New Pool Owner In need of Serious HELP.

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Yeah, I was gonna keep pH at 7.2, but I just left it at 7.4. I added the 107 oz of baking soda, stirred it around, waited about an hour and added the 95 oz of liquid chlorine to get to 10ppm. Since CYA was somehow already at 20 I just put a chlorine tablet in the floatie. I checked FC and It got up to 10, I checked it 2 hours later and it was still at 10, that was last night, I just got up and was going to go check right now. So I don't need to worry about CH? The guy that came to my house said I didn't need to worry about it, but when the pool guy checked the water he said I needed to add some Hardness plus, he gave it to me for free though so if I don't need it I'm not gonna use it. What about the copper and phosphates, I didn't really read toi much about that in Pool School?
 
It's been 12 hrs since I started SLAMing. I just went out and tested with strips and with the kit. With the strips I got:
FC: 10/20
pH: 8.4-9
TA: 120
CYA: 20-30
When I tested with the kit I got:
FC: between 5-7.5 closer to 7.5
TC: same as FC
CC: 0
pH: darker than 8
TA: switched from blue to pink at 120 got red at 130
CYA: > 20

I know since FC is so high pH will show up high even if it's not, everything was balanced when I put in the liquid chlorine, so I'll have to wait till FC lowers to get an accurate reading of pH.
 
Only trust your kit results. The strips are basically worthless for accurate testing.

What is your water clarity like?

The pH test is accurate at any FC lower than 10. Your result is right. Adding the baking soda raised your pH and TA, so now you need to lower pH. You need to lower your pH to 7.2-7.4. Since your kit result was "darker than 8" did you mean darker than the 8.2 reference color or in between 7.8 and 8.2? If it's between assume it's 8 and use Pool Math to get your amount of MA to add to get to 7.4. Let that circulate for 30 minutes and then test again. Adjust as necessary.

Keep at least 2 ppm FC in there and when you raise it raise to 4 or 5 for daily additions. Your pH will naturally raise over time with aeration (jet circulation, splashing, etc.) so you should test pH at least daily for a while to keep it in the 7.4-7.8 range. Once it creeps higher than 7.8, add MA to bring it back down. Test for CYA every few days and use the CYA/Chlorine chart in the Handy Reference section of Pool School and maintain FC in the recommended ranges. I believe it's 2-5 for 30 CYA when you get there.
 
My water clarity is great, we ended up dumping, leveling and refilling the pool so it's full of fresh water. When the sun his it is definitely sparkling. I only SLAMmed it because it had sat for 3 or 4 days with nothing in it but the MA before we dumped it. My pH test goes up to 8.0 and it was a darker purple than that 8.0. I'll check pool math, add the MA and re check after the 30 min. Once the pH is back to where it should be, is it safe to get in the water or is that 6 or so FC to high?
 
It's safe to be in the pool at any FC less than the shock (SLAM) level for your current CYA. So with a CYA somewhere in the 20-30 range, anything below FC of 12 is fine for swimming. If it's higher, you risk bleaching suits, skin/eye irritation, etc.
 
Ok, awesome!! I will lower that pH now, and hopefully after a day of yard work, be ready to jump in later!

I was planning on doing all of my daily testing in the evening, adding what i need to add then running the filter for the 6hrs or so. If I do that, we'll I need to test again in the morning or just every night?
 
For the first couple days of managing the pool, testing with your color match chlorine and pH test twice daily is a good idea. Helps you understand how your pool is functioning. Then once a day on those two tests. You may even want to use the drop test to test for CC every day at first. Then test weekly for everything with drop based testing. CH is not as important for vinyl pools but FC, CC, pH and TA are good to keep a routine test on. Tracking those results in a notebook or spreadsheet is nice as well as you can see how the pool works over time.

EDIT: I have my pump running on a timer for two cycles daily. One 3 hour cycle in the morning and one in the evening. I usually only test in the evening but I like having the pool cycle in the morning as well for clarity reasons and the option for testing then too.
 
Ok, I actually picked up a notebook yesterday and have been writing all my results, when I test, what and when I add something etc! I didnt think the CH mattered with my pool but the guy at the store gave me some CHplus for free so I just took it. What about the copper and phosphorus, is that something I need to worry about?
 
If you've never put anything in your pool containing copper (i.e algaecide), you don't need to worry about copper.

Don't worry about phosphates, I wasted $50 on Phosfree when I could have just bought 20-25 jugs of bleach when I needed to SLAM.

I've been keeping a pool log with test results, too... very smart idea.
 

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I did put algae guard in, but that was before I dumped the whole pool and refilled it. So basically all I need to keep on hand is MA, baking soda and Chlorine? I had another question but I just forgot what it was, haha, I guess I'll remember it later!
 
Hold on. If you did not add CYA, then there is none in the water. How did you test the CYA level? Have you used any solid chlorine besides the one tablet you just added? Did you add CYA and I missed it?
 
No I didn't add CYA, I didn't test for it the first time I tested, but when they tested it at Leslies he got 20. I tested it again this morning but my kit only goes down to 30 so if it was lower than that I won't know. I never added anything but MA, baking soda and liquid chlorine and the chlorine tablet.
 
So I put in the 27oz of MA that pool math told me a little over an hour ago and just retested. First off, before I give you the results, I gotta say, when I tested this morning I did the chlorine test wrong, I saw what I thought was 18 and put half of that for the 9, turns out that was 1.8 so I had barely any water in the test tube. I feel like a dummy but I had to let everyone know, haha! So I just retested everything and here are my results.
FC: 2
TC: 2
CC: 0
PH: 7.0
TA: not sure, this was the question I forgot earlier. It turned from green to clear at 90, from clear to pink at 100 and from pink to red at 110, which is the result?
CYA: I didn't test, I know it's low and won't show up on my test so I didn't want to waste solution.
 
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