Opinion on first test results of a brand new pool

[arib0nd]

Hi everyone,
Brand new pool owner here, my pool was completed a little over a month ago and was maintained by a pool guy for free for the first month. Unfortunately I have not been testing the water (and double checking his work), so anyway this is my first week taking over maintenance.
I just did my first test this morning, and it seems that a lot of my numbers are very off from what is recommended here (was the pool guy asleep at the wheel?)..
I have read through Pool School and looked at the pool calculator and have a general idea of what I need to (sounds like Muriatic acid, cyanuric acid and aeration in my future!) but wanted to get a 2nd opinion and understand what is the right order and timing of doing things.
Pool is located in Phoenix (will Gilbert) arizona (as most of you know, its usually peaking at around 105 or so everyday and tons of sun).
Its an inground concrete pool with Stonescape (Pebbletec?) interior.
I also have a SWG system. My pool pump is a 2 speed 1.5 HP and I also have three water scuppers and an in floor cleaning system.

Anyway, here are my results..
FC 9
CC 0
TC 9
pH 8.2
TA 150
CH 450
CYA 60

If I did my homework right it sounds like I need to do the following
* Lower FC by reducing my SWG Run time (currently my pump runs around 8 hrs a day with 50% SWG timer)
* Lower PH to 7.0-7.2 by adding muriatic acid, so it can help me lower TA
* Increase PH back up by aerating with my water feature
* Add cyanuric acid to increase CYA.

Does this sound right? Also a related question, since I have water features in my pool and generally use them for a few hours a week, am I constantly going to struggle with my PH (and TA?) numbers? If so, what is the recommended solution (other than constantly adding muriatic acid?).

Thanks!

 

[JasonLion]

Your plan is just about perfect. It looks like you have been doing your homework.

If you can get your TA down to around 60, and keep it there, and also add borates, you shouldn't have any serious problems with PH.

 

[arib0nd]

Your plan is just about perfect. It looks like you have been doing your homework.

If you can get your TA down to around 60, and keep it there, and also add borates, you shouldn't have any serious problems with PH.

If i do add Borates, it sounds like the PH will rise and I will have to add muriatic acid to bring it back down. But since I have to lower my PH to fix my TA, can I just skip the aerating to bring up the PH and instead just add the Borate? Seems to simple, or am I missing something here.

 

[svenpup]

Your plan is just about perfect. It looks like you have been doing your homework.

If you can get your TA down to around 60, and keep it there, and also add borates, you shouldn't have any serious problems with PH.

If i do add Borates, it sounds like the PH will rise and I will have to add muriatic acid to bring it back down. But since I have to lower my PH to fix my TA, can I just skip the aerating to bring up the PH and instead just add the Borate? Seems to simple, or am I missing something here.

If you read So you want to add borates to your pool--Why and How, you should fix TA first as it is harder to move TA once the borates are in.

 

[arib0nd]

Makes sense now.
So in terms of order of things..
1) Lower PH (by adding muriatic acid) so I can fix TA levels
2) Aerate to increase PH
3) Measure TA, if TA is not where I want it, repeat steps 1-3 till TA is spot on
4) Add stabilizer to fix CYA readings (I think I can do this in parallel with steps 1-3)
5) Once TA is fixed (and I guess PH), add correct amounts of Borate + Muriatic acid to increase Borate readings while keeping PH almost constant and barely impacting TA!

Am I on the right track?

 

[arib0nd]

Ok, so I added a bunch of Muriatic acid (around 2 gallons of 15.7%), and my PH dropped to 7.0. I aerated my PH back to 7.8.

So now my latest test results
FC 5.5
CC 0
TC 5.5
pH 7.8
TA 80

I will wait a week to test for CYA (I added around 1.5 lbs of stabilizer as well). But since my pH and TA are almost perfect and I am considering adding Borates to my pool. If I add Borax and the corresponding amount of muriatic acid (to keep the end result to be PH Neutral) will I also end up lowering my TA to the point of needing to add something to bring the TA back up?

Thoughts?

 

[JasonLion]

Adding borax and acid to increase the borate level actually raises the TA level just slightly. The acid lowers the TA, and the borax raises it up again. Actually the borax raises it just a little more than the acid lowers it.

If you lower your PH to around 7.5 or 7.6 you will be ready to add borates.