New Here - Couple Questions About Getting My Pool Balanced :)

[eagle22]

Hi all, my wife and I recently purchased a house with a 22k gallon pool. I know nothing about pools, but thankfully found TFP and read through pool school (multiples times haha).

I went ahead and purchased the TF-Pro test kit. It arrived today so I was able to do some testing. After testing I took a sample into Leslies. I know they aren't the most accurate but I wanted to see if my numbers were somewhat in the same ballpark just to make sure I didn't majorly screw up any of the tests.

Here are the results from my test with the TF-Pro

FC - 0
PH - Over 8.2 (it was a darker red than the max 8.2 reading. Leslies had it at 8.5)
Total Alkalinity - 270
CYA - 50 (Leslies had it at 31)
Calcium Hardness (180)

So after looking at the results, seems like I have a lot to do. The lady at leslies told me I need to add 6 gallons and 31.45% Muriatic Acid over the next couple days. Based off what I have read here I thought that was WAY too much. Pool Math is telling me I should add 104oz.

Assuming pool math is correct, how does my plan look?

1) Add about 104oz of 31.45% Muriatic Acid (in doses of 1 Quart)
2) Add about 169oz 10% liquid chlorine
3) Add about 55 lbs of Calcium Chloride

Thanks in advance! New to all this but doing my best to learn as quickly as I can

 

[PoolGate]

What you were doing with Leslie's is seeing if THEIR numbers were somewhat in the ballpark . Trust your testing! Your additions look fine. With FC at 0, you may start to see algae and may need to run a SLAM. Acid is a regular addition I add around a gallon per week. Make sure you keep at the top end of the FC/CYA chart. Best thing is never to take a pool store's advice. All of their advice centers around trying to sell you expensive potions and lotions that mostly just lighten your wallet. The only thing you need from them is acid and maybe chlorine if their price is ok on that.

SLAM Process

FC/CYA Levels

 

[eagle22]

What you were doing with Leslie's is seeing if THEIR numbers were somewhat in the ballpark

LOL! Fair enough

With FC at 0, you may start to see algae and may need to run a SLAM

You are correct, algae is starting to build on the side of the walls. I will SLAM it. How important is it to get all the algae off the wall when performing a SLAM? There are some spots in the deep end that I am having trouble scrubbing.

 

[PoolGate]

LOL! Fair enough


You are correct, algae is starting to build on the side of the walls. I will SLAM it. How important is it to get all the algae off the wall when performing a SLAM? There are some spots in the deep end that I am having trouble scrubbing.

The chlorine will kill it all.