Brand new pool

[aRose636]

Hello,
This is week one with our 18’ x 52”H vinyl pool and we are overwhelmed with where to start!!!
We slowly filled our 7,000 gallon pool with filtered well water. (Filled for 2-3 hours per day for 8 days.). Now, that the water level is finally high enough we have started to run the filter, and we just ran all the tests in the TF-100 test kit with the following results…

FC, CYA, CSI (n/a - we have not added any chemicals yet)
TA 650
PH 7.2
CH 75
Temp 50°-ish (Our best guess, thermometer hasn’t arrived from Amazon yet)

1. How much chlorine/bleach do I add initially?
2. How can my TA be so extremely high at 650, but my PH still be 7.2, and how do I lower the TA without lowering my PH?
Please help!

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum!
Great job on having a quality test kit right off the bat!
Recommended Levels
Start dissolving stabilizer using the sock method. Start with 30 ppm CYA worth.
Add 3 ppm FC worth of liquid chlorine. Then test FC daily and add liquid chlorine to stay in target level based on the 30 ppm CYA.
Keep pH in the 7's. Test TA everytime you need to lower pH. I suspect your TA is not that high. The test is skewed by small drops of reagent the first time or two you use the reagent.
I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry.