New Pool Owner - Pics

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steven7

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Aug 9, 2011
9
Rowlett, TX
Greets!

I just purchased a home with a pool that was put in less than two years ago. I haven't done anything with it except remove the cover.

The pool bowls from 3ft at the ends to 5ft in the middle. I measured 16x26x5 (1950 cu.ft.)for the pool and 10x10x.5 (50 cu.ft.) for the tanning deck. Does 15k gallons sound right?

I've got the TF-100 test kit and I want to get chemicals today but I'm not exactly sure what to buy.

I'm looking for a little help to get started. I think my order of operations is cleaning out the filter, test starting up the pump, skimming the pool, doing my tests and the buying/dumping the chemicals... am I on spot? What chemicals should I buy to start off with?

Thanks for any help you guys can provide!

Pool:






Here is the gear that I have:

Pump:


Filter:


The Setup:






 
The steps you outlined look good to me. Once you get the pump on, I would focus on removing as much of the leaves and other organic matter as possible. Post test results once the water is circulating, but you most definitely will need bleach.
 
You sound like your moving in the right direction. Ensure all the mechanicals are functional, remove as much physical debris as possible. Be prepared to clean (backwash) the filter often (you'll want to have DE on hand for that) and baby sit the pool for the first day or 2. As far as what chemicals, no one can know that without test results. (Bleach certainly, but if you need CYA or Calcium, you might also want to make dichlor or Cal-Hypo part of your shocking process)

Be sure to review the Shocking the Pool article in the How-To section of the pool school here on this site its all in there.

Btw - the pool is beautiful, looking forward to seeing all cleaned up.
 
I put all the numbers in the pool calculator and it looks like you're going to need quite a bit of bleach and CYA. As mentioned above, I'd make sure to have plenty of DE on hand as well as it looks like some backwashing will be needed.
 

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Sorry about that, my mistake, your filter picture had lbs of DE and grid specifications. On a closer look, it has DE blanked out. It is a cartridge filter http://www.zodiacpoolsystems.com/Products/Filters/CV-Cartridge-Filter.aspx. You don't need DE. You may want to review how to clean a cartridge. http://www.troublefreepool.com/how-to-clean-a-cartridge-filter-t4465.html

After to checking to ensure the all the equipment work, go ahead and remove as much crud as you can.

With CYA at 0 even a few PPM of chlorine is very strong. You'll want to add some CYA using the sock method in front of a return jet. Take a sock (woman's stocking or men's athletic sock) and fill it with CYA (you can find it at places like Walmart sometimes called stabilizer, look at the lablel, it should read 100% Cyanuric Acid ) Here thread that talks about it. http://www.troublefreepool.com/adding-cya-with-a-sock-t5094.html. You don't want to add it to your skimmer this time, because you'll be cleaning your filter often and will be dumping out the CYA you added if you do.

At any rate, add enough CYA to bring it up to around 30, add bleach to bring the water shock level 12ppm. Refer to http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/chlorine_cya_chart_shock

Please review http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/shocking_your_pool. It has a lot of tips on getting through the process. When your water is clear you'll need to do the over night chlorine loss test http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/overnight_fc_test

Not to confuse you but as an alternative, you could use dichlor for a little while to shock and get your CYA up to 20-30 or so, then switch to bleach.
 
Those numbers look right for 16000gal
531 floz 6% bleach
85 oz 100 CYA

But no reason to bring it that high while shocking. 20-30 is enough while shocking. You can raise it after your done. The higher your CYA, the higher the shock level (you'll need more bleach)

Remember when your first start shocking, you go through chlorine at a staggering rate. in some cases the pool may consume all of your chlorine in 30mins to an hour.
 
I'm getting the same numbers as you both are. I also would aim for the 20-30 CYA range right now. But after you get the chlorine in check you would want to get it a tad higher since you are getting some strong sun in your area right now.

Better get a big buggy at wal-mart for all of that bleach!
 
steven7 said:
Awesome! You guys helped ALOT! Thanks! I'll keep you updated.
Click to expand...
Man, I only joined the site one day before you! If I'm the only one replying, you might want to wait for others (like Puffin here) just to make sure. I do feel that I have learned a lot though in the last week and a half from these guys/gals. It's been a tremendous help actually. You'll have that nice pool sparkling like diamonds before you know it.
 
I got nothing to add except that you are getting great advice and should follow it. You'll be good to go before long.

Keep in mind that when shocking you need to test and adjust FC as often as once an hour in the beginning.

And renmember, when buying bleach during shocking. If they don't look at your funny when you checkout, you didn't buy enough! :)
 
That's a nice looking pool. Too bad the previous owner's let the maintenance slide like that. Have no fear, though, you're already getting sound advice. Make sure to take lots of pics during the process and post them. I love seeing a pool change from green to clean.
 

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