Newbie! needing help with chemistry. confused

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You've come to the right place for help! I'm a newbie here. But the advice here is second to none. I would highly recommend following all of the awesome advice here to be sure your pool water stays in balance and has enough chlorine. I know from experience that clear water can be deceiving if you don't know the correct numbers.


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Once you get the Taylor, we'll be able to offer some suggestions. The problem is without real test results, you're just throwing money in the air and more chemicals in your pool. In the end you want a safe sanitary place for you and your family to enjoy without the mystery of what's in the water you can't see.
 
I do know that when I put my hand in the water it smells like bleach water :-\

I ordered the Tk6000 kit. Hope it ships quick. Wish I knew of someplace to get the chlorine and cya test in a store today and I would get it just to know what those levels are. A little impatient I know.

Can someone give me a roster of things I can be stocking up on so I will be ready when the kit arrives?
 
Bleach would be the main thing to stock up on. Maybe 10 gallons it does lose its strength. You can pick up some muratic acid it can be pool MA or get it in the paint section at Home Depot. Mule team borax. You may not need anything other than bleach, but we won't know until we have numbers from your test kit.
 
It takes a while for it to lose it strength. You just don't want to buy bleach from 2014 stock as it will likely only really be around 5/6%. Yes, this method will be cheaper and faster. It will not raise a thing other than chlorine. Pucks will also raise your CYA. Like previously stated 8.25% no scents or easy pour is what you need. If it does not state the strength don't buy it.
 

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Thanks everyone. I am just so aggravated. So irritating to have my water clear and pretty and not be able to be in it enjoying it. My chlorine levels have me so confused as why they aren't dropping after days of hot sun. Should I pull the floater with the tablets out and just let it sit until I get my kit? I don't want my pool to turn green but I also don't want to be adding more cyas if it is already packed with them.
 
I would not put anymore pucks in for now. Hopefully you get your kit pretty fast. I would just brush it for now. My guess is that your CYA is already high and that is why it is being slow at losing chlorine.

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I also understand your aggravation. For me it was spending over $200 in less than a week at the pool store and not having anything clear up in my pool. My pool was not green but blue and cloudy. I was so happy when I found TFP and bought my test kit. It took me just shy of 2 weeks but I got my pool back in order using the TFP methods.
 
I just went out and looked and it seems since the sun came out it has a blue green tinge if that makes sense. I can see the bottom even at the deep end. It just looks different than it did. So you think brush to keep algae scrubbed up if it is indeed that and keep pump running? My pump is currently set to come on at 11a and goes off around 6:30 p. I also forgot to mention that the pump has a Nature 2 cartridge in the line
 
The Nature 2 cartridge? As far as I know it is a mineral replaceable cartridge that is supposed to limit the amount of chlorine used. That is another question for someone I have no idea what that thing is about and if I should continue using it. It is in my line so to get rid of it I would have to take it out and couple the line I would think or I wonder if I could just keep the cartridge in even after it has run out and just let it run through it. Do you guys think I should let my pump.run continously for now?
 
I am sorry. I don't know anything about them. I assumed it was a cartrige filter. I am sure someone else can answer that. The more you have your pump on the better.

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Maybe you could update your signature with your pool and equipment info. If you go to settings you will see a place on the left of the page that says updat signature
 
I just went out and looked at the bucket of tablets that have been being used. They are trichloro-s-triazinetrione. Do these raise the cya level? It says they are 99% tri-s-tri with 1 % other ingred. 90% available chlorine. I plan on during the tfp approach once my kit arrives but for now I would like to know where I went wrong as far as the way it stands. If my cya's are high , shouldn't my stabilizer be high?

So, for learning sake, if I was using the conventional approach, I should have got my ph and alkaline to the right level first , then added my chlorine tablets, correct? Doesn't ph and alkaline help control the effectiveness of FC and TC and keep it from fluctuating? I didn't get the sharp increase of the FC and TC until I started adding my baking soda to get my alkalinity and ph up. PLUS, the previous homeowner came over and put about 12 tablets in my pool in the floaters. I am wondering if I had caused my chlorine problem by not fixing my alk. and ph first, then had way too many tablets in it, plus the shock! I am just confused because my current test strip (just for conventional approach sake and trying to figure out what I did wrong) shows TC and FC high as it can be on strip. Hardness is fine, ph and alk is low but has came up some since I added baking soda two days ago and then stabilizer is low. Also, if my FC and TC starts going down before my kit arrives, does this indicate that my problem isn't the cya being so high and basically locking out my water causing a large water dump? Thanks for putting up with me :)
 

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