Amount of chlorine in pool and leveling ground

[waterboy]

I am installing a 16'x42" AG Ring Quick Set swimming pool in my yard, by the way I'm a newbbie
in the pool area, my questions, 1. is it better to level the ground from the low side and what can I use for a base other than sand to level the ground. 2. My pool, approx. gal capcty. is 3800, how much chlorine or bleach should I use in ounces please, or should I just use those plastic floater w/ tablets that are sold in swiming pool stores. :? My wife and my kids and I are awaiting your response Thanks in advance.

 

[PaulR]

Regarding site prep, based on stories people tell, you never ever build up the low side, you always dig down the high side. Any fill you use on the low side probably will not hold up. Other than that I can't offer anything helpful on the site-prep side.

Regarding chlorine (I am much better prepared on this topic!) what you are trying to do is not add a certain amount, but maintain a certain level in the water. But chlorine will get used up by sunlight, as well as cleaning up anything organic that may get into the pool (like, when people swim in it). That means you need to test your water daily and add chlorine as needed.

There is something called stabilizer that will help protect chlorine from sunlight. You can get this by itself, it might be called stabilizer or conditioner or something else but the ingredients will say something like "cyanuric acid 99%". In your pool you would want about 1 pound.

There is also a form of powdered chlorine, often labeled "shock" where the ingredient is sodium dichloro-s-somethingorother. We call this "dichlor" for short. It's about half chlorine half stabilizer. It comes in 1-lb packages, you'd want two. Use this as your chlorine source until the two pounds is used up, then switch to bleach. If you decide to go this route I can suggest a procedure for adding the dichlor.

NOTE: Only do ONE of the above two things! If you add cyanuric acid AND dichlor then your stabilizer level will be too high.

The third route is to use the tablets in the floater. This form of chlorine is called trichlor (sodium trichloro-s-somethingorother) and also adds stabilizer along with the chlorine, just not quite as fast as the dichlor. The thing about long term use of trichlor is that your stabilizer levels will just keep climbing, making the chlorine progressively less effective. If you go this route then you should expect to augment the chlorine with a weekly algaecide called polyquat 60.

Regardless of which method you choose, you must be able to test your chlorine level! Otherwise you won't know if you have too little or too much. The pool store (or pool dept of a big-box store) should have simple test kits where you take a sample of pool water, and add drops of stuff to see what color it becomes. The color tells you your chlorine level (also pH, which is important too).

You want your chlorine level to be 2 or higher at all times (some places will tell you 1-3, that's really not quite enough). In your pool, one cup of regular 6% bleach will add about 1ppm of chlorine. As you get into a routine of testing each evening, you'll learn how much chlorine your pool uses up; you want to add enough each evening that the next evening's test will show at least 2.

Also you want your pH somewhere in the 7.2-7.8 range. 7.5 is ideal but +/- .3 is okay.

Additional questions always welcome!
--paulr

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

HI there and welcome,

Paul gave you great advice, I'll just add a couple thoughts of my own....

For your pool, I would go the Dichlor route as Paul described.

You can get it at Wal-mart, in the pool section.

Pick up the 2 bags of that, and while you are there they also sell the 6-way HTH brand drop test kit - that's the kit you want to buy (don't bother with strips).

Then in the laundry aisle, pick up a couple of the large jugs of the store brand Great Value bleach - it will say unscented - and it will say 6% bleach.

After you have finished with the 2 bags of dichlor, and switch to bleach, I expect you will add about 2 cups of bleach every nite. This assumes your pool loses the typical/average FC loss.

With the test kit, you'll be able to check your levels and know exactly how much to add to keep the pool clean and sanitary. You will learn to use the Pool Calculator to figure that out. It's really easy!

Enjoy your pool, good luck with the leveling.

 

[waterboy]

Thanks guys, you help is well appreciated and I will be going to Pool School and BBB for begginers to take lessons. Great site :!: