We are getting a new pool installed tomorrow - above ground 24' X 54". Water is being delivered Thursday morning. It was originally supposed to be installed in 2 weeks, but they changed the schedule. I thought I had 2 weeks to study up, but I don't. If anyone would like to give me a list of top 5 most important things to do right off the bat, it would be greatly appreciated. The pool came with a starter kit of copious chemicals - chlorine, ph up/down, shock, a few others I can't remember - and I will admit to being a bit overwhelmed. No heater at this point, wasn't in the budget last month, we are looking to pick one up in the next week or two. I don't know what kind of pump. Basically, at this point, I know little to nothing.
VickiT
- Thread starter VickiT
- Start date
Welcome to TFP, VickiT! 
The top 5 important things are this:
1. Test kit
2. Test kit
3. Test kit
4. Pool School
5. Asking questions
Yes, a proper test kit is that important. Check out our summary of recommended test kits: Pool School - Test Kits Compared The TF-100 is the best value. And it just got better with a CYA standard to make practicing your CYA test easier! Every piece of advice you'll get here is based on your test results. Not the pool store. Not test strips. Drop based testing for FC/CC, pH, TA, CH and CYA.
Pool School has everything you need to know. It's a TON of information but just start with ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry. Go on from there. There are articles in there about opening your AG pool. That's a good second stop for you.
Ask questions once you've spent some time in the articles. Before long, you'll know more than your installer and the pool store... combined.
The top 5 important things are this:
1. Test kit
2. Test kit
3. Test kit
4. Pool School
5. Asking questions
Yes, a proper test kit is that important. Check out our summary of recommended test kits: Pool School - Test Kits Compared The TF-100 is the best value. And it just got better with a CYA standard to make practicing your CYA test easier! Every piece of advice you'll get here is based on your test results. Not the pool store. Not test strips. Drop based testing for FC/CC, pH, TA, CH and CYA.
Pool School has everything you need to know. It's a TON of information but just start with ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry. Go on from there. There are articles in there about opening your AG pool. That's a good second stop for you.
Ask questions once you've spent some time in the articles. Before long, you'll know more than your installer and the pool store... combined.
Welcome to TFP and congrats on the new pool!
I like this page a lot, it tells you what chemicals are, what they do and how to add them to your pool.
Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals
I like this page a lot, it tells you what chemicals are, what they do and how to add them to your pool.
Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals
Welcome!
First off, don't panic if the water looks like mud. Big chunks of rust are much easier to get out than a green tint.
Second: don't panic if the water looks like tea or lemonade or even lime green.
Third, don't panic if it looks okay at first but turns colors as soon as you add bleach.
We've seen all three scenarios, even on trucked-in water, and we can walk you through it.
Of immediate concern is a test kit. I hope it's already ordered. You won't find a good one in stock locally, I'll wager. I live in the land of swimming pools, and I've seen a K-2006 in a store exactly once, and it was the big commercial kit at a Leslies that deals with commercial accounts. And they didn't stock the refills. Order from TFTestkits.net tonight and it'll ship Tuesday and you might just have it in your mitts before the water truck arrives.
You can be sure the water will have no chlorine (or so little it doesn't matter) and no CYA in it. So you can actually deal with that stuff without a test kit. With no CYA in the water, your chlorine target is 3 FC. That's half a 121 oz jug of standard 8.25% laundry bleach. You can eyeball that.
To get to 40 CYA in your pool will take 4.5 lbs of CYA granules. It's sold in 4 or 5 lb canisters depending on brand. Buy whatever your local store has and add the whole thing via the sock method in Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals Don't waste a bunch of time driving all over hunting for one size or the other, just grab a canister and go. Either size will get you to a reasonable number. No need to overbuy. See how much money we've already saved you?
pH and TA adjustments will require a test kit so you can plug numbers into Poolmath
A note on that: If your pH is close to 7.8 but not quite there and poolmath says the ideal is 7.5 to 7.8, don't go picking the midpoint as the target. Just plug in what you think your current reading is and voila! no acid needed. You have a range, so don't arbitrarily pick a middle number and then agonize and micromanage it to get perfect. Same goes for TA. If it's high, big deal. The range is 50-90+ If you're below 50, you need to add so pick a number between 50 and 90 and go. If you're above, put the now as target. Hey, you're balanced!
CH isn't needed in a vinyl pool. So a low CH is no problem. HIgh CH can be, so you need to know that number for reasons too advanced to explain this early in your second career as a mad scientist. But know you won't ever have to buy any Calcium Increaser. More money saved.
First off, don't panic if the water looks like mud. Big chunks of rust are much easier to get out than a green tint.
Second: don't panic if the water looks like tea or lemonade or even lime green.
Third, don't panic if it looks okay at first but turns colors as soon as you add bleach.
We've seen all three scenarios, even on trucked-in water, and we can walk you through it.
Of immediate concern is a test kit. I hope it's already ordered. You won't find a good one in stock locally, I'll wager. I live in the land of swimming pools, and I've seen a K-2006 in a store exactly once, and it was the big commercial kit at a Leslies that deals with commercial accounts. And they didn't stock the refills. Order from TFTestkits.net tonight and it'll ship Tuesday and you might just have it in your mitts before the water truck arrives.
You can be sure the water will have no chlorine (or so little it doesn't matter) and no CYA in it. So you can actually deal with that stuff without a test kit. With no CYA in the water, your chlorine target is 3 FC. That's half a 121 oz jug of standard 8.25% laundry bleach. You can eyeball that.
To get to 40 CYA in your pool will take 4.5 lbs of CYA granules. It's sold in 4 or 5 lb canisters depending on brand. Buy whatever your local store has and add the whole thing via the sock method in Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals Don't waste a bunch of time driving all over hunting for one size or the other, just grab a canister and go. Either size will get you to a reasonable number. No need to overbuy. See how much money we've already saved you?
pH and TA adjustments will require a test kit so you can plug numbers into Poolmath
A note on that: If your pH is close to 7.8 but not quite there and poolmath says the ideal is 7.5 to 7.8, don't go picking the midpoint as the target. Just plug in what you think your current reading is and voila! no acid needed. You have a range, so don't arbitrarily pick a middle number and then agonize and micromanage it to get perfect. Same goes for TA. If it's high, big deal. The range is 50-90+ If you're below 50, you need to add so pick a number between 50 and 90 and go. If you're above, put the now as target. Hey, you're balanced!
CH isn't needed in a vinyl pool. So a low CH is no problem. HIgh CH can be, so you need to know that number for reasons too advanced to explain this early in your second career as a mad scientist. But know you won't ever have to buy any Calcium Increaser. More money saved.
