Bicarb start?

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Texgirl

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Sep 26, 2012
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I accidentally learned about this Bicarb start last night while researching salt pool start up and how long to wait before adding salt etc! Now I am wanting to do it but I am 99% sure my builder won't know what I am talking about since it seems this is not used regularly.

After reading about it, it makes sense to me and seems totally worth a little extra trouble up front.

I am willing to get the barrell and try to do it myself but am concerned he won't let me due to warranty issues and him not being familiar with it etc.

We will have a Gemstone qtz finish.

Any thoughts on this situation?

Thanks in advance! KIM
 
It is certainly worth bringing up. If you can convince the plaster people to do a bicarb start then great. But if you can't get them on board I wouldn't attempt it on your own without their cooperation. In my book, there is too much room for working at cross purposes and losing your warranty to risk doing it without their cooperation.
 
Knowing what the pH, TA, and CH is of the tap water would determine how critical this issue is for the quartz finish, and what the options are for a good start and result.
 
I think you should get yourself a test kit as results from pools stores have proven to be unreliable ... would have thought the TF100 would have been delivered by now.

I am not even sure how those #s make sense. We do not look at TDS, but I thought it was a combination of CYA, CH, and other things ... seems odd to me that it is so much higher than CYA + CH.

At least they seem to have gotten the CYA right since this is a new fill and should be zero unless you have added any CYA.
If the TA is right, you are going to have to work on lowering it.
 
Texgirl, your tap water is pretty decent. A bicarb start would still be somewhat beneficial, and help to reduce any plaster dust. But if the plasterer won't go for it, you will have to make decision. Some plasterers do an acid type program on quartz pools. I would encourage the plasterer to skip that program and just let it fill with water without doing that. That would be much better. Also, if they don't trowel a lot of cream over the top of the quartz aggregate, then the color of the quartz will show well and a pool cleaner will simply polish the finish over time and improve the final color. Once the pool is full, you could immediately add some bicarb and calcium (only when the pH is below 8.0) to properly balance during start-up period. Oh, and some borax or boric acid. That would be the second best thing to do.

Jblizzle, the TDS looks fairly accurate, which also includes sodium, chlorides, bicarbonate, magnesium, etc.
 

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on balance- thanks so much. I also got my tf100 kit and I will test my water again myself to make sure it is close to what leslies said! I will find out monday how they do the plaster as we are plastering tuesday! Things are moving fast over here!

So, just to make sure, if they don't acid wash, it won't really be a problem, it will be prettier with time but be better on plaster long run. I am fine with that! I will let you know what they say.

Thanks so much, KIM
 
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