Tips for a new pool owner?

[negativez0]

If you have any CYA slowly dissolving in a sock placed in your skimmer, it should be soft enough by now to just take it out of the skimmer and squeeze the heck out of the sock(s) in front of your return (I aim my return away from the skimmer and slightly downward for max circulation) until it exudes clouds of white into your water. With the possibility of algae, I would make sure all the CYA addition is present and accounted for, if for no other reason than having one less thing to worry about.

Any time I add CYA, I suspend the sock on a pole in front of a return, wait about an hour (dinner, cold beverage or two, three, etc. LOL) then begin to squeeze to make the "Big Cloud" until the sock is empty. I have a tendency to be impatient. I usually wait a day or two to test for CYA, but if I know I personally put it in there, it's in there! I can then proceed with whatever else needs adjusting.

Great job so far, by the way. And WELCOME to TFP. You will never regret (edit) doing this!

Thanks! This is what I ended up doing a couple days into waiting for the CYA to dissolve in the sock. It's way more fast (and satisfying!) to squeeze the heck out of it and watch it get sucked up by the skimmer.

 

[negativez0]

SLAM complete! What's next?

I passed the OCLT, CC is less than .5ppm, and water is clear.
I need to do some reading on these other levels shown in the app that I haven't tested for yet: CH, CSI, & BOR. Is there anything with these that I need to be immediately concerned about?

Thanks again for everyone's help, especially @PoolStored. I learned a ton through this process and you guys gave me the confidence to get it done.

 

[PoolStored]

I need to do some reading on these other levels shown in the app that I haven't tested for yet: CH, CSI, & BOR. Is there anything with these that I need to be immediately concerned about?

Thanks again for everyone's help, especially @PoolStored. I learned a ton through this process and you guys gave me the confidence to get it done.

CH really doesn't matter in a Vinyl pool, but good to test (see next sentence). CSI is a calculated result and really meant to help manage a plaster pool. (Letting CSI get too high >.3 CAN cause scaling in a vinyl pool). If you have not added Borates, you don't need to test and track.

 

[mknauss]

Thanks again for everyone's help, especially @PoolStored. I learned a ton through this process and you guys gave me the confidence to get it done.

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[negativez0]

We are glad you have found our information helpful. Please, if you can, consider making a donation to TFP. We are staffed by volunteers and are registered as an IRS 501 (c) (3) charity and donations are what keeps the forum operating without advertisements.

Support TFP!

Thanks for the reminder on this. This forum and the app have been extremely valuable as I go through this first year of pool ownership. I can't imagine how much more challenging this would have been (and how much I'd have spent on gas!) had I been going to the pool store for help. I'm a Gold Supporter now and feel it was worth every dollar.