PH and FC question

[telia]

Hi,
I am new to all this and I have been reading up. I have had my pool for 3 weeks. It got really murky and cloudy. I have added bleach and it is looking better. My DH tested the water tonight and he says the FC is between 3-5 and my PH is 8.2. We just hooked up our new sand filter tonight. What should my priority be? Lowering the PH? I had to buy a test kit from wal mart. I will have one arriving in the mail soon. Thanks for any advice.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

You've been using the pool for 3 weeks without a filter? Have you been treating the water with bleach all that time?

Have you added any stabilizer yet to "hold" your chlorine protected from the sun?

Get a gallon of muriatic acid from Lowes and using PoolMath application, *carefully* add enough MA to bring your pH down to 7.2. You also should start planning on doing a SLAM to get the pool pristine clean and clear once you get a decent test kit.

Once the kit comes in tell us:
FC
CC
pH
TA
CH (not terribly important for vinyl pool...don't add any calcium)
CYA

We'll be ready to help guide you when we know where your water stands, 'k?

 

[telia]

Thanks. I had the filter that came with the pool but it was awful. I should get my test kit soon. I have been reading and yes I had stabilizer in the form of the pucks floating in the pool. I thought the pucks were just chlorine but I have it straight now. I am learning quite a bit tonight. I hope my test kit arrives soon.