took too long to plumb in pump and water got slimy.

[Twinlakesnake]

Little background. Live in Fl panhandle. Bought an intex 22' × 52". Also purchased intex 2650 and a thru wall skimmer, not to mention a tf-100. Thought it might take a weekend or two. Oh how wrong I was. Long story short, problem after problem arised and I had a couple feet of water before I got everything plumbed in. Sat about a week and a half and went green yeterday and slimy today. Good news is that I have the pump plumbed in now (although my water level is still just under my return so I can get my skimmer cut in). Once I got the pump up and running I dumped a bag of dichlor in.
It was late so all I tested was the little dual vile with the total chlorine and ph test about an hour after dumping in dichlor. Ph read 8.2 and chlorine looked like a 5. Now I realize I probably should have tested my ph before I did that but I have been so anxious to get some chlorine in this pool and got a little excited. I guess my question is this, should I just test everything or are there some numbers that will be unreliable at this point. I have read pool school and browsed the forums but if somebody could "hold my hand" till I get a handle on this I sure would appreciate it.
By the way this site is awesome. Lots of great info, especially foy us DIY guys with an intex. Cant wait to get my skimmer cut I and my fountain up and running. Sure hope I can have people in the pool for the fourth of july party....

 

[Richard320]

Use the FAS-DPD test for the chlorine. That's the powder one. If FC is less than 10, the pH test will be fine.

You'll need the TA reading to get the acid dose out of poolcalculator.com

Adjust pH and hit it hard with bleach....after the water is circulating. Directions are in Pool School.

 

[Twinlakesnake]

I will use the powder one tomorrow. I used mostly city water and a lil well water and rain to fill up. I have added no cya other than the one bag of dichlor. Should I use dichlor to shock instead of bleach? I know its recommended to use dichlor for first 4 days in order to establish cya in the seasonal pools section of pool school but didn't know how that applied to my green water. It zays 1 bag per 2000 gal so for me about 5 bags. Should I start shock levels with dichlor then swap to bleach after those 5? What levels should I test for and post tomorrow?

 

[Twinlakesnake]

Okay so I think I've got everything in order.... water is clear.
PH-7.5
FC- 6
CC-0
TA-70
CH-60
CYA- <20? Or > 40... I had leslies test it after the 4th bag of dichlor and tested 40. But I filled the vile all the way up on my test and still can see the black dot. I added 1 more bag after that but I still can see the black dot. I am now using liquid chlorine but am not sure about adding any more cya. Gonna get another place to test it first.

Excited to finally swim in my pool. Couldnt have gotten this far without tfp.

 

[Richard320]

Trust your own readings.

If you've kept track of what you've added, you can always let http://www.poolcalculator.com/ figure out what your CYA should be. Put the pool size in at the top, then scroll down to Effects of Adding Chemicals.

 

[Twinlakesnake]

I added 5 one pound bags. Plugged into pool calc for 80 oz at 11500 gal. Raises cya to 26 which is still higher than what I am reading but much closer than leslies. Thanks for the tip I hadn't noticed that part of the pool calculator

 

[RobbieH]

It can take several days for CYA to show on your test.

 

[Twinlakesnake]

It can take several days for CYA to show on your test.

Thanks. I was under the impression that it took a while using the solid cya in a sock but it would show rather quickly using the dichlor. Ill leave it alone for a few days then retest.