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Great job on getting the test kit. Your pool will still need chlorine while you are waiting, so you may buy a gallon or two of liquid chlorine and add a few cups daily until your test kit arrives so you don't end up with algae. Or you can just turn your SWCG back on and run your pump 24/7...

We find pool store results very unreliable and often financially motivated. As such, its hard to give advice based on pool store results especially for something fairly drastic like draining half your water. Ideally you can get your own test kit that you can trust (see my signature if...

Yes and I will gradually increase it based on my chlorine needs. That is usually 40-60% in the heat of the summer with us swimming multiple times a week.

Cali - If helpful, my pool is almost as big as yours (13k gallons) and I run my pump 24/7 (for the same cost as running a ceiling fan) and set my IC40 at 20%.

Absolutely. I did the same thing when I first built ours and the recommendation was either Eagleston Holly, Live Oak, or Magnolias. We went with the Eagleston Hollys because it seemed weird to be to plant live oaks that close together, but kinda wish I would have gone that route since we lost...

Deep breath again :) Take a peek at your CSI in pool math. At .22 your water is not even close to being aggressive. If you had a -0.6 or lower that would be different but -0.3 to 0.3 is where you want to be. Its hard to tell from your picture, but it looks like a similar color as your...

This is very concerning to me as the IC40 should not have power when the pump is off. I'll let others chime in with more details and the proper way to install, but that is a major safety item as the cell should have no power without the pump running due to the risk of it continuing to produce...

Ok cool. And the CYA test is the most difficult one, but you will get the hang of it. Just remember its a quick glance, if you have a staring contest with it you will always be able to see the dot. The good news is that your CYA will be stable and not fluctuate unless you are adding CYA...

Take a deep breath, its just a pool. You have all of the tools now and the support of TFP, now its up to you to figure out what to do next. Choice A - Stick with TFP. Your costs will be limited to liquid chlorine, occasional jug of MA, and annual test kit refill. No real hidden costs...

+ 1 on #teamrunhot My neighbor has one of the ClearChouceLabs and it is difficult to recognize the color especially when it gets to be above 70 degrees even with lots of practice. I like my TFP Pro as I feel like it is a bit more organized especially when I keep in in my 10 sqft. aluminum...

I'm not sure the pool builder would offer any good guidance regarding MA. I would put more credence in users here that have used MA on their fiberglass pools for years, but I get where you are coming from. I have plaster so cannot give you first hand experience here. As for the white flakes...

Don't get too caught up in the MA horror stories. My theory is that they are caused by: 1. Dummies who take no precautions in adding MA and literally just dump it in the pool as fast as they can causing it all to sink to the bottom. I could see where doing that could damage your pool...

I think you answered your own CYA question. For pH, testing is invalid at the SLAM FC levels and will read higher than reality if you do test pH during the SLAM. Lowering to 7.2 is to ensure your pH stays in range during the SLAM so you can ignore that test and focus on FC.

My advice is to ignore your TA, and ignore your pH until it gets ABOVE 8.0. Then when its above 8.0, adjust your pH down to 7.2 (I recommend doing this in increments spaced out by 30 mins and testing in between). That will knock your TA down a bit as well, but still primarily focus on pH...

You encountered a well meaning but un-educated Leslie's employee, which is better than most of their employees but still terrible advice. She is giving you advice for brand new plaster that has to cure. The plaster the acid exposed was cured years ago.

If anything it might raise it a bit due to the aeration, but.... lets see how long your water like to stay at 8.0. Mine will stay there for weeks at a time so I let it be and don't hit it with MA until it goes above there. I've seen people stress themselves out over trying to micromanage their...

Being in Austin, you should be very familiar with the best color ever. Its great for towers, football teams, sunsets and chlorine tests.

My mother in law is a perfect example of this. She is "allergic" to chlorine because their pool at home is a typical Leslie's pool and she says her skin is itchy after swimming so she never uses their pool. When they come to my house, they use it all the time. Its a salt water pool, so she...

How is the surface cleaning mode, and how big is the debris bin? I ran my robot nonstop this weekend and have been emptying my skimmer multiple times a day for the past few weeks. I'm curious how it handles our "fall" in the DFW area which is going on right now.

Sounds like a plan. Just make sure you give yourself some wiggle room for when you need to use the pucks (like 1-2 week vacations, etc.).

You seem to be in a hurry to use your pucks. They do not go bad and you certainly will have opportunities to use them including vacations, any time life gets in the way of you testing and adding LC on a regular basis, and any time you need to add CYA (you will lose about 5 CYA per month in the...

Can you take a picture? That would help people understand it better. For the pipe sticking up about a foot with the non-glued cap sounds like the pipe for a blower for the spa.

My TA is currently 90 too and I don't plan on touching it until it gets to 100. When it gets higher, my only adjustment is to drop my pH to 7.2 when I add MA. Over time the TA will reduce to where I want it and I go back to my pH management I mentioned above. Edit - Since you expressed...

Its hard to compare prices between different geographies due to prices of sub-contractors, demand, competition, etc. I can speak for my area (Dallas) and your quote would be a really good price. Its hard to get a bare bones pool under $100k here these day around here. We always recommend...

Your numbers look pretty good. In Texas, our water naturally wants to be 7.8-8.2 so I would recommend letting it stay there. I've seen people drive themselves crazy trying to keep their ph 7.4-7.6 by adding acid multiple times a week. 7.8-8.0 is perfectly fine. In my pool, I dose the MA...

Ace will be fine, but I've never seen Lowes or Home Depot not carrying MA around us. Mine has it on an end cap around the corner from the outside pool section, perhaps yours has it near the pool stuff but not in it too?

I also do not see any automation like the Intellicenter. With a pool that had no spa or heater, I would likely not recommend automation, but if you want to be able to control your pump, lights, etc. remotely from your phone, now would be the time to do automation. I also noticed they are not...

Pinch a penny is really good for liquid chlorine. They sell them in 2.5 gallon refillable containers and its always fresh and a good price once you purchase the containers. A nice family runs the one by me, so I don't feel as icky walking in there and spending $ there as I do Leslies. Keep...

Honestly, the biggest cost savings is educating you on what your pool needs (and doesn't need) and keeping you out of Leslies. Once you get your test kit and everything initially balanced, your regular chemicals will be liquid chlorine (walmart and Pinch a penny are the best prices in our area)...