Rookie Pool Owner

[mkab123]

First time posting on TFP but have been doing allot of reading in pool school and other postings. I'm a complete rookie at this and will be attempting to maintain the pool myself. The pool was installed late last year and just had Sundek finished the pool decking. I'm ready to tackle the pool water now. I've been brushing, vac, and the pool is clean now but the water is cloudy. Just got the TF-100 test kit delivered but haven't had anytime to figure out how to use it, so I took some water to Leslie's for testing. Below are the vitals.

FC=2.5
PH=7.8
TA=90
CH=90
CYA=20
Phosphates=1000
Salt=2270 (Now my SWG says 2900 last night)

Please help, what do I need to do next to get the water crystal clear?

 

[JasonLion]

Welcome to TFP!

It sounds like you only need are some minor touch ups on your levels and a little time. Wait to do anything to the pool until you have done your own water testing. Every now and then pool store test results are way wildly off. Better to wait a day than make some adjustment that you didn't need.

Chances are the cloudiness will clear up without you doing anything, but there is some chance that it is the start of an algae problem. Check the FC level regularly till you are sure it is holding steady.

With a SWG, you want CYA to be around 70 to 80. The SWG will have a much easier time maintaining an appropriate FC level once the CYA level comes up.

Your PH is fine for now, but you don't want it to be above 7.8. If it goes up, lower it to 7.5.

Your TA level is alright for now, but let it go down to between 60 and 80.

For fiberglass you want CH between 220 and 320. I would raise CH up to around 250 when you get a chance.

For the salt level, believe the SWG. What matters is what the SWG thinks the salt level is. I would bring the salt level up a little, to say 3200, but there is no hurry on that.

 

[Bama Rambler]

A couple of things jump out at me.

pH is a little high but nothing to be concerned with right now.
CH is low for a fiberglass pool you'll want to bring that up.
CYA is way low for a SWCG, you'll want to bring that up to about 70 - 80 ppm.

Running the filter 24hours a day for a few days will probably clear things up.

The first thing to do is break out that TF-100 and run a full set of tests then post them back here. I bet they won't match the PS results.

Jason and I were typing at the same time.

 

[mkab123]

Thanks for the quick reply and advice. I'll break out the TF100 tomorrow and get some testing done. What about the phosphate #s, any concerns?

Jason, I see your in SS,MD. I work in Bethesda. Nice to know there is someone local.

 

[257WbyMag]

Disregard the phosphates. They are essentially irrelevant for pool water management purposes.