk out with whatever they tell me. I want to know and understand what my pool needs and how to do it.
A couple more questions if any one can help answer. I do realize this may be a little subjective, but I think you all can give me some guidance. I've seen different durations for the plaster to cure. It was done last Monday, April 11. Estimate the guys finished at noon and started filling the pool, it took about 31 hours to fill (24,000 gallons with 3 garden hoses). The builder told us to brush 2 times daily for 2 weeks and then 1 time a day for another 2 weeks. We divided the labor on that, I usually brush in the early morning and then my husband in the afternoon. The first few days, we both reported seeing lots of dust while brushing, but the past couple days, I don't really see anything, neither does my husband. Maaayyybe there's a tiny bit of water cloudiness sometimes, but really only a tiny bit. I'm usually brushing in the dark with the pool lit up, so I feel like I can really see well. I seem to recall that the builder told us 2 weeks to cure before going in the pool.
So my questions related to plaster curing:
1) We have a dog who is interested in the pool. We have put the orange netting around it to keep her out for now - at what point in the process is it safe for her to go in and not damage the plaster? As for chemicals, as long as things are within a reasonable variation of goal, she'll be okay going in? She's all black, so I don't want her to have white residue on her either!
2) We have had/are having a ton of hardscaping done in the yard, around the pool. The guys doing that weren't able to finish everything before the pool got plastered and the builder suggested having them wait at least 2 weeks after the plaster was done so that dust from cutting the stone and the sand (grout) doesn't get into the pool while the plaster is curing. Would you agree with that time frame? Wait longer? Not as long? I would normally never suggest doing something like this sooner, but with the lack of dust, I thought maybe the 2 week number was already an exaggeration.
3) I'm noticing a few "stains" in the plaster - I think. A couple of them look like perhaps some kind of organic matter, like a small spot, but I can't brush it away. The other thing is like patches of a slightly different color, but only slightly. Is this an indication of something? It is not dramatic by any stretch, but not a plain white sheet either. I'm not sure if I only see it because I'm standing over the pool brushing and looking closely. I suspect someone just hanging around by the pool would never even notice. Just thought I'd bring it up and ask.
Thank you!