I am new to this pool stuff with the purchase of a house this spring. I was fortunate enough to start trying to figure things out by finding these forums, but sadly that happened at the same time that I had already decided I better have the pool store that had always serviced the pool open it since I knew nothing about it. They added some sort of algecide, of which type I do not know and they added a pile of chlorine shock.... The pool needed the chlorine badly, but it would have been nice to have not paid so much for it... Lessons learned are something anyway.
So, nearly one month and lots of reading later, my pool is now perfectly clear and holding CC at less than 0.5. My cya was 0 or nearly so when I started so I am working on getting that up (FC is dropping around 4 per day, but that is not surprising with low CYA) ...My TA is now adjusted to 90 from somewhere around 110-120 (my test kit didn't come until more recently and I really don't trust what the local pool store told me at all).. My ph is now at 7.2 but I put it there to get my TA down so everything seems so-far-so-good.
All of the above is mostly for background. My concern at the moment is that my CH is up at 525. My pool is vinyl, but I understand it should not be that high. My question is how much do I worry about addressing that? Shouldn't it come down with rain and such over time?
Also, I have no idea what the various forms of algae look like, but one section of the pool has a brownish redish stain on the vinyl that is the exact same color as the sludge that originally coated the entire pool (after the green stuff was killed off). It is either not coming off, or is doing so more slowly than I can see. Is this likely something I need to focus on, or is it possible that the vinyl itself is actually stained somehow?
So, nearly one month and lots of reading later, my pool is now perfectly clear and holding CC at less than 0.5. My cya was 0 or nearly so when I started so I am working on getting that up (FC is dropping around 4 per day, but that is not surprising with low CYA) ...My TA is now adjusted to 90 from somewhere around 110-120 (my test kit didn't come until more recently and I really don't trust what the local pool store told me at all).. My ph is now at 7.2 but I put it there to get my TA down so everything seems so-far-so-good.
All of the above is mostly for background. My concern at the moment is that my CH is up at 525. My pool is vinyl, but I understand it should not be that high. My question is how much do I worry about addressing that? Shouldn't it come down with rain and such over time?
Also, I have no idea what the various forms of algae look like, but one section of the pool has a brownish redish stain on the vinyl that is the exact same color as the sludge that originally coated the entire pool (after the green stuff was killed off). It is either not coming off, or is doing so more slowly than I can see. Is this likely something I need to focus on, or is it possible that the vinyl itself is actually stained somehow?