Hello everyone!
Long time lurker as a guest. I've learned a lot by just reading the posts here for the last month. I've had an AG Intex in the past, but didn't really know what I was doing. Lasted a couple of years, but had a few minor leaks due to rocks underneath because of my lack of prep-work, so I just bought a new Polygroup 14' round pool this year. Through the wall skimmer and 1500gph pump are nice qualities to have on a pool this small (~3500 gallons where I have it filled).
Haven't been able to swim in it yet with the temps being unusually low for ATL, but I ordered my first testkit from tftestkits.com and here are the results:
FC - 11
CC - 0
TA - 165
PH - 7.2
CYA - 40
CH - 90
The reason for the FC being so high is because I've been using some of my old trichlor tablets while the pool has been covered. Didn't realize it had gotten so high - test strips suck! I will be switching to bleach this year, but I figured I'd use them to get some CYA in the water to start off with.
TA is a bit high because went overboard on some baking soda a couple of weeks ago. Water is crystal clear, and high PH doesn't seem to be an issue, so I figured with such a low CH, I didn't have to worry about cloudy water much. Letting it go for now...
PH is a bit lower than I though it would be (again, test strips are terrible). It was 7.8 when I added the baking soda according to pool store. Just turned my return jet upside down to aerate the water while I'm running the pump. I assume that will help.
CYA may or may not be accurate - water temp was about 65F when I ran the test. I forgot to let the water warm up first.
CH is low, but I don't think it's a problem with a vinyl liner, correct?
Either way, I just pulled my trichlor tabs out due to the high FC and reasonable CYA numbers. I'll let it get down to 5 or 6 and maintain that level with bleach provided my CYA test is accurate. It sounds accurate to me since I added stabilizer a few weeks ago to get it to 30 and have been using pucks since then.
Anyway, any suggestions are welcome. Thanks for reading!
Long time lurker as a guest. I've learned a lot by just reading the posts here for the last month. I've had an AG Intex in the past, but didn't really know what I was doing. Lasted a couple of years, but had a few minor leaks due to rocks underneath because of my lack of prep-work, so I just bought a new Polygroup 14' round pool this year. Through the wall skimmer and 1500gph pump are nice qualities to have on a pool this small (~3500 gallons where I have it filled).
Haven't been able to swim in it yet with the temps being unusually low for ATL, but I ordered my first testkit from tftestkits.com and here are the results:
FC - 11
CC - 0
TA - 165
PH - 7.2
CYA - 40
CH - 90
The reason for the FC being so high is because I've been using some of my old trichlor tablets while the pool has been covered. Didn't realize it had gotten so high - test strips suck! I will be switching to bleach this year, but I figured I'd use them to get some CYA in the water to start off with.
TA is a bit high because went overboard on some baking soda a couple of weeks ago. Water is crystal clear, and high PH doesn't seem to be an issue, so I figured with such a low CH, I didn't have to worry about cloudy water much. Letting it go for now...
PH is a bit lower than I though it would be (again, test strips are terrible). It was 7.8 when I added the baking soda according to pool store. Just turned my return jet upside down to aerate the water while I'm running the pump. I assume that will help.
CYA may or may not be accurate - water temp was about 65F when I ran the test. I forgot to let the water warm up first.
CH is low, but I don't think it's a problem with a vinyl liner, correct?
Either way, I just pulled my trichlor tabs out due to the high FC and reasonable CYA numbers. I'll let it get down to 5 or 6 and maintain that level with bleach provided my CYA test is accurate. It sounds accurate to me since I added stabilizer a few weeks ago to get it to 30 and have been using pucks since then.
Anyway, any suggestions are welcome. Thanks for reading!