I purchased a house early this year. The house came with an above ground pool with a deck built around it. Pool is an oval 33' x 18'.
I made my first mistake when I decided to try and take off the "tarp as a cover" myself and as a result a lot of dirt and debris ended up in the the pool. I have been working to remove all this. I unfortunately tried to open all this before finding trouble free pools, and I utilized 4 lbs of shock which didn't solve it all and then went to a local pool store, had them test my numbers. They claimed it was all good, except chlorine level was low. So I bought 8 gallons of liquid chlorine 10% from them and an algaecide. Used 6 gallons of it to SLAM it and the algaecide. That seemed to do a lot of the work. Added another gallon in the morning.
After removing the cover.
After all I did above and as of this morning. Which involves several vacuums to waste etc, as sediment or something keeps settling onto the ground.
So now I am here to the past few days. I got the Taylor-2006 test kit and I am pretty sure I am doing most of it correctly, but I am not entirely sure if I am on the CYA test correctly or the calcium hardness test correctly. On the calcium, hardness test I saw that something about metals can cause an issue in the color and there is a work around for that. I need to find that and test it. My issue here is that I cannot tell when it is it turns purple and then eventually to a...almost blue. Never a dark blue though, it is always a very light blue that was confusing me, but todays latest results at least changed from to purple then to a more blueish color at the 200 CH.
The CYA I am simply just not sure when I am supposed to "not see the dot". Is it when the dot appears to go away, or when it is truly impossible to see? If I look down at it long enough I can faintly see the black dot sometimes, but only if I stare down at it, then it comes into focus. I always hate this about brightness settings in games etc as well, as I am never sure what is considered "can't see anymore". In either case it seems my CYA is high, but it may not be if I were to go so far that it is impossible to see the black dot.
Also my PH seems to be fluctuating a lot.
At this point I am basically having to put in a gallon of chlorine a day. Which seems super high and is a costly thing. I got a solar cover that I put on top of the pool today, which hopefully helps with this, but I am also afraid it will make me miss out on debris that gets below it and result in chlorine loss and algae if I do not keep monitoring it.
EDIT: I meant to say the previous owners definitely used chlorine tablets in a floater and PoolRx (found one with the filter equipment when I opended).
EDIT 2: I just tested PH for the night 3 hours after putting in the gallon of liquid chlorine at 10%. FC test came to 6.4
==========================================
FrayPool
------------------------------------------
Build Type: Vinyl
Volume: 15863 gallons
Chemistry: Liquid Chlorine
------------------------------------------
Latest Test Result Summary:
FC: 1.8 (1 hour ago)
pH: 7.4 (1 hour ago)
TA: 80 (1 hour ago)
CH: 200 (1 hour ago)
CYA: 65 (1 hour ago)
TEMPERATURE: 68° (1 hour ago)
==========================================
------------------------------------------
Chemical Addition 05-24-2025 @ 07:34 PM
------------------------------------------
+ 125.80052647870679 FluidOunces of Bleach
------------------------------------------
Test Results 05-24-2025 @ 07:18 PM
------------------------------------------
Free Chlorine: 1.8
pH: 7.4
Total Alkalinity: 80
Calcium Hardness: 200
CYA: 65
Temperature: 68°F
------------------------------------------
Chemical Addition 05-24-2025 @ 11:38 AM
------------------------------------------
+ 4.058081499313126 FluidOunces of Bleach
------------------------------------------
Test Results 05-24-2025 @ 09:07 AM
------------------------------------------
Free Chlorine: 6.8
pH: 7.6
Total Alkalinity: 90
Calcium Hardness: 375
CYA: 60
Temperature: 64°F
------------------------------------------
Test Results 05-23-2025 @ 10:11 PM
------------------------------------------
Free Chlorine: 8.8
CYA: 80
Temperature: 66°F
------------------------------------------
Chemical Addition 05-23-2025 @ 09:00 PM
------------------------------------------
+ 182.61366746909047 FluidOunces of Bleach
------------------------------------------
Test Results 05-23-2025 @ 08:28 PM
------------------------------------------
Free Chlorine: 1.0
pH: 7.2
Total Alkalinity: 80
Calcium Hardness: 200
CYA: 85
Temperature: 66°F
------------------------------------------
Maintenance 05-23-2025 @ 04:30 PM
------------------------------------------
Vacuumed, Cleaned Filter, Backwashed, Brushed
------------------------------------------
Chemical Addition 05-22-2025 @ 05:35 PM
------------------------------------------
+ 128 FluidOunces of Bleach
I made my first mistake when I decided to try and take off the "tarp as a cover" myself and as a result a lot of dirt and debris ended up in the the pool. I have been working to remove all this. I unfortunately tried to open all this before finding trouble free pools, and I utilized 4 lbs of shock which didn't solve it all and then went to a local pool store, had them test my numbers. They claimed it was all good, except chlorine level was low. So I bought 8 gallons of liquid chlorine 10% from them and an algaecide. Used 6 gallons of it to SLAM it and the algaecide. That seemed to do a lot of the work. Added another gallon in the morning.
After removing the cover.
After all I did above and as of this morning. Which involves several vacuums to waste etc, as sediment or something keeps settling onto the ground.
So now I am here to the past few days. I got the Taylor-2006 test kit and I am pretty sure I am doing most of it correctly, but I am not entirely sure if I am on the CYA test correctly or the calcium hardness test correctly. On the calcium, hardness test I saw that something about metals can cause an issue in the color and there is a work around for that. I need to find that and test it. My issue here is that I cannot tell when it is it turns purple and then eventually to a...almost blue. Never a dark blue though, it is always a very light blue that was confusing me, but todays latest results at least changed from to purple then to a more blueish color at the 200 CH.
The CYA I am simply just not sure when I am supposed to "not see the dot". Is it when the dot appears to go away, or when it is truly impossible to see? If I look down at it long enough I can faintly see the black dot sometimes, but only if I stare down at it, then it comes into focus. I always hate this about brightness settings in games etc as well, as I am never sure what is considered "can't see anymore". In either case it seems my CYA is high, but it may not be if I were to go so far that it is impossible to see the black dot.
Also my PH seems to be fluctuating a lot.
At this point I am basically having to put in a gallon of chlorine a day. Which seems super high and is a costly thing. I got a solar cover that I put on top of the pool today, which hopefully helps with this, but I am also afraid it will make me miss out on debris that gets below it and result in chlorine loss and algae if I do not keep monitoring it.
EDIT: I meant to say the previous owners definitely used chlorine tablets in a floater and PoolRx (found one with the filter equipment when I opended).
EDIT 2: I just tested PH for the night 3 hours after putting in the gallon of liquid chlorine at 10%. FC test came to 6.4
==========================================
FrayPool
------------------------------------------
Build Type: Vinyl
Volume: 15863 gallons
Chemistry: Liquid Chlorine
------------------------------------------
Latest Test Result Summary:
FC: 1.8 (1 hour ago)
pH: 7.4 (1 hour ago)
TA: 80 (1 hour ago)
CH: 200 (1 hour ago)
CYA: 65 (1 hour ago)
TEMPERATURE: 68° (1 hour ago)
==========================================
------------------------------------------
Chemical Addition 05-24-2025 @ 07:34 PM
------------------------------------------
+ 125.80052647870679 FluidOunces of Bleach
------------------------------------------
Test Results 05-24-2025 @ 07:18 PM
------------------------------------------
Free Chlorine: 1.8
pH: 7.4
Total Alkalinity: 80
Calcium Hardness: 200
CYA: 65
Temperature: 68°F
------------------------------------------
Chemical Addition 05-24-2025 @ 11:38 AM
------------------------------------------
+ 4.058081499313126 FluidOunces of Bleach
------------------------------------------
Test Results 05-24-2025 @ 09:07 AM
------------------------------------------
Free Chlorine: 6.8
pH: 7.6
Total Alkalinity: 90
Calcium Hardness: 375
CYA: 60
Temperature: 64°F
------------------------------------------
Test Results 05-23-2025 @ 10:11 PM
------------------------------------------
Free Chlorine: 8.8
CYA: 80
Temperature: 66°F
------------------------------------------
Chemical Addition 05-23-2025 @ 09:00 PM
------------------------------------------
+ 182.61366746909047 FluidOunces of Bleach
------------------------------------------
Test Results 05-23-2025 @ 08:28 PM
------------------------------------------
Free Chlorine: 1.0
pH: 7.2
Total Alkalinity: 80
Calcium Hardness: 200
CYA: 85
Temperature: 66°F
------------------------------------------
Maintenance 05-23-2025 @ 04:30 PM
------------------------------------------
Vacuumed, Cleaned Filter, Backwashed, Brushed
------------------------------------------
Chemical Addition 05-22-2025 @ 05:35 PM
------------------------------------------
+ 128 FluidOunces of Bleach
Last edited:
