First Year opening a pool.

[cityworka]

This was my first pool opening ever, bought the house in Aug and it has a 2 year old IG salt pool (info in sig!)

Saturday Pool was opened by a local company. The tech was super nice and showed me around all the equipment. Water was clear on opening. Added 2 jugs of chlorine to start and told me to bring to store to test 24 hours later.

Brought sample into store Sunday afternoon with numbers

Salt - 3300
FC - 8.1
TC - 8.64
CC - 0.54 (pool store gave me lil bag of zap or something, non-chlorine shock?) Used right away
PH 8.1 (adjusted, based on what they wanted me to do I guess?) My guy said it would come down.
CYA - 4 ppm (was given 900g of stabalizer told to use 500g)
CH - 58 (got suckered into 2 kg's of calcium plus even thought I now know I DON"T need with a vinyl liner and salt pool )
TA - 101

Had the pool guy out last night to test water and check my hayward box, having issue with check cell and low salt even though salt is sitting at 3300 and cell has no buildup. He used a Taylor test kit.

Updated numbers as of last night are

Salt - 3300
FC 8.5 (we turned off salt cell for now)
TC 9
CC .5
PH - He said good, should of asked what number
CYA - 10 (pool guy rec'd 2kg's of stabilizer)
CH - 220 (got sucker'd)
TA - 100

SO - I am new to this and learning but at first look and the little reading I have done here the last few days. I used the last 400g of stabilizer I had last night and this morning I found a full bottle from the old owner and added that 900g's.

I am hoping this brings my CYA up and then I can work towards the proper CYA/CHLORINE ratio, this is my first goal?
Having the Salt cell off will naturally bring my chlorine levels down?
I know that a CC of .5 is not ideal, is there a way to bring this down while working towards a good CYA? I am guessing those bags of zap are pretty useless? Should I be.... slamming? I have only read a bit, learning as I go. The pool is crystal clear IMO.
Waiting for my TF100 to get sent to an american friend, and he is going to relay it to me in Canada, therefore I have to use pool store testing for the next few weeks. My plan was to bring in a sample in a few days and evaluate after that? Is it safe to swim until then?

Last question, I have a solar blanket and have been keeping it on over night and on during most of the day, should I keep it off until my chlorine is lower?

I know I am all over the place, I am thankful for anybody who has read through my ramblings, typing it out is helping me understand the process and hoping that my thought process on balancing is getting better. Thank you for any advice.

 

[Texas Splash]

It's good your pool guy had a Taylor kit. Based on that Taylor kit, ….
- Yes, increase CYA. You have a salt pool, so the CYA should be at about 70. If you suspect ANY algae (requiring a SLAM), then only take the CYA to 30.
- Yes, when the SWG is off, the FC should begin to drop. Rate depends on the heat and amount of sunlight.
- A cc reading of 0.5 is treated the same as zero. You're good.
- Should you SLAM? Only you will know based on water clarity and possibly performing an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test. But you can't do either until you get the TF-100, so just hang tight for now and keep the pool chlorinated.
- The blanket is up to you. The warmer the water, the quicker algae can grow. So until you get the TF-100, you might want to conserve FC. But the pool should get a few hours of sunlight each day to help with oxidation.

Hope that helps.

 

[cityworka]

Texas, that helps so much. Just wanted to know I was on the right track. I will get a water sample tested tonight at the pool place (I will take with a grain of salt). Can't wait to get my kit!