Intex Newbie-How much Bleach?

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BlondeeSue66

0
May 31, 2009
12
Erie, Pennsylvania
:?: I just bought the kids and I a Intex metal pool size 14' x 42". What I am wondering is how much Bleach per week will we need to put in to keep pool in good shape? I am new to pools and allot of what I am reading still leaves me clueless. lol Do we have to buy sock it or shock it too or just the basic BBB's??

Thanks
 
Hello and Help?

Merged posts. Butterfly

Hello I am new at owning a pool, I bought the kids and I a Intex 14' x42" metal pool. I really do not understand the test kits and how to determine what I need and what I dont. I bought a test kit at walmart. I know its not as good as the ones you list but for now its what we can afford! I went to the Pool calculator and I am still confused bit time. Please Help.
Thanks
 
Hi and Welcome,

No, you don't have to buy sock it/shock it or anything like that.

First, I'd advise you to invest in a good test kit, one of the ones recommended here. You're best bet would be to order one online, TF100 is not sold in stores, and the pool stores rarely have the K2006, newbies tend to end up with the wrong kit.

Have you read BBB for Beginners? The link is in my sig. You don't need to buy "pool store" chems, other than CYA perhaps. To keep the water clear, just add bleach. Get to know The Pool Calculator, it will calculate for you exactly how much to add. It's hard to say but on average, pools consume about 2ppm of FC a day, sometimes more, sometimes less, every pool is unique. For your size pool, 2ppm equals a little over 2 cups of 6% Bleach, 2 cups a day. Sometimes more, sometimes less, which is why you need one of the recommended kits. I buy my bleach at Wal-mart, the great value brand.

In Pool School there is an article called The ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry, and gives alot of the same info as BBB for Beginners. After you read the Pool School articles a few times, and start testing on your own, it will all click and make sense and you'll be a pro in no time. :goodjob:

It would be helpful for you to post a full set of results for us, that way we can advise you better. What have you added to the pool so far?
 
Re: Hello and Help?

BlondeeSue66 said:
Merged posts. Butterfly

Hello I am new at owning a pool, I bought the kids and I a Intex 14' x42" metal pool. I really do not understand the test kits and how to determine what I need and what I dont. I bought a test kit at walmart. I know its not as good as the ones you list but for now its what we can afford! I went to the Pool calculator and I am still confused bit time. Please Help.
Thanks
Click to expand...

I understand the hesitance to spend money on a test kit in this economy. One thought is, if it saves you even one trip into a pool store it has already paid for itself. When I first got my pool last summer, I went to the pool store to balance my water, I was a little hesitant about doing it myself. They got me for $120!! After I came home, I read more on this site, and then ordered the TF_100 and took over the pool on my own. As it turned out the only chemical that the pool store sold me that I actaully needed was stabilizer. I was able to balance my water with out all of the other chemicals. I had a wonderful, clear pool all summer and when we opened this spring it was still clear and it has cost me less than $12 to get it running beautifully.

Basically you will save money by getting a good test kit because you will know exactly what your pool needs. You won't be taken to the cleaners by the pool store!!
Good luck! welcome to the forum!! :wave:
 
hello and Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. I did buy the one kit you suggested so will have to wait till it arrives to post the readings! I will also go take a picture of the pool so you know where I am at and how you will be able to help me. I will go back to those web sites you said that will help me and reread again. While I am waiting on the test kit and the pool water color is still a light green is there anything I do till then so the algae dont get worse. I put in a 96 oz. bottle of 6% bleach, 21 oz. baking soda and about 1/2 cup borax, the one shock bottle 14 oz. that we got and put in 2nd day. The pool has been up since last wed. We have well water and the rained helped fill too!
thanks
 
BlondeeSue66 said:
hello and Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. I did buy the one kit you suggested so will have to wait till it arrives to post the readings! I will also go take a picture of the pool so you know where I am at and how you will be able to help me. I will go back to those web sites you said that will help me and reread again. While I am waiting on the test kit and the pool water color is still a light green is there anything I do till then so the algae dont get worse. I put in a 96 oz. bottle of 6% bleach, 21 oz. baking soda and about 1/2 cup borax, the one shock bottle 14 oz. that we got and put in 2nd day. The pool has been up since last wed. We have well water and the rained helped fill too!
thanks
Click to expand...

Okay, it's important to test BEFORE you add any chemicals. :wink:

Do you have the little wal-mart kit? Did you test? IF yes, what are the results? Please post them.

Your one bottle of bleach is enough to raise your FC above 10. I mentioned 2 cups above, 1 whole bottle is a lot more than 2 cups! Please slow down so you don't do something rash.

If you don't have any CYA or stabilizer in your pool, putting that much bleach and/or shock in your pool is not good, for 2 reasons. YOu don't want the FC that high without CYA as a sort of buffer, as you can bleach out your pool; and 2 the CYA protects the FC from UV destruction. Without CYA you loose all your FC to sunlight. So on the one hand, don't do that again, but on the other, most of it was hopefully lost to the sunlight anyway, but basically it was a waste of bleach. The point I'm trying to make is, don't just dump chems in.

What does this mean : "the one shock bottle 14 oz. that we got and put in 2nd day." What was on the ingredient label of the products you added?

You don't just add baking soda and borax without knowing what your PH and TA results are. They could possibly be too high and now you raised them higher, know what I mean?

We need to see your test results to advise you better. IF you have the walmart kit now, test your water and post the results. Which kit did you order, because I recommended 2....?

Okay, take a deep breath, take your time, there is no rush....you want to absorb the information and know what you are doing. The point is to take control of your pool. :goodjob:
 
hello ok I did the walmart test kit and if I did it right or rather reading it right here is what I got: CL 5, BR 10, PH 8.2, CYA 30ppm, Alka 260mill ppm, No hardness detected. I ordered the TF-100 kit! The pool shock was 4 in 1 stuff it came in a kit with the sanitizer and test strips. The water isnt real green today. I put pump on for over 3 hours. The last 2 1/2 days the pump ran cont. As for the Chemicals I put them in before I went to your site. I read on another site on how much bleach to put in and actually Friday I only put in 2 cups and sat I added more then went back out and added more after awhile cause there was no change. Everytime I added we would clean bottom and sides of pool. we did put the Baking soda in cause the way I read it it would help kill algae same with the boarax So I am sorry if I jumped the gun. The kit is leaving NC so should be here by Wed i would think.

thanks
 
BlondeeSue66 said:
hello ok I did the walmart test kit and if I did it right or rather reading it right here is what I got: CL 5, BR 10, PH 8.2, CYA 30ppm, Alka 260mill ppm, No hardness detected. I ordered the TF-100 kit! The pool shock was 4 in 1 stuff it came in a kit with the sanitizer and test strips. The water isnt real green today. I put pump on for over 3 hours. The last 2 1/2 days the pump ran cont. As for the Chemicals I put them in before I went to your site. I read on another site on how much bleach to put in and actually Friday I only put in 2 cups and sat I added more then went back out and added more after awhile cause there was no change. Everytime I added we would clean bottom and sides of pool. we did put the Baking soda in cause the way I read it it would help kill algae same with the boarax So I am sorry if I jumped the gun. The kit is leaving NC so should be here by Wed i would think.

thanks
Click to expand...

I didn't mean to scold you, no need to apologize! :wink:

Okay, this is all making sense now. (Ignore references to Bromine or BR- you are using Chlorine)

Your PH and TA are in fact too high, so tomorrow pick up a gallon of Muratic Acid at the Hardware store. With the pump running, carefully pour 3 cups of Muratic Acid into the return flow of water. Wear protective gear, take precautions, don't breath the fumes. This will lower your PH down and start to get your TA down.

We can tackle the high TA issue later, but for now, get that PH down.

Wait an hour after adding the acid before you add any more bleach.

Keep adding enough bleach to keep the FC up. Use the Pool Calculator to figure out how much that is. So you test with the yellow OTO test, and say the reading is 1.5 or 2 or 5. You use the calculator and set your goal for 12 FC and hit calculate and it will tell you how much bleach to add. Does that make sense?

When your TF100 arrives we can start testing with that. I think you're in good shape, you are doing everything right. I would run the pump longer tho, maybe 8 hours, esp. during the day.

The 14 oz 4 in 1 shock - was it a bag? Did it have the words "Sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione" on it? That would explain where the CYA came from.... 30 is good, I wouldn't go higher than that. See the CYA chart - 30 - the FC levels for your pool. Your minimum is 2, your target is 4 and your shock level is 12. If your CYA goes up, these levels go up. Does that make sense.

This is good. You'll love your kit! :wink:
 
Ok I will go tomorrow and buy that stuff. The shock plus 4 in 1 has sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione 58.2% says its an oxidizer, buffer, clarifier and flocculent. No it was in a bottle. You mentioned adding bleach after an hour of putting the acid in. Should I take a test first to see if I need it or do I just put it in everyday at a certain time? About how much Bleach per week do you think I would need on hand. I am not one to run to store everyday. Allot of times I am home all week!
Thanks
 

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Hello Not to worry that bottle is empty we used it all the first 2 days of the shock plus stuff. Now the PH Minus stuff is not recommended? How much does the gallon of muriatic acid usually cost? We have Ace Hardware, Truevalue hardware and Tractor Supply In our town to chose from! What I worry is it says not to breath it in or get on you.
Thanks
 
Yes, always test first before you add bleach, to see how much you need to add. Test and add bleach every evening. With your size pool, you'll probably be good to have 2 small jugs of bleach on hand per week. (I doubt you'll use that much, but until you "get to know your pool" and it's chlorine demands, its a starting point.) After a couple of weeks of usage, you'll know the pool's habits and how much FC it loses a day. On average, FC loss is around 2ppm per day in normal conditions, so for you as I mentioned before, that's about 2 cups a day, maybe more, maybe less, depends on the current FC when you test. You may only have to add a cup a day. You'll have to test and see. :wink:

PH Minus is more expensive than Muratic Acid, but it will work too. Those hardware stores should have the Muratic Acid, it's safe to use, just take precautions, don't breath the fumes (stay upwind) and were protective eyewear and gloves. Use a special measure cup and mark it "Muratic Acid" and don't use the cup for anything else, keep it in your pool shed. You'll be fine. If you are too nervous, and you dont mind the added expensive of dry acid, that's okay to use.
 
BlondeeSue66 said:
Hello I bought a bottle of the muriatic acid they only had a pint but will have gallons friday! my reading for ch is 5 and the ph is 8.0. So how much of the acid do I put in the whole bottle a little at a time??
thanks
Click to expand...

Hello again,

Add 1 1/2 cups of the muratic acid , pour it slowly into the return flow of water - if the % strength is 31.45%. Can you confirm the % on the label?
 
You will normally run your pool with a PH around 7.5 and a TA around 100. See the article - Recommended Levels in Pool School.

But since your numbers are too high, you are going to lower them thru acid additions, which you'll have to repeat from time to time until the TA gets lower and the PH begins to stabilize. What you will see from your high TA is the PH will likely drift up to 7.8. Then you just add the acid to lower the PH to 7.2. This acid will also over time lower the TA. Once the TA gets lower, to around 100-140, you won't see the PH drift as much, you'll have "stable PH". Anytime the PH goes above 7.8 you would use acid to lower it.

This does not rule out future use of Baking Soda or Borax, you never know. But for now, focus on keeping the PH in check and your numbers will fall into range.

Glad to help. :wink:
 

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