Newbie needs help

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H

Hollister

0
Jun 2, 2010
2
Our pool was here when we bought the house in December and it is a 32' round x 54'' deep. It was very neglected for at least two years, it looked like swamp water under the tarp which was not covering the pool totally.
We had a pool guy come out a week ago and we had to replace the skimmer and put new sand in the filter and then started with the chemicals, he put in 5lbs of ph plus and 5 lbs of alkalinity plus and three lbs of shock, we have been shocking the water every night.
Last Sunday we took a sample to a pool store and they saw the chunk of algae and told us to put in a bottle of copper algaecide, so we did, then I read your forum and maybe that wasn't the best thing to do?
We have continued scouping out thick algae and stuff everyday for a week now and today it is finally clear water and we can see the bottom.

This is what our test strip results are: (I am not sure why it says bromine)
Bromine 5
Free chlorine 3
PH 7.2
Total Alkilinity 40

That is all the results we get from our strips.
The water looks good but we are just not sure what to put in it or how much to get the safe readings we should have?
Your help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
 
Welcome to TFP!

Test strips aren't all that reliable, and your really need to know your CYA level. I recommend getting a top quality test kit like the TF-100 from TFTestKits.net. The Taylor K-2006 is also good. A good test kit will more than pay for it's self in chemical savings and avoided problems. If you get a CYA level from a pool store, we can tell you how to proceed from here. But getting a good test kit is a much better long term solution.
 
Thank you for your responses, I'm concerned about my blonde hair turning green, hopefully not, I guess I will have the kids try swimming first. We do not live close to anywhere that sells pool supplies, so we haven't bought a new test kit yet.
We raised the level of the TA to 80 and the PH is 7.2-7.4 but the FC is low now. Those results were from strips and a blue kit with oto and phenol drops.
Any suggestions other than we will try to get a test kit that will give us more accurate readings.
Thanks
 
Blond hair can turn green when there is copper in the water. One bottle probably isn't enough to cause a problem, but if you are worried about it you could use some sequestrant.

With CYA around 40, you want to keep FC between 3 and 7, and never below 3.
 
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