After battling with the stock 700gph pump, I broke down and bought the Intex 1600gph sand filter pump. Since the old pump has been out of commission, the algae got out of hand before I learned what to do about it. To simplify and speed things up, decided to drain and clean the pool and then refill.

It's nearly empty now. Going to scrub it down good and rinse it out, then start filling it back up tomorrow.

I have the new pump, 50 pounds of filter sand, the SWG, and 90 pounds of sand.

I've been reading the forum and Pool School for the last few days, but am still uncertain how to approach this.

Once the pool is full, should I pour in all the salt in and then wait a day or two before firing up the SWG?

Or should I add the CYA and some bleach first to get the chlorine going first?

Would like to get it going ASAP, but also want to learn the right way to get the pool going since we'll be doing it again in the spring.

Thanks,
jakeinga

Yep, I meant 90 pounds of salt.

So you're saying I should add CYA and bleach before dumping the salt in? Nothing I've read is really clear on that.

If that's the case, then I would have to wait around a week before turning the SWG, right? Since the CYA takes a while to dissolve?

To start with you can chlorinate your pool with bleach until the salt goes into solution (crystals disappear in pool water). It takes my pool 24-48 hours for the salt to dissolve. Meanwhile you want to have FC (free chlorine) in your pool to avoid organics. You will be adding chlorine every day until you turn on the swg, then the swg will take over maintain normal levels of chlorine in your pool.

Step 3 of the link I mentioned above suggests starting with 6 ppm of FC in your pool.
Step 5 discusses how to add CYA using the dichlor method. If you do not already have dichlor, I recommend using granular stabilizer (ingredents should be ~99% Cyanuric Acid) put in a sock and hung by the pool return. It will take a few days to dissolve. Use the poolcalculator.com for all calculations including how much cyanuric acid to put in your pool.

Get a good test kit, it will save you money and time in the long run! See: http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/pool_test_kit_comparison

Let us know if you have questions!

Adding to what Linen said, We recommend waiting 24 hours after adding salt to turn the swg on. You don't have to wait till the CYA dissolves. While you're waiting you want to chlorinate with bleach so things won't start growing. After 24 hours turn the swg on and test and adjust as required. You can suppliment with bleach if you test too low.

Now I think I'm on the right path.

Thank y'all very much for clearing that up.

I filled an old sock with the CYA and tied it off to the bottom of the ladder.

Then added bleach to the pool for the first couple evenings.

It doesn't look like the CYA is dissolving very well. Put it in three days ago. Isn't it supposed to be totally dissolved after a week or so?

I would put the sock by the return, so it gets buffeted by the flow. You can also squeeze it whenever you are out by the pool. If the CYA sock is left undisturbed, it can take much longer to go into solution.

I'll have to try that, thanks!

Squish squish... What brand did you use?

Not sure what the brand is, it was the only stabilizer I could find at Wal-Mart.

We don't have a pool shop in town, and Ace didn't have any in stock.

Walmart brand is fine, that's what I usually use. It seems to disolve fairly quick if you squish it, but it still may take up to a week to fully register in your water.

I climbed down the ladder this morning and squished it around a bit.

Seems like it got knocked around pretty well yesterday, as it's all nearly gone now.

So once it's totally gone I should be able to get a fairly accurate reading on the CYA, right?

Until I'm able to get a TF kit, I'll have to take my water to ACE and have it tested. I bought the 6-way strips at Wal-Mart, but don't really trust them.

I would wait a few days to test (maybe a week), since some of it is probably still hanging around your pool bottom. It is not uncommon for CYA readings to take a week to stabilize after it is in the pool. Also, if you do not need too, I would not backwash the filter.

Uuuuhhh...so then I guess it wasn't a good idea to test out the vacuum yesterday.

If you vacuumed to waste...probably not...wait a few days, then test. If you need more, add it then.

I didn't put it on waste, just the normal filter setting.

So I guess it's all in the filter now.

Your good then, just don't backflush for a week (maybe less since I would think the CYA would go into solution faster being in the filter and seeing flow/disturbance all of the time).

Hey linen, I notice in your sig that you have removed the copper bars from your SWG.

Why is that?

To keep copper out of the pool...always a very good idea. Copper can stain the pool and turn blond hair green (used to happen to me in a pool when I was taking a lifeguard training instructor course). Removing the copper bars was probably an overreaction on my part. I could have just unplugged them so the system wouldn't produce the the copper ions, but I didn't want any copper in my pool. Copper ions for an "algaecide" are not needed when a pool is properly chlorinated and maintained.