Can anyone please help a Newbie?

[jon56048]

I have the Intex 16' x 48" Metal Frame Pool and I just got it filled up but the question is where I go from here. I look around the pool school info but I am still lost on what to do. The other question I have is the wife has sensitive skin is there anything I can do so that she can enjoy the pool to.

If someone has the time to call me that works best for me. I can be reached at 507-565-1137. Jon. Postings and pm's are also fine. Thanks in advance.

 

[JohnT]

Welcome to TFP.

Your primary concern is going to be keeping chlorine in the pool to avoid algae. The easiest way is with bleach. Next you need to get CYA in the water to protect the chlorine from the sun.

Your pool is between 5000 and 6000 gallons. Adding a 182oz jug of 6% bleach will raise your chlorine level by about 10ppm. I'd go ahead and add a jug by slowly pouring it around the edge. You need to get on this fairly quickly so you can stay ahead of the algae. It may require more chlorine several times a day until you can get the CYA dissolved, which may take a week. After that, you should be able to add a little every evening to maintain your chlorine level.

Once you get the first jug of bleach in there, get about 2lbs of CYA from Walmart and put it in an old sock hung over the side of the pool where the return enters. It will take several days to dissolve, and up to a week to become fully effective.

Once you get going, you'll need to be able to test your water. The primary tests are chlorine and pH. You can get by with the simple Walmart drop kit that runs about $20. You'll want to test both chlorine and pH everyday, and adjust as needed, most often that will be daily for the chlorine, and less often for pH. A better kit is available from TFTestkits.net, or you can buy a Taylor K-2006. These will perform many more tests than the cheaper kit, and can measure higher chlorine levels.

Run your pump 24/7 except when swimming, and clean/change the filter as needed.

Spend some time reading Pool School Here are direct links to articles that will be particularly useful to you.

Temporary Pool Guide

Recommended Pool Chemicals
Test Kit Comparison
Recommended Levels

Your pool probably has a marginal filter and pump, so try to avoid adding powered chemicals.

 

[jon56048]

Is that all I would need for chemical or is there more out there that I would need to get and is this ok for my wife’s sensitive skin? Do you have any ideas for a decent filtration system for the size of my pool? One other thing when looking to heat the pool what are things I should be keeping in mind? There is not a lot out there about pools of this size so I am sorry about all of these questions.


For testing the water I am looking at TFTestkits TF-100

For heating I am looking at the Solar Bear Solar Pool Heater System but how many panels do you think I would need?

For filtration I am looking at sand is sand the way to go or is there a better way to go?

I was looking at pool school and saw a posting about using some thing called bbb can you explain it more please.

 

[JohnT]

Read the article What is BBB?
to answer your last question first.

The biggest concern with sensitive skin is to avoid allowing contaminants to get started. It's somewhat counterintuitive, but higher chlorine levels are less noticable than lower levels because the higher levels allow the chlorine to fully oxidize contaminants and don't allow ammonia compounds to remain in the water. Usually if you can smell the chlorine, it means you don't have enough chlorine.

A really good option for making the water less drying is to add about 2000ppm of salt to the pool water. Saltier water is more pleasant because it more closely matches the salinity of the human body.

There are other chemicals to worry about, but with your smaller pool they aren't nearly as important as they would be with larger pools. My advice is get your chlorine, CYA and pH figured out, then start looking at the other stuff like alkalinity and calcium hardness.

What kind of situation do you have for the solar? Do you want to mount them on the roof, on the ground, or on a rack? Sun exposure for how much of the day? More panels will always give you more heat, but obviously cost is an issue. I have a 21,000 gallon inground pool with 192sq-ft of panel and get very good results in Indiana.

There are members here who have upgraded their Intex pump and filters, and I'll just let them advise you on what works best.

 

[Richard320]

Is that all I would need for chemical or is there more out there that I would need to get and is this ok for my wife’s sensitive skin? Do you have any ideas for a decent filtration system for the size of my pool? One other thing when looking to heat the pool what are things I should be keeping in mind? There is not a lot out there about pools of this size so I am sorry about all of these questions.

Yep. There really isn't a lot necessary to keep a pool nice. But there's an awful lot of Crud on the shelves at the pool store.

For testing the water I am looking at TFTestkits TF-100

An excellent selection, sir! Spring for the XL and the stirrer, long as you're ordering.

For heating I am looking at the Solar Bear Solar Pool Heater System but how many panels do you think I would need?

I can't help there.

For filtration I am looking at sand is sand the way to go or is there a better way to go?

Depends on what you're dealing with. If you have fields all around and clouds of dust, a DE filter will clog fast. Otherwise they filter best. Use the search box to hunt up comparison threads. Or just read in the filtering forum.

I was looking at pool school and saw a posting about using some thing called bbb can you explain it more please.

Bleach. Plain old bleach. Or it's stronger brother, pool chlorine. Same stuff.

Borax. It's optional. Get the pool stabilized and clean first.

Baking Soda. Much cheaper, and frequently the same stuff they sell at pool stores to adjust alkalinity & pH

 

[jon56048]

So to get this pool started on the right foot I want to add bleach and?

For the solar heating I was thinking on the ground and for sun light I live in MN so the sun here is give or take but I have a large yard with no trees.

 

[jon56048]

I also was reading that I want to use shocker but do I need shocker and bleach? If so do’s the brand of shocker matter

 

[JohnT]

I also was reading that I want to use shocker but do I need shocker and bleach? If so do’s the brand of shocker matter

Shock is just chlorine. Use bleach to shock the pool if needed. Raising your FC to 10ppm right now will take care of it with no CYA in the water.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Ok Jon, time for you to read. Go back up to JohnT's post and click on the links he posted and read, read, read.

Shock is a process not a product. Regardless of what the pool store likes to call it.
You can shock using regular bleach but if you keep your chems balanced and never let your FC get below the recommended level for your CYA you'll never need to shock at all.

 

[jon56048]

off to wal-mart I go to pick up 182oz of 6% bleach any thing else while I'm there.

thanks agin for all the help

 

[dmanb2b]

Just bleach for now, the other ingedients we can answer when you have test results. No need to waste money on chemicals you may not need . A test kit will tell you what you need to balance levels...tftestkits.net

 

[jon56048]

NM

 

[dmanb2b]

can't have enough bleach...you can pick up a couple of Great Value 1.42gal jugs and save a few trips to Wally's...they are $2.54 each...keep you fingers crossed that they are in stock....Clorox will do as well....just make sure it unscented.

When you get back...Read Pool School and order a test kit.

 

[jon56048]

Last question is about the pool being level I thought it was level tell I had the pool full now it's off. So I wanted to know would putting paver under each leg make it level again or am I going at this all wrong.

Just so you all know this is my very fist non kiddie pool

 

[jon56048]

bump

 

[anonapersona]

If you don't get an answer on the leveling question, you could start a new thread. Also, use the search function for "leveling" or "level" to find old posts. I know that has been addressed before. Sorry I can't help.

 

[JasonLion]

How far out of level is it? If the difference in height is 1 inch or less, then don't worry about it. If it is off by a little more than that, you could work on leveling it, or put it off till later, leveling after the pool is up is lots of work. If it is off by more than three inches, you really ought to level it out.