Hey guys im Bryan and im new to the pool scene.We just bought a house with an above groung pool that was sitting unused for about 2 years.My wife the clean freak she is had me completely empty the pool and refill it. Now its full of water and have no clue where to start. The pool is 24' x 48" round, Hayward power-flow pump, Clearwater 2 cartridge filter with a Power clean mini inline chlorinator.Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.
New to pools and TFP
- Thread starter bwd
- Start date
Hi guys im Bryan im new to the pool scene and TFP. Just bought a house with a AG vinyl pool that was sitting for 2 years. My wife being the clean freak she is had me completely empty the pool and refill it. So now its full of water but i have no clue where to begin. I ordered my test kit but it will take a week to get here.My wife wants the pool opened by July 4 so she went and bought test strips. The water is slightly cloudy . The baseline test strip results show that the TA is between 125-150ppm,pH high at or above 8.4, free chlorine is low, total chlorine low, hardness 175-225 and CYA is low. No chemicals have been added just not sure where to begin.
Welcome! 
First thing: order a proper test kit. If your wife is a clean freak, you'll need it. You can have water like this
Yes, that's full. There's an article in pool school, but save some time and just head for TFTestkits.net
With a fresh fill, you have zero chlorine. So you need to add some. You also have no stabilizer in tap water, so you'll need that, too. Initially, you want to add 2 ppm FC every day. That's about 5 cups of standard 8.25% clorox bleach. If you measure the actual water depth, we can get a better approximation of the pool volume and get even more accurate.
To add stabilizer, you need Cyanuric acid aka CYA. Get it at Lowes or Walmart of any other big box store with a pool section. One 4 lb canister will be just about perfect. How to add it is in Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals
Lastly, you'll need to adjust pH. You need a test kit to do that. So don't hesitate on ordering a kit. It probably won't be too bad swimming in it before then, since you bathe in the same source water, but it will change over time, so that needs fine-tuning.
Low CH won't be a problem with a vinyl pool, and TA is the last thing you worry about, so they can wait for the test kit. They have to, anyway, since you need to know where you're at.
To decipher some of my terms: Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
What to use to adjust what: Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals
How much to use: Pool School - PoolMath
First thing: order a proper test kit. If your wife is a clean freak, you'll need it. You can have water like this
Yes, that's full. There's an article in pool school, but save some time and just head for TFTestkits.net
With a fresh fill, you have zero chlorine. So you need to add some. You also have no stabilizer in tap water, so you'll need that, too. Initially, you want to add 2 ppm FC every day. That's about 5 cups of standard 8.25% clorox bleach. If you measure the actual water depth, we can get a better approximation of the pool volume and get even more accurate.
To add stabilizer, you need Cyanuric acid aka CYA. Get it at Lowes or Walmart of any other big box store with a pool section. One 4 lb canister will be just about perfect. How to add it is in Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals
Lastly, you'll need to adjust pH. You need a test kit to do that. So don't hesitate on ordering a kit. It probably won't be too bad swimming in it before then, since you bathe in the same source water, but it will change over time, so that needs fine-tuning.
Low CH won't be a problem with a vinyl pool, and TA is the last thing you worry about, so they can wait for the test kit. They have to, anyway, since you need to know where you're at.
To decipher some of my terms: Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
What to use to adjust what: Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals
How much to use: Pool School - PoolMath
Welcome to TFP! Richard320 has given you good advice and I will second what he said.
