mommytotwins,
Totally up to you on how crazy you want to get with driving all over town chasing down the lowest prices on your shopping list.
Me personally, I live in Bloomington, Indiana, I still buy my chlorine from my pool guy that we have used for years because his prices are good, I get 12.5% strength, it's always fresh and he always has it in stock.
I buy my CYA/Stabilizer from him, I can get my Muriatic Acid at either Menards or my pool guy the price is the same for me.
I get my Baking Soda at Sams it comes in a 13.5lb bag it's around $9 bucks (this is used to raise TA)
I buy Borax at Walmart or Grocery store, it just depends on where I am or where I am headed as to how I acquire my supplies.
But Things you need
Stabilizer
Liquid Chlorine
Borax
Baking Soda (you dont have to buy 13.5 lbs, you will use only what the calculator tells you to use, but it has a great shelf life.)
Muriatic Acid (sold in gallon jugs and you should only ever need 1 on hand and you probably won't use the whole gallon this year)
Immediately you need, CYA/Stabilizer, Muriatic Acid, 12-16 gallons of 12.5% or double that for 6% Bleach.
Bleach and Pool Chlorine are both Sodium Hypochlorite the ONLY difference is the strength. Pool Chlorine is 10%-12.5% and Bleach is typically 6% but can be as high as 8.25%. For me, that gets a bit much, I keep this part of my life simple.
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Where do I buy stabilizer if I don’t get it at the pool store? Also...should I vacuum before adding all the chemicals? The pollen is terrible here so it could use a good vacuum. Sorry for all the novice questions
Thing is, you do not have to "avoid" the pool store, fact is you will have to go there for some things. What you are learning is what to buy while you are in the pool store and more importantly.. what NOT to buy when you are in the pool store.
and Yes, feel free to vacuum and net and rake everything you can out of your pool. You want that valuable chlorine working on algae, not leaves and sticks.