I grew up with a pool in my backyard so I remember some of this stuff from watching my dad work but now that I've got a pool of my own, I need a crash course in maintaining pool chemistry. I was just pointed towards this site and what a huge help it's been already! I (mistakenly?) bought quick testing strips at a pool supply store yesterday and a test this morning looked terrible.
The pool we've just purchased was being maintained by a pool service but I have no idea the last time they were at the house before we occupied it 3 weeks ago. Here's what I think I read this morning on the test strip in really general measurements. My main question is what to do first. Do I shock the pool to fix the chlorine situation or put acid in it to try and remedy the Alkalinity/pH problem first? Thanks for your help! In the meantime, I'm going to Costco to stock up on bleach.
Free Chlorine - not registering
Total Chlorine - between 0-.5ppm
Alkalinity - 180-240ppm
pH - between 8.4-9.0
Total Hardness - above 450ppm
Cyanuric Acid - above 100ppm (we're living in a drought state so I can't justify emptying the pool to fix this-- how necessary is it?)
The pool we've just purchased was being maintained by a pool service but I have no idea the last time they were at the house before we occupied it 3 weeks ago. Here's what I think I read this morning on the test strip in really general measurements. My main question is what to do first. Do I shock the pool to fix the chlorine situation or put acid in it to try and remedy the Alkalinity/pH problem first? Thanks for your help! In the meantime, I'm going to Costco to stock up on bleach.
Free Chlorine - not registering
Total Chlorine - between 0-.5ppm
Alkalinity - 180-240ppm
pH - between 8.4-9.0
Total Hardness - above 450ppm
Cyanuric Acid - above 100ppm (we're living in a drought state so I can't justify emptying the pool to fix this-- how necessary is it?)