Looking for some direction...

[Eric448503]

I just, I know its late, setup and opened an Intex 15x48. I shocked it last night. I put stabilizer, algecide and 3" chlorine tabs today. The filter has ran for about 10 hours. We would like to swim tomorrow if its safe. Can I get some direction on these numbers? Thanks in advance.

FCI: 1

TCI: 0 or 0.5, the colors are pretty close on the test strip

Alk: 180

pH: 8.4

TH: 0

 

[ajw22]

What test kit are you using?

Nothing unsafe about those numbers if the pool water is clear and you can see the bottom of the pool.

We don't recommend the use of algicide. It can add unwanted things like copper or ammonia to the water.

Stabilizer for how much ppm CYA did you add? We don;t recommend the continuous use of chlorine tablets as it raises your CYA.

Your FC is low and your pH is hogh. The tablets should be adding chlorine and acid as well as CYA. So just restest tomorrow.

I suggest you read ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry

 

[Eric448503]

What test kit are you using?

Nothing unsafe about those numbers if the pool water is clear and you can see the bottom of the pool.

We don;t recommend the use of algicide. It can add unwanted things like copper or ammonia to the water.

Stabilizer for how much ppm CYA did you add? We don;t recommend the continuous use of chlorine tablets as it raises your CYA.

Your FC is low and your pH is hogh. The tablets should be adding chlorine and acid as well as CYA. So just restest tomorrow.

I suggest you read ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry

Thank you for your reply. I am using Insta Test 5 plus test strips from LaMotte. The water is very clear but it looks like "algae" may be forming on the top of the water, the "algae" is clear at the moment. I use the quotes as I don't know if it is a actually algae. I need to refine my process and get a better testing kit but I did what I could in the short term. I used the pool store recommendation on all of the startup chemicals. I used a 1/2 gallon of the stabilizer, I have 4400 gallons and they rounded up to 5000. I am going to use this forum to fine tune my process. My 4 year old daughter is hyped up to swim tomorrow and I wanted to make sure the water was safe for her to be in.

 

[IceShadow]

It’s hard to be sure because test strips can be so inaccurate. But I doubt you’ll have trouble.

 

[ajw22]

Test strips are close to worthless. You really need to get a recommended test kit - either the TF-100 Test Kits or the Taylor K-2006C. See Test Kits Compared. Likely the new pool water is as safe as your bathtub. However over time the direction you are going can have problems your test strips will not find.

 

[Eric448503]

Test strips are close to worthless. You really need to get a recommended test kit - either the TF-100 Test Kits or the Taylor K-2006C. See Test Kits Compared. Likely the new pool water is as safe as your bathtub. However over time the direction you are going can have problems your test strips will not find.

Thank you! I will definitely be picking up a more advanced testing kit.

 

[Eric448503]

Thank you! I will definitely be picking up a more advanced testing kit.

Test strips are close to worthless. You really need to get a recommended test kit - either the TF-100 Test Kits or the Taylor K-2006C. See Test Kits Compared. Likely the new pool water is as safe as your bathtub. However over time the direction you are going can have problems your test strips will not find.

TF100 kit ordered. Thanks for the help everyone. I will certainly have better results next time.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

For tomorrow, use PoolMath (found at the bottom of the page) to guide how much to add of each chemical you need. You need some muriatic acid to lower your pH to around 7.4. It will also help lower your high TA by default (a good thing).

Then go to Walmart and get some of the 10% liquid chlorine from the pool section. It comes in gallon jugs. Again, you want to use PoolMath to advise you how much to add based on how much CYA you've added to the water already. Do you recall how much it was (and how you added it?) You will want to have about 30ppm CYA and 5ppm of Free Chlorine.

You will need to test and re-dose the pool daily to keep the FC (free chlorine) high enough to keep algae at bay.

Maddie