Hello all. in the absence of a local pool store, I am wondering what I need to have on hand to start our pool up for the first time. It is 45,000 gallons and will be filled with drinkable well water. I can tell you that the well water is slightly alkaline and reads slightly high on the mineral hardness test. I know that folks in the civilized world usually order pool water and then have a "pool service" come and start the pool. Unfortunately, that responsibility falls to me, and I am a lost ball in high weeds. We are polishing the pebble finish this week and hopefully on the weekend will be sticking a hose in the pool to fill it. I need to order chemical supplies from Lima - the capitol city over the Andes - and they will take about a week to get here. My wife has planned a birthday party for one of my children in about 2 weeks and the kids are super excited to swim in the new pool. I realize the pool will probably not be "ready" to swim in by then, but it probably will be..... So my question is, how do I get there from here? Some folks have said not to bother with the salt for the first month... So I need to start it up with chlorine. How much do I need to have on hand for this? I can get it in 5 Gal buckets apparently. Can I use bleach that I can buy locally for starting?? Do I need to order CYA? I realize I need a test kit. I am paying 150 buck for a k-2005 kit from Lima. I know it is high, but the only other kits available are test strips that measure chlorine and ph only. I have a k-2006 in the US, but the airline says it is Hazmat so we couldn't bring it, and all the shipping companies were charging 400 bucks for shipping - not including customs duties. All this to say, in a week I will be testing the water and have a better idea of what the water doesn't have, but I would like to have the chemicals on hand for when I need them. Can anyone help? Thanks in advance.
~Vann
~Vann