We have a 10' x 30" intex pool. We intend to have it up for one month. We set it up on Friday and started ph balancer on Saturday. My husband has taken charge of the chemical process. He keeps adding ph balancer and is waiting for perfect ph before he adds anything else. We have the hth popup pool starter kit. Can you give me the basics on adding chemicals to our pool? If I allow my husband to be in charge of the pool, I am afraid he won't ever get the chemicals right and our kids will never get to play in the pool.
starting chemicals with popup pool
- Thread starter christineka
- Start date
You want to start adding some chlorine right from the first day. You might want to read the seasonal/temporary pool guide in Pool School.
If you have water test results, please post them and we can give you much more specific advice.
If you have water test results, please post them and we can give you much more specific advice.
Can you follow that temporary pool guide thing even if your chemicals have different directions? My husband says we must get the ph level to 7. something before adding the bleach and then you must wait 24 hours before adding any more chemicals. At this point I'm about ready to just forget the chemicals and let the kids play in the pool until it becomes gross, then drain, clean and sell it. I'm afraid that if we follow the product directions, the kids will never get to play in the pool.
Hi and welcome to TFP!
List what you have put in the pool since filling it.
Did you use bags of powdered shock? :?:
You need at least a drop test kit (4 way) and check your Chlorine, Total Alkalinity, PH, and Acid Demand (the pool calculator can help you determine amounts)
Don't say it's too hard and give up. We're here and willing to help, your very lucky to have found this site!
The better suggestion is get a better water test kit like a TF-100 (online only http://tftestkits.net/splash-page.html )
or a Taylor K-2006 kit
http://www.taylortechnologies.com/products_kitinfo.asp?KitID=2230
Or a Leslie's kit
http://www.lesliespool.com/Home/Pool-Chemicals/Water-Testing/Test-Kits/81329.html
Post a full set of test #'s from one of the kits and we will be better informed as to what you need to do next.
It's Ok that you husband wants to take charge, so send him here and get him informed.
These test kits WILL put him in charge!
It will be the best tool in his toolbox to put him in charge of his water!
Chuck
List what you have put in the pool since filling it.
Did you use bags of powdered shock? :?:
You need at least a drop test kit (4 way) and check your Chlorine, Total Alkalinity, PH, and Acid Demand (the pool calculator can help you determine amounts)
Don't say it's too hard and give up. We're here and willing to help, your very lucky to have found this site!
The better suggestion is get a better water test kit like a TF-100 (online only http://tftestkits.net/splash-page.html )
or a Taylor K-2006 kit
http://www.taylortechnologies.com/products_kitinfo.asp?KitID=2230
Or a Leslie's kit
http://www.lesliespool.com/Home/Pool-Chemicals/Water-Testing/Test-Kits/81329.html
Post a full set of test #'s from one of the kits and we will be better informed as to what you need to do next.
It's Ok that you husband wants to take charge, so send him here and get him informed.
These test kits WILL put him in charge!
It will be the best tool in his toolbox to put him
in charge of his water!Chuck
As far as I know, the only things you need to wait a bit before adding are muriatic acid and bleach together. Dont do it! One must be mixed through completely before adding the other.
I have a blue blob a little bigger than yours, and was swimming in it immediately. Arent you filling it with the same tap water that fills your bath tub...?
If I were you, I'd take the unopened chemicals back and go with the BBB method. It is quite simple and effective.
Step one, get a testing kit, no dip-strips! Test the water, and if you think you made a mistake, do it again to confirm, and write down the results. Since this is a "short term" pool for you, concentrate on Free Chlorine, PH and Total Alkalinity.
Step two, make sure your pool is filled to the fill line. The amount of water in your pool should be listed in the owners manual. Gotta know how much water is in there to know what adjustments are needed.
Step three, use the Pool Calculator http://www.poolcalculator.com
Adjust the number of gallons at the top, at the bottom adjust the pool surface to vinyl, the suggested goals to TFP.com, and the chlorine source to bleach.
Enter the water testing numbers in the "Now" column and click "Calculate"
To the left of each field you will find the suggested chemical additions.
Wanna swim fast? Today?
After you get your chemicals {bleach, borax, baking soda} together. Assemble the youngun's in full swim attire. Tell the kids to get in the pool and form a choo-choo train going around the pool as quick as they can, dragging their hands in the water as they move. You are trying to make a whirlpool to mix the chemicals.
Pull the kids out, then add the chlorine first to the whirling water. This is the only chemical that might hurt, so do it first and just as soon as the kids clear the ladder. Pour gently from the measuring cup, you dont want to splash...never got it in the eye, but I do have a t-shirt with spots....Then add your borax and baking soda, sprinkling in the flow.
Wait 15 minutes, then add your kids and tell them to choo-choo train again! The bleach will be long dispersed by then, you'll be making sure the borax and baking soda granules are mixed in.
Then swim!
Water test daily in the late afternoon. Concentrate on Free Chlorine and Combined Chlorine. Free chlorine is the stuff that sanitizes your water. Combined chlorine is the result of chlorine finding something to sanitize, waste chlorine.
CC hits .5ppm, time to shock. Shock is a process, not a bag of chemicals {just use bleach}, read about it in Pool School.
The TA and PH should remain fairly consistent, and only require occasional slight adjustment.
I think you'll find a daily ritual of Test - Pool Calculator - Add X ounces of bleach - Swim. If your pool has a pump, pour your daily into the pump outflow and wait 15 minutes. If there is no pump, go choo-choo style, wait 15 minutes.
If you keep the pool up longer, you might think about adding CYA. This is found in pool stabilizer or conditioner, available at Walmart etc, contains cyanuric acid. Comes granular or liquid {wish I could find liquid!} Add the granular by pouring it into an old sock and hang it in the pump outflow, squeeze it often to help it disperse. This chemical will protect your chlorine from being burned off by sunlight. It requires occasional testing and adjustment.
If you dont get a test kit that test for all the chemicals, many pool stores will test for free. But, you gotta get a test kit and get into the daily 5 minute rountine, or you'll be GREEN before you know it!
I have a blue blob a little bigger than yours, and was swimming in it immediately. Arent you filling it with the same tap water that fills your bath tub...?
If I were you, I'd take the unopened chemicals back and go with the BBB method. It is quite simple and effective.
Step one, get a testing kit, no dip-strips! Test the water, and if you think you made a mistake, do it again to confirm, and write down the results. Since this is a "short term" pool for you, concentrate on Free Chlorine, PH and Total Alkalinity.
Step two, make sure your pool is filled to the fill line. The amount of water in your pool should be listed in the owners manual. Gotta know how much water is in there to know what adjustments are needed.
Step three, use the Pool Calculator http://www.poolcalculator.com
Adjust the number of gallons at the top, at the bottom adjust the pool surface to vinyl, the suggested goals to TFP.com, and the chlorine source to bleach.
Enter the water testing numbers in the "Now" column and click "Calculate"
To the left of each field you will find the suggested chemical additions.
Wanna swim fast? Today?
After you get your chemicals {bleach, borax, baking soda} together. Assemble the youngun's in full swim attire. Tell the kids to get in the pool and form a choo-choo train going around the pool as quick as they can, dragging their hands in the water as they move. You are trying to make a whirlpool to mix the chemicals.
Pull the kids out, then add the chlorine first to the whirling water. This is the only chemical that might hurt, so do it first and just as soon as the kids clear the ladder. Pour gently from the measuring cup, you dont want to splash...never got it in the eye, but I do have a t-shirt with spots....Then add your borax and baking soda, sprinkling in the flow.
Wait 15 minutes, then add your kids and tell them to choo-choo train again! The bleach will be long dispersed by then, you'll be making sure the borax and baking soda granules are mixed in.
Then swim!
Water test daily in the late afternoon. Concentrate on Free Chlorine and Combined Chlorine. Free chlorine is the stuff that sanitizes your water. Combined chlorine is the result of chlorine finding something to sanitize, waste chlorine.
CC hits .5ppm, time to shock. Shock is a process, not a bag of chemicals {just use bleach}, read about it in Pool School.
The TA and PH should remain fairly consistent, and only require occasional slight adjustment.
I think you'll find a daily ritual of Test - Pool Calculator - Add X ounces of bleach - Swim. If your pool has a pump, pour your daily into the pump outflow and wait 15 minutes. If there is no pump, go choo-choo style, wait 15 minutes.
If you keep the pool up longer, you might think about adding CYA. This is found in pool stabilizer or conditioner, available at Walmart etc, contains cyanuric acid. Comes granular or liquid {wish I could find liquid!} Add the granular by pouring it into an old sock and hang it in the pump outflow, squeeze it often to help it disperse. This chemical will protect your chlorine from being burned off by sunlight. It requires occasional testing and adjustment.
If you dont get a test kit that test for all the chemicals, many pool stores will test for free. But, you gotta get a test kit and get into the daily 5 minute rountine, or you'll be GREEN before you know it!
aa62579
0
I wish I'd found this place before buying the chemicals at walmart. My dh is quite obsessed with those chemicals. I suggested the borox and baking soda thing (we already own the stuff), but he wants to do it his way. Anyway, the ph was 7.8 last night, so he put in chlorine. We have a tester that isn't the strips. I will have to go find it and find out how to test the water with it because dh is gone today and the kids want to play in the pool.
7.8 is on the high side of the TFP.com suggested levels, so no biggie. Do an FC test, between 3 and 7ppm is acceptable.
With no CYA, it would be best to go for the high side, the sun will knock it down along with any sanitizing taking place.
I do use triclor tablets from time to time, they contain some CYA. CYA levels are reduced when rainwater gets in the pool, and when you add water due to evaporation and splash-out. About 7ea 1inch tablets equate to a 5ppm rise in CYA. When my CYA gets back to target levels, I switch back to bleach.
Have you shown DH the Pool Calculator? Even if you dont go BBB, it is a GREAT tool Just adjust the preferred chlorine source to whatever you are using.
With no CYA, it would be best to go for the high side, the sun will knock it down along with any sanitizing taking place.
I do use triclor tablets from time to time, they contain some CYA. CYA levels are reduced when rainwater gets in the pool, and when you add water due to evaporation and splash-out. About 7ea 1inch tablets equate to a 5ppm rise in CYA. When my CYA gets back to target levels, I switch back to bleach.
Have you shown DH the Pool Calculator? Even if you dont go BBB, it is a GREAT tool Just adjust the preferred chlorine source to whatever you are using.
ob1quixote said:
I had dh read the beginner's guide and apparently the levels stated there are a lot different from the ones on the product. I'll try to get him to use the calculator or at least to help me use it. Our pool isn't that big, so it's not that hard for it to lose a considerable amount of water from evaporation and splashing from 5 kids running around in it. I think I need to really understand all this, but it is difficult when you guys say one thing and the package directions along with dh say another.
I lucked out and found this place before buying packages to read, only making a low bucks mistake buying algaecide. I'd go with what these guys suggest, they arent trying to sell anything now or in the future!
It is much simpler to keep a nice pool than you might think! The thing is to get ahead of it and stay there.
It is much simpler to keep a nice pool than you might think! The thing is to get ahead of it and stay there.