newly filled pool -start up chemicals.

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M

Mr2005

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May 18, 2011
13
I drained and refilled my pool 2 weeks ago because my hardness and dissolved solids were very high, and it it was advised by my pool store.

I dropped the ball and it was 2 weeks before I got in to get my start up chemicals.

My water tested as:
Free Chlorine 0
total available chlorine 0
calcium hardness 200
cyanuric acid 0
pH 7.8
total dissolved solids 800
phosphates 200

the store recommended, 2 lbs of shock, 2 gallons of conditioner and ad 1 bottle of phosphates. I wanted a get a second opinion from the bored if this sounded right?

my pool is a 16,000 gallon pebble tec pool. it was a salt pool but my chlorination died and have used chlorine tabs for the last 2 years. istarted tabs in my floater right after I filled the pool.
 
I would ignore the phosphate recommendation right now. That seems to be a standard 'you really need this' chemical sale.
I would also suggest using poolcalculator.com to determine how much bleach to bring up the chlorine.

A few questions: Do you know the total alkalinity? How will you chlorinate ongoing?

You have some time to bring up the CYA and if you intend on using trichlor that will bring it up or you could use dichlor. Unless it's already blazing sun wherever you are I would skip the 2 gallons of conditioner. If you must raise it immediately then some granular CYA in a sock is much cheaper.

Do you know if you have metals in your water? A good thing to know before shocking.
 
welcome to TFP
how did you get your test result?
if the pool has been refilled for 2 weeks the first thing i would do is get some chlorine in the pool i.e bleach at 2ppm and then i would get some stabilizer in the water shoot for 30 ppm in a old sock in front of the return but don't let it lie against the side of the pool.
lower ph down to 7.4 will get you started.
read pool school top right side of page and then read it again it will make more sense the second time around.
learn how to use the pool calculator in pool school it is such a awesome tool.
also don't use scented or dripless bleach just plain old cheap 6% or 8.25% from wallyworld or anywhere that sells it.
 
Good point on the testing. From what I have seen do not rely on the pool store. Once a month I go to three stores and they all have different results. One telling me that my tap water had a cya reading of 80! It was that way 13 years ago when I had my previous pool as well. I guess some things don't change.

Get one of the recommended kits. If you need to get it quickly you can likley pickup a Taylor k2006 at the pool store. If you can wait then I suggest getting a TF100 from tftestkits.
 
rjward said:
I would ignore the phosphate recommendation right now. That seems to be a standard 'you really need this' chemical sale.
I would also suggest using poolcalculator.com to determine how much bleach to bring up the chlorine.

A few questions: Do you know the total alkalinity? How will you chlorinate ongoing?

You have some time to bring up the CYA and if you intend on using trichlor that will bring it up or you could use dichlor. Unless it's already blazing sun wherever you are I would skip the 2 gallons of conditioner. If you must raise it immediately then some granular CYA in a sock is much cheaper.

Do you know if you have metals in your water? A good thing to know before shocking.
Click to expand...

I don't know how to respond to all of these. but, I do not know total alkalinitiy.

I will chlorinate with tables in floater.

I dont know what trichlor or dichlor is. I asked the pool cay about the conditioner and thought I had heard it was online important in the summer. He insisted I need it now. One those case whrere I didn't know so I trusted the expert. Its not blazing yet...I'm in phoenix it is in the 70s lately or lower.

I do not know if I have metals...how do i find out?
 
fast1971chevelle said:
welcome to TFP
how did you get your test result?
if the pool has been refilled for 2 weeks the first thing i would do is get some chlorine in the pool i.e bleach at 2ppm and then i would get some stabilizer in the water shoot for 30 ppm in a old sock in front of the return but don't let it lie against the side of the pool.
lower ph down to 7.4 will get you started.
read pool school top right side of page and then read it again it will make more sense the second time around.
learn how to use the pool calculator in pool school it is such a awesome tool.
also don't use scented or dripless bleach just plain old cheap 6% or 8.25% from wallyworld or anywhere that sells it.
Click to expand...

so you all use bleach in lieu of chlorine/shock?
 
Yep bleach is liquid chlorine.

You need some in there ASAP!

CYA is like sunscreen for your chlorine. Without CYA your chlorine will disappear very quickly due to sunlight.

Trichlor and dichlor contain CYA and you can probabley get some in there and it will help raise your CYA until you understand what it does.

pH will have an effect on your chlorine effectivness. That's why they are telling you to get your pH to 7.4.

At this stage it is improtant you get those three things right:

pH
chlorine level
CYA

Use thepoolcalculator.com to work out quantity of materials and go for it.

Don't listen to the pool store.

By the way, shock is really what you do to your pool with chlorine. Some companies call products "shock", but in reality when you shock you are raising chlorine levels very high to kill algae.

In fact I would be doing what fast1971chevelle says to do pretty quick or your water might go green.
 
I would recommend ordering a test kit and reading Pool School at the top right of the page a few times while waiting for the kit to show up. That will teach you about the pools chemistry and the methods we recommend ... you will quickly know more than the pool store employees.

Yes we generally recommend using liquid chlorine /bleach as it is usually the cheapest and does not add other chemicals to the pool that are undesirable in high quantities.

Posted from my Droid with Tapatalk ... sorry if my response is short ;)
 
We tend to prefer bleach because it only adds chlorine and nothing else. Go read around in Pool School on this site - there is some awesome info.
Dichlor and Trichlor add conditioner (CYA) which you need at this point, so you could use a granular dichlor to shock, but I would not shock until you are sure there are no metals in your water.
I would not use cal hypo for chlorine as your calcium looks pretty good as it is.
To find your total alkalinity you would need a test kit that tests for that. The pool store can test for you, but they can be WAY off.

The only thing you REALLY need right now is chlorine. If you don't know if there are metals in your water (pool store should test for you) then you may want to add a metal remover before you get the chlorine too high.

If you use dichlor for shock (a type of granular chlorine) it will add CYA for you at a rate that you can calculate with the pool calculator.

If you plan on using a floater ongoing it will add conditioner as well. Eventually the CYA will build up to a point where you will need to drain, which is why bleach is such a great way to add chlorine as it does not add CYA.

If it were my pool I would 1) add a metal remover and let it circulate per the instructions, and then 2) add bleach to bring up the chlorine to a min 2ppm.

To start adding stabilizer I would buy the granular (the liquid is very expensive) and put it in a sock in the skimmer (running 24 hours) until it all dissolves.

I also can't emphasize enough how important it is to have a good test kit that allows you to test everything: Chlorine, PH, Alkalinity, CYA (Stabilizer) and Calcium
Use poolcalculator.com to help you with dosing and definitely read all of the pool school info. That will help you to not be sold a bunch of overpriced, or worse, unnecessary chemicals.
 
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rjward said:
I would ignore the phosphate recommendation right now. That seems to be a standard 'you really need this' chemical sale.
I would also suggest using poolcalculator.com to determine how much bleach to bring up the chlorine.

A few questions: Do you know the total alkalinity? How will you chlorinate ongoing?

You have some time to bring up the CYA and if you intend on using trichlor that will bring it up or you could use dichlor. Unless it's already blazing sun wherever you are I would skip the 2 gallons of conditioner. If you must raise it immediately then some granular CYA in a sock is much cheaper.

Do you know if you have metals in your water? A good thing to know before shocking.
Click to expand...

I just want to thank you for a WONDERFUL post. I know its been four years, but the info holds up and its exactly what I needed.
 
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