treat water before or after trying pump system?

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reluctantpoolmom

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May 3, 2012
28
Pahoa, Hawaii (East side Big Island)
Howdy pool folk,

Our cheapo-fixo to a pool that had been sitting for a long time is about complete. New liner, new pump, but old everything else. Anything I should know before we turn the pump on for the first time?

The water right now is from water trucks, 7.5 ph, but no chlorine. Should I do whatever I need to do with water treatment before trying the pump/filter system for the first time? We are not sure what to expect in terms of how the system will work. There might be holes in the pipes underground we don't know about, but we are hoping for the best.

thanks!
 
Yay! My pool and pump system are now up and running!

I am a little confused about how to go about starting the BBB method. So the water is almost totally clear right now. I have put in some liquid chlorine to take care of some dirty water that had been in the pipes for years of not being used. I need to get stabilizer - cyanuric acid? how do I know how much to put in so that it doesn't get too high?

what I understand from pool school is that i use the CYA and then wait a week to test levels and then I can check on everything else?

Is there a list of what to do after you first fill a pool with fresh water?

Thanks!
 
You want to test PH, TA, and CH now. PH and TA should be adjusted to be in range, and CH is just a quick check to make sure it isn't too high.

You can add CYA right away, but don't test CYA again for a week after adding some. You can still test and adjust everything else in the meantime.

Aside from adding 2 ppm of chlorine, what other levels you need to adjust depends on your test results.

You can use the Pool Calculator to figure out how much chemical to add based on your test results and picking appropriate target levels, see the recommended levels article in Pool School.
 
Thanks, OK, so here are my first test results:

TC=2-3, pH=7.2, CH=30, TA=60

I put a sock of CYA in there, based on the recommended levels and pool calculator, as well as the amounts of borax and some baking soda (although I put in less, it was a little scary putting in that much at once. I know I need to wait to test the CYA.

But I have two questions - How long before I test the other things? And do I need to worry about adding calcium chloride since CH was low?

when (or do I) add more chlorine?

Thanks again!
 
reluctantpoolmom said:
Thanks, OK, so here are my first test results:

TC=2-3, pH=7.2, CH=30, TA=60

I put a sock of CYA in there, based on the recommended levels and pool calculator, as well as the amounts of borax and some baking soda (although I put in less, it was a little scary putting in that much at once. I know I need to wait to test the CYA.

But I have two questions - How long before I test the other things? And do I need to worry about adding calcium chloride since CH was low?

when (or do I) add more chlorine?

Thanks again!
Click to expand...
You can recheck things in an hour, they should be mixed by then, especially if you brushed some, too. You don't need to worry about low CH with a vinyl liner. Chlorine should get checked and adjusted daily.
 
Whew. Ok, so this morning everything is way higher than I was expecting. I did not measure how much chlorine I put in since I was expecting it to burn off with the sun as I wait for CYA, so I that one being high doesn't surprise me too much, but...

I used less borax and baking soda than was suggested in the pool calculator and here are results:

yesterday - TC=2-3, pH=7.2, CH=30, TA=60
today - TC=5+, more like 7, pH=8.2+, CH = didn't test, TA=120

The main thing I am worried about is if for some reason the calculations were all way off, I should take some CYA out of the sock before the levels get too high?

And here's my perhaps bigger problem. I turned the pump off last night. This morning it is not wanting to start. Like it lost it's prime? Is that normal after the first time it is turned off and on again after its first use? The other thing I noticed that might be related - when it was running on low setting yesterday, tiny air bubbles came out of the outlet closest to the pump, and an air bubble slowly formed in the leaf basket, getting slightly bigger the longer the pump ran. When I put the chemicals in, i turned the pump on to high, and the air bubbles stopped and the bubble in the leaf basket disappeared. We do know that there is a leak coming out of the pump where an old hose has some dryrot and pulled out of the pvc, but it ran great all yesterday.

Help!
 
reluctantpoolmom said:
And here's my perhaps bigger problem. I turned the pump off last night. This morning it is not wanting to start. Like it lost it's prime? Is that normal after the first time it is turned off and on again after its first use? The other thing I noticed that might be related - when it was running on low setting yesterday, tiny air bubbles came out of the outlet closest to the pump, and an air bubble slowly formed in the leaf basket, getting slightly bigger the longer the pump ran. When I put the chemicals in, i turned the pump on to high, and the air bubbles stopped and the bubble in the leaf basket disappeared. We do know that there is a leak coming out of the pump where an old hose has some dryrot and pulled out of the pvc, but it ran great all yesterday.

Help!
Click to expand...

OK - so it sounds like this problem is due to the hose leak. I guess I will have to re-prime every time I use it, or else get it fixed.
 
reluctantpoolmom said:
Whew. Ok, so this morning everything is way higher than I was expecting. I did not measure how much chlorine I put in since I was expecting it to burn off with the sun as I wait for CYA, so I that one being high doesn't surprise me too much, but...

I used less borax and baking soda than was suggested in the pool calculator and here are results:

yesterday - TC=2-3, pH=7.2, CH=30, TA=60
today - TC=5+, more like 7, pH=8.2+, CH = didn't test, TA=120

The main thing I am worried about is if for some reason the calculations were all way off, I should take some CYA out of the sock before the levels get too high?

Help!
Click to expand...

Here I am replying to myself again.

now the results are different:

FC=1.5, CC=.5, pH=8.2, TA=110

I am still concerned that I added to much CYA since it sounds like it is harder to lower than increase.

thanks for your input.
 
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