According to my buddy Jeff, I need to focus on getting my pH to 7.2, my CYA to 30, and my FC to 12. These are the readouts I got from pool math for my approx 13,000 gallon pool.
Keep Jeff around, he is a good friend that is solid advice
To get my pH from 6.8 to 7.2 I need to add 55oz weight or 48oz volume of soda ash or wash soda...or 110oz weight or 106oz volume of Borax.
We use borax, you can find it at any big box store or grocery store, I would grab a couple boxes to keep on hand.
To get my CYA from 0 to 30 I need to add 52oz weight or 54oz volume, or 135oz of liquid stabilizer.
CYA or its formal name is Cyanuric Acid sold or packaged as Stabilizer or Conditioner. We do not know for sure that you are at 0, we do know that you did not test high enough to register 30. So, I would suggest you add 1/2 to 2/3's of the recommended dosage. Best practice is to put it in a sock, yes a sock will hold more than you think, I got 4lbs in a size 11-12 sock, then either tie it off so it dangles in the water in front of a return or you can put it in the skimmer basket. After a few hours your choice, overnight would work too, the CYA will soften up a bit in the sock, then you can squeeze the sock with your hand and the dissolved CYA will enter the water and you can keep working the sock until the CYA is all out. Then wait 30mins to 1 hour and retest your CYA and update us with the results.
Finally to get my FC from 0 to 12 I need to add 160oz of 12.5% bleach.
Assuming you get 12.5% Pool Chlorine or 6% bleach you can adjust the calculator with that % so it can properly measure out for you how much to add. I personally get a case of Pool Chlorine for $14.95, so I never need to chase down bleach because I get a good price in my area.
What is the difference between weight and volume?
Weight is for dry measurements, oz/lbs and volume is for liquids, oz/gallons.
With the pH reading it says "given a TA of 100 and a Borate of 0" I dont know what those are and didnt input any numbers...is this correct for pH?
When you set up that calculator just put in your TA test results and then set the target to the test result, that will tell the calculator that you are not looking to adjust that.
All of these have inter-related properties and impacts to the water, the calculator is attempting to compensate for all of your changes based on what you tell it you are going to use so it can offset any increases that may carry over from other adjustments you are plugging into it.
Right now, we are worried about CYA which is sunblock for your valuable Chlorine, getting the pH to 7.2 so it makes the environment better for your valuable Chlorine to fight the algae and then your FC up to 12 to get to SLAM levels at which point you will want to test FC every couple of hours at first to keep it at 12 so you avoid FC bounces to under SLAM level.