Hi All. I'm thrilled to find your forum. I am in need of some good advice. I just had my old pool remodeled. The details are in my signature. The new Pebble Tec was acid washed yesterday morning, and it has been filling up since then. The level is just above the shiny new LED light. I estimate that it holds somewhere between 15,000 and 18,000 gallons. I have been using a pool service for my weekly chemistry check for about the last 2 years. I did it myself for the 18 years before that, but I never could quite get it right and felt like I was spending a ton of $ on pool chemicals at Leslie's, so I finally hired them just to do the chemistry. But a man comes about once a week, does a quick check, drops a couple of 3" tabs in the basket, and is gone. It literally takes him less than 120 seconds. I don't have a lot of confidence in them to do more than that, although I will say that the water has stayed nice and clear for the past 2 years that they have been doing the work. I clean the pool with an AquaBot Turbo (my fourth robot) whenever the dirt/dust accumulates a bit on the bottom. That works very well. My old pool did not have a main drain, and the skimmer was one that I put together myself and fed over the top of the deck, as did the one return. 
My pool builder has not been very informative about what to do when the pool fills up, except to say that I better get some chemicals in it pronto. I have received different information from several sources, including the web. So, I took a jar of my clean tap water (from the pool) to Leslie's for a test. The results are 0 for everything except Calcium Hardness - 50, Total Alkalinity - 70, pH - 8.0, and Acid Demand - 4. Leslie's instructions are as follows: 1) broadcast 6 lbs 5 oz of Alkalinity Up, then wait 4 hours and retest; 2) add 4 lbs 14 oz of Leslie's Conditioner, let it circulate for 72 hours, then retest. The pool builder left me with 14 bags of salt. I understand that I should not add the salt for at least 30 days. The man who installed my equipment said that I might even get away with not adding any salt at all until next Spring at this point. So, I am fairly confused, and would love to find a comprehensive opinion on what to do with my nice clean tap water when it hits midline on the skimmer hole in a little while. Thanks for any advice you might have. I'll do a better job of attaching photos next time. I'll also attach one of the finished pool.
My pool builder has not been very informative about what to do when the pool fills up, except to say that I better get some chemicals in it pronto. I have received different information from several sources, including the web. So, I took a jar of my clean tap water (from the pool) to Leslie's for a test. The results are 0 for everything except Calcium Hardness - 50, Total Alkalinity - 70, pH - 8.0, and Acid Demand - 4. Leslie's instructions are as follows: 1) broadcast 6 lbs 5 oz of Alkalinity Up, then wait 4 hours and retest; 2) add 4 lbs 14 oz of Leslie's Conditioner, let it circulate for 72 hours, then retest. The pool builder left me with 14 bags of salt. I understand that I should not add the salt for at least 30 days. The man who installed my equipment said that I might even get away with not adding any salt at all until next Spring at this point. So, I am fairly confused, and would love to find a comprehensive opinion on what to do with my nice clean tap water when it hits midline on the skimmer hole in a little while. Thanks for any advice you might have. I'll do a better job of attaching photos next time. I'll also attach one of the finished pool.
