New Pool Owner Need Help

[AQHAHorse]

Hi, my family and I just got our first pool in July and we have been fighting the water. I'm not 100% certain what kind of filter it has but it is 3,800gallons and is above ground. I use the HTH pool products but I can't seem to get it right. It is well water.

TA: 200
pH: 7.2
Hardness: 340
Cycric Acid: can't read.

I'm battling the alkaline right now after beating out the metal. Is there anything else I obviously need to change? What is a cloudly blue. And it won't clear up. My filter gets kind of a calcium color to it and I have to spray it out daily. Water dries my hands badly. I did talk to HTH technical services but I don't know of the products just aren't working or if I'm doing something wrong. I'm currently using pH negative to decrease the akaline. Please help! I'm new to all this. We are using the liquid 6 way test by HTH.

 

[VinDeeLoo]

Please read up on Pool School - Getting Started

You will want one of the recommended test kits - Pool School - Test Kits Compared

You did not report your chlorine readings.

 

[AQHAHorse]

Thank you. The chlorine keeps reading zero despite what I put in.

 

[VinDeeLoo]

How often do you test? What form of chlorine are you using? How often do you add it?

 

[kschmidt1]

You probably don't have CYA (stabilizer) which would prevent your chlorine from leaving the building. Have you been using tabs in floater or are you using liquid bleach.

 

[AQHAHorse]

How often do you test? What form of chlorine are you using? How often do you add it?

I try to test every day but sometimes every two days. I apply about 6oz of chlorine.

 

[kschmidt1]

Using pool math, assuming you have stabilizer (cya) present, you would need 24 oz of 8.25% bleach to bring you from 0 FC to 4, and if you don't have stabilizer, you will need much more chlorine to start killing the algea, probably causing cloudy water. You need to read POOL SCHOOL and some of the other articles describing how these chemicals work together.