Ok, this is the first time I have ever posted. A little history-We have had our pool for 15 years. 3 summers ago, we had a new liner installed and fresh well water filled. This began 2 summers of dealing with a pool that consummed enough chlorine to make us wish we didn't have a pool and yet, the pool was always fighting algae and cloudiness. It never accured to us that the original installer had taken great care to balance our water giving us a pool that was easy to maintain in the early years and that we had not taken the same care to balance the water after the liner change. (In hind site, we really should have been able to get more time out of the original liner if we had more careful with our chlorine levels) Last summer we were at our witts end and talking about the possibility of filling it in. It had become a money pit. I know the wrap that pools stores have BUT with 3 kids and 2 jobs, there was not much time to search for a site like this and figure it out myself at that time. The pool store (45 minutes away) was instrumental in helping me understand what our underlying problem was and correcting it. However, there appears to be a better way so here I am. I did winterize the pool at the end of last season so taking the cover off was a pleasant surprise compared to previous years. I took a sample over to the pool company and they tested it. I was told I had a chlorine demand and to put 20 pounds of calcium hypochlorite in and to bring another sample in to retest in 72 hours. I did that but started educating myself on this website. Our pool turned cloudy white with all the stuff they had me put in and 72 hours later according to them my chlorine demand was gone with a TC of 12.4 and a FC of 12.4. This was this past Monday May 2nd. Of course they wanted to sell me something to raise the pH and TA but I decided to wait for my testing kit to come in the mail instead.
So after 3+ inches of rain this week and me doing nothing to the pool except dumping water and backwashing these are my results tonight.
FC 1.0
CC 0
Calcium 175
TA 90 ( the color was red after 7 drops but didn't stay red until 9 drops so I went with the 9)
CYA less than 20
I don't have any stabilizer on hand except the pucks that go in the chlorinator so I filled in for the time being figuring that it will put both chlorine and stabilizer in since they are low from what I have learned
So what next? I really would like to save some money (I just spent a lot to get a robotic vac) and time driving out of town to the pool store
So after 3+ inches of rain this week and me doing nothing to the pool except dumping water and backwashing these are my results tonight.
FC 1.0
CC 0
Calcium 175
TA 90 ( the color was red after 7 drops but didn't stay red until 9 drops so I went with the 9)
CYA less than 20
I don't have any stabilizer on hand except the pucks that go in the chlorinator so I filled in for the time being figuring that it will put both chlorine and stabilizer in since they are low from what I have learned
So what next? I really would like to save some money (I just spent a lot to get a robotic vac) and time driving out of town to the pool store