Low TA, low CYA, and high PH at opening

[al27]

I just opened up my pool and the water is green. After running the pump for 24 hours, I tested my water and got the following results:
FC - 1
CC -.5 (how is this possible?)
TA - 40
PH - 7.8
CYA - less than 30 (pool store says it’s 18).

Questions -
1. Do I need to increase the TA since it’s only 40? If so, what TA number do I put in the pool math calculator to figure out how much baking soda to add.
2. Since I have to add stabilizer which lowers the PH, can I skip adding the muriatic acid? I hate adding it and would like to skip it if I can get away with it.
3. How do I tell what my CYA actually is? I can still see the dot at 30 but barely. Pool store says that the CYA is 18. All of their other numbers were spot on so I have a feeling that 18 is the correct number. It’s definitely not zero because I’ve seen what a zero cya looks like and this isn’t it.

 

[PoolStored]

1. Do I need to increase the TA since it’s only 40? If so, what TA number do I put in the pool math calculator to figure out how much baking soda to add.

Raise your TA to 60.

2. Since I have to add stabilizer which lowers the PH, can I skip adding the muriatic acid? I hate adding it and would like to skip it if I can get away with it.

Sure, skip it.

3. How do I tell what my CYA actually is? I can still see the dot at 30 but barely. Pool store says that the CYA is 18. All of their other numbers were spot on so I have a feeling that 18 is the correct number. It’s definitely not zero because I’ve seen what a zero cya looks like and this isn’t it.

Assume your CYA is 20. Raise to 30, test 24 hours later.

Once the sock with the CYA hits the water, start the SLAM process. Link-->SLAM Process

 

[al27]

It says to add baking soda to the deep end. Do I brush after adding it? How long do I need to wait before starting the SLAM and adding the CYA?

 

[PoolStored]

You can brush. Immediately add the CYA in the sock. Once the sock is in the pool, start the SLAM.

After about 30 min of soaking, hold the sock in front of the return and start squeezing.

 

[al27]

How long do I need to wait after adding the baking soda and cya to add 2 gallons of liquid chlorine to get the FC up to 12 ppms? I remember seeking something somewhere about waiting several hours after adding baking soda to shock your pool but I don’t know if that is true or not.

 

[PoolStored]

You don't need to wait.

 

[al27]

Thank you for answering all of my questions!

 

[pjt]

Do I need to increase the TA since it’s only 40?

Are you continuing to add drops until there's no further color change? It typically takes ~3 more drops after the initial color change.

Do you have a SpeedStir?

 

[al27]

I used a speedstir. It turned dark pink at 3 drops, red at 4 drops and no further change at 5 drops. I assumed that meant that TA is 40. Am I correct about this? I hope so because I just added enough baking soda to get from 40 to 60.

 

[PoolStored]

Correct.