A little overwhelmed

[Divin Dave]

good deal on fixing the leak.

A few others have mentioned so I will just follow up. You really really need a good test kit. Strips and pool store testing varies wildly and just cant be trusted.
A good test kit will be the best investment you can make. The TF100 is what lots of us use here at TFP. Its the best bang for the buck. www.tftestkits.net . The K2006 is about the same as the TF100, but have smaller amounts of test regents, which means you will need refils for it more often. Its also availbe at the link above, as well as other places online.

I took the filter apart, cleaned the seal and both surfaces then generously applied silicon lubricant to the seal. It worked perfectly, not even a drop leaked when I put it back together. Thanks for all the advice, now I need to get the chemistry under control, still going through pool school, great information there.

 

[Divin Dave]

Continue to read pool school to learn pool care, but in the meantime, just go by the recommended levels and you will be golden.
There is a lot to learn and no one expects you to learn it all at once. And if you have any questions or simply need some re-inforcement that you are doing the right thing, just ask, and someone will be happy to help out.

http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/134-recommended-levels

Once you can test your water accurately, then of course you need to know how much stuff to put in... so Pool Math is the tool to help determine that.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html

Quite quickly, you need to understand that your FC level will be dependent upon your CYA level. CYA acts as a buffer to prevent the chlorine from being destroyed by UV rays from the sun. So, the higher your CYA level is, the more buffering is going on, which means you need to add evn more chlorine to overcome the buffering effect.
Here is the quick reference CYA/FC Chart. Never let your FC get below the minimum level.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/128-chlorine-cya-chart-slam-shock

 

[jjmac]

Thanks for that information. I think I'm pretty clear on the basics, clear enough to understand that I have some problems to fix.

The previous owner used hockey pucks and shock treatment every week according to the leftovers in the garage. My CYA is 100 (I verified this by doing a test with half pool water, half tap and getting a result of 50). My FC is 6 right now. So I'm trying to decide if I can limp along adding lots of liquid chlorine or bite the bullet and drain half the pool. We just moved in so we have a ton of extra expenses right now, and I didn't really want a high water bill to be one of them. I have my kids for spring break this week, and they have been swimming in it (Yes, without the heat on. Yes the water is 68 degrees. Yes, they are missing brain cells. Teenage boys...) so I don't really want to drain the water right away.

The other issue is TC is pretty high (.5) and there is a strong chlorine smell, if I understand correctly that means I need to SLAM the pool to get rid of it. At CYA level of 100, the calculator tells me I'm going to need more than 5 gallons of 10% chlorine just to get started with the process. I think I'll go buy stock in some liquid chlorine company now.

 

[JasonLion]

I recommend replacing water to get the CYA level down, at least some. Water isn't usually all that expensive, and SLAMing will be more expensive at high CYA levels.

 

[kimkats]

Pay for water or pay for chlorine. Which is cheaper? Time to do your research for you area and see what is best for you in the long run.

BUT I would also wait out the week and let the crazy kids have their fun. Tired kid=a good kid LOL

Kim

 

[bigglesworth]

If you have the option of replacing water, I'd do it. I didn't have that option and I started out managing our pool with a CYA of 90. It did drop on its own to it's current level of 35 (I don't know that it's 35, it's just somewhere in the middle of 30 and 40), but it took more than a year to get it there (using a sump pump to pull water out during a few heavy rains, splashout, etc...). Regardless, it really sucked having to maintain a 10ppm FC. It's much easier to maintain 5.

Beautiful pool BTW.

 

[jjmac]

Well, the kids did manage to break the pvc fountain in the spa, would give me a chance to fix that too. Then again now that you guys have helped me understand how the pumps and valves work, I could probably drain just the spa if I needed to by pulling water from the spa and returning to the pool.