need help with pool chemicals, want to swim!!

[poolnoob]

hi guys,

bought a new 18 foot above ground pool with SWG last week, after my initial test (water from the tap) they told me to add the salt and 4kg of calcium, i`ve been running my sytem for 5 days now and went to do another test.

this is the result
Salt: 3800ppm (which is good for the model I have)
Alcalinity: 80
PH 8.0
hardness: 260
Stabiliser: 0
Chlorine 0

this is what they suggested,

add 1 KG of ALCA+
add 400 g of PH -
add stabilitser (they didnt say how much) but the label says add 200 grams for every 10000 littre of water I have 26700 littres, so about 500 grams

does this sound right to you guys, sometimes I get the impression that they are screwing me over just so I can buy more of their products.

on my initial test alcalinity and PH was fine, I did what they told me, and now everything is off??

I suspect from reading a little that the main problem was no stabiliser, but is it normal that my chlorine be at 0 if I have been running my pump and swg(running at level4 of 5 (zodiac model)) 24 hours a day for the last 5 days?

any help you guys can provde would be appreciated, I really want to get this thing balanced and start swiming before the season is over

 

[Richard320]

The short answer is "Read this."

In fact, read lots of Pool School. You'll see you don't need to buy much at the pool store, except perhaps the stabilizer.

 

[poolnoob]

wow, thats alot to read and learn..

how is the quickest way to add the stabiliser, I`m reading about the sock method which takes a week, is tere a faster way to get my stabiliser up.

also answers to the orginal post would be greatly appreciated, I do plan on learning everything, but have very little free time what with a new baby.

 

[257WbyMag]

Your alkalinity is fine at 80. pH is a little high at 8.0 (you want this between 7.2 and 7.8) and so you need to lower this with acid. Running a salt water pool will mean that your pH tends to climb with some regularity.

Not sure about the metric measurements, but since you are running a SWCG and currently have no CYA, your need to raise it to between 60 and 80 ppm. In your approximately 7000 gallon pool, this would take 56 oz. (by weight) of stabilizer to raise it to 60 ppm. CYA is slow to dissolve and this is why we ask that you wait a week before testing again. Put it in a sock and hang it in front of a return. You can also buy liquid CYA to add and it is much faster to dissolve. It is also vastly more expensive.

 

[Richard320]

wow, thats alot to read and learn..

how is the quickest way to add the stabiliser, I`m reading about the sock method which takes a week, is tere a faster way to get my stabiliser up.

also answers to the orginal post would be greatly appreciated, I do plan on learning everything, but have very little free time what with a new baby.

In short, lower pH with muriatic acid. Add chlorine and stabilizer. You should be able to find liquid CYA, which will mix quickly. Once you have the pool in the right range, the saltwater chlorine generator should be able to maintain the chlorine. You will need to keep checking pH and adjusting it. You will also need to keep checking chlorine until you find the "sweet spot" on your SWG that holds it in range.

Bookmark this page. You will see, if you look hard, where to choose metric units. It will do all the hard math for you. Just test, enter numbers, and see what it says to add.

PS: there's a fairly steep learning curve initially, but within a couple weeks it will be routine, and only take a couple minutes a day to maintain the pool.