New pool owner

[BenderTheMirage]

Hi guys, we just moved into a new house that also has a personal pool.
First thing, i've never owned a pool or even maintained one and oh boy my first week here has been a mess. The first few days the water was crystal clear but then as the kids and friends started going in over the next few days it became green.

I was never told about cleaning it and adding chlorine etc so things took a downturn.
My dad went to Pinch-A-Penny and they sold my dad multitudes of different things which all failed to help.
We then went to Leslies and the same thing.

I found this forum and read through PoolSchool and several posts, got my water tested before SLAM'ing the pool and although i havent tested it yet because of work, the pool has turned almost crystal clear again, just a bit cloudy.

i have yet to buy a test kit but will as soon as i can.
Leslies test results below.

the pool size is approximately 30x15 rectangular 9 feet on the deep end and 3-4ft on the shallow end.
according to the calculator it is around 32,000 gallons

This was when i was in the process (about an hour or two in) of SLAM'ing so the numbers are a little off. Below are also Leslie's test results before SLAM'ing

FC: 10
TC: 10
CH: 200
CYA: 40
TA: 120
PH: 8 (possibly from the algeacide and crystal clear from leslies)
Acid: 1
Copper: 0
Iron: 0
TDS: 400
Pho: 500 (dad bought PhosFree but never put in)
Temp: 80

Leslie's before SLAM'ing

FC: 0
TC: 0
CH: 170
CYA: 40
TA: 110
PH: 7.5
Acid: Not tested
Copper: 0
Iron: 0
TDS: 1000
Pho: 300
Temp: 80


Any tips on how to maintain it more efficiently will be greatly appreciated.

I'm taking time to read through PoolSchool and other members' posts to learn

 

[zea3]

Hi, welcome to TFP! The most important tool you can buy is one of the recommended test kits. That will allow you to take control of your pool. Add about a jug of 8% plain unscented bleach per day to keep the chlorine stable until you can conduct your own tests. This should keep you in a holding pattern until the test kit arrives.

Try and return the phosfree if you can. Try to get store credit you can use for liquid chlorine or floaties if they don't want to give money back.

 

[BenderTheMirage]

Thanks for the welcome.

By jug, do you mean a gallon? Pinch-A-Pennie is around 5 minutes from my house and we already have two of their refillable 2.5 gallon jugs which is what i've been using so far.

i'll try to return the phosfree this weekend and get more chlorine.

Is chlorine storable? I have an outdoor bathroom and a small storage area i thought about buying chlorine and storing there since walmart has 2x 1 gallon jugs for $6 i could stock up a little bit so i wouldn't have to be going back and forth to refill

 

[Michigan Chris]

In the calculator, you will want to use average depth and not just the deepest depth. 30x15 at 9.5 ft deep gets you 32,000 gallons. The average depth would be closer to 6ft. Which would be around 20,000 gallons.