Pool is here! Now what?

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Brokepoolgirl

0
Jul 5, 2015
24
Leland/NC
My intex 12x30 pool is here. We are setting it up tmrw. I've got chlorine tablets and household bleach. After we fill the pool should I throw in a tablet or just start with bleach? If just bleach, how much? I read the seasonal pool info here but didn't see this listed unless I missed it.

Also how soon after adding chlorine can we swim?
 
Pool School - Guide for Seasonal/Temporary Pools has step-by-step instructions. For step 3, a mere three 8 oz pucks will give you all the CYA you need in a pool your size. They'll take a few days to dissolve in the floater.

Realistically, you can get in and swim as soon as the water is deep enough. You bathe in the same stuff, right? But it would be better to get a little chlorine in the water and have the pH adjusted before people start swimming around underwater.
 
Welcome Brokepoolgirl. Hopefully with the advice here, you'll be LessBrokepoolgirl. Check out the Pool School link on the upper right of this page for information on what chemicals & how much to add, then head over to PoolMath at the top-center. I recommend returning the chlorine tablets & going straight bleach. Cheap & easy, plus it doesn't add anything unexpected to your water! You'll also want to get started with some stabilizer (CYA).

Also, make sure you get your hands on a good test kit so you really understand what's in your water & what's not so you can make the right adjustments. For me, I'm OK swimming within 30-45 minutes of adding bleach, as long as it seems like the water's been stirred up enough to mix it in.

Good luck & happy swimming!
 
With PoolMath, you said you have a 12' round by 30" deep pool - that's 2100 gallons of water (calculated toward the bottom of the page). Also at the bottom, you select your TroubleFreePools goal & assume you have 0 chlorine in your fill water, it says you should put in 9.3 oz of 8.25% bleach (found at Wal-Mart as Great Value Regular, or most grocery stores) to reach a target of 3 ppm.
 
Brokepoolgirl said:
Any recommendations on what cya to add?
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11 oz by weight. The way to do this is to weigh it out, then dump it into an old sock, then tie the sock to the side of the pool so that it hangs in front of the jet blowing water into the pool. It will take a while to dissolve and in about a week, you'll be all set. Probably won't have to add any more for a long time.

Bleach should be tested daily & added as needed. You'll also need to adjust the pH of the water, but you won't know for sure what to do until it's in the pool & you test it. Make sure you're planning to get a reliable test kit. There are several recommended ones you'll find on this site.
 
If you read Richard320's post (post #2) he gave you the amount of trichlor pucks you can add to a floater to get both chlorine and CYA in the water (three 8oz pucks, they are typically 3" diameter and look like hockey pucks). You do not need to buy CYA powder as you will get way more than you'll ever use and trichlor pucks will work fine.

After the pucks dissolve, then you just switch over to using plain old bleach daily to keep the water clean.

And always add any chemicals to the water with the pump running and allow for at least 30-60mins of circulation.


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And no one mentioned this but you need to get a good test kit. Since your pool is seasonal, you may not want to splurge for the big TF-100 or Taylor K2006, but a TF-50 from TFTestKits.net would be a really good investment.


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pabeader said:
Are we all so sure it's going to be treated as a seasonal?
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OP in #1 post stated she read the seasonal pool care guide so I assumed that is what she wanted. Considering her location (NC), it makes sense to pull down a small Intex pool over the winter months. I suppose it could be just winterized as well.


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Yes it will be seasonal. The tricolor pucks I have are 1 in tabs. As for testing will those $10 4 way tests do? We put the pool together an hr ago but I'm not filling it until I can get at the very least a test. If I read correctly....cya won't register at first after just adding chlorine?
The bleach I have is 7.86% so I should probably add a little more?
 
Brokepoolgirl said:
Also the tabs I bought are Kem Tek chlorine and algaecide tabs....are they any good?
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The algaecide is probably some copper compound. We don't recommend using metals in the pool, as they can stain things and leave blond swimmers with green hair. If you can return them, you should. A test kit that measures chlorine, bleach, and alkalinity ought to be sufficient for a seasonal pool like yours. As long as you keep track of how much CYA you add either by pucks of granular stabilizer, you won't need to test it.
 
You don't need any magic potions or pills. Do not use algaecides, you don't need algaecides if you use bleach and keep the FC up.




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