I have consumed too much info -- Now I confused myself.Help.

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lcifers

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Feb 22, 2013
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As some of you may know, I just bought my first pool. And I have it put up, liner in, water filled and now I am at the point of putting in the chemicals. I purchased the TF100 Test kit as everyone on here suggested. And took my readings...

Total Alkalinity Test - 150
Calcium Hardness test - 250
CYA test - Mixed the water with the solution as directed, Filled the whole tube up and I still could see the black dot (Holding it at waist level)

The company that I bought the pool sent me the following:
Blue Wave Chlorburst 6 1lbs bags.
Blue wave Stabilize Chlorinating 3" tablets 10lbs
Halt 50 Swimming Pool Algaecide
Ph Reducer - 5lbs
Ph Increaser - 5lbs.

Now I am confused and don't know how much of this stuff I need to put in the pool. I really don't know what each of these do except for the Ph Reducer/Increaser (Because the name is self explanatory)

Can someone help a newbie and show him the light?
Thanks in advance..
Leo
 
Re: I have consumed too much info -- Now I confused myself.H

I dont see any stabilzer on your list. You dont have any CYA (stabilizer) in your pool yet unless you added some manually. Even then from what I've read it takes some time before it will show up on the test. Pool school will let you know how much stabilizer to add.
 
Re: I have consumed too much info -- Now I confused myself.H

Shane1 said:
I dont see any stabilzer on your list. You dont have any CYA (stabilizer) in your pool yet unless you added some manually. Even then from what I've read it takes some time before it will show up on the test. Pool school will let you know how much stabilizer to add.
Click to expand...
Won't the chlorine tablets and the shock packs add some CYA? He want's to be careful how much he put's in there else he will be partially draining and replacing water. I've learned that the hard way.
Michael
 
Re: I have consumed too much info -- Now I confused myself.H

Shane is right, you need to get some CYA in the pool to protect the FC from the sun ... you also need chlorine ;)

What is your pH?

The Blue Wave Chlorburst is dichlor, so that could actually be used initially to add the FC and start your CYA.
Each bag will add 4.1 ppm of FC and 3.8 ppm of CYA and lower the pH

The tablets are trichlor, so they too can add FC and CYA.

The algaecide is not needed.

The simplest way to start would be to go buy some CYA and get it dissolving and use liquid chlorine to maintain your FC. Alternatively you could use what you have and just have to keep track of FC, CYA, and pH at the same time to ensure you keep things in range.
 
Re: I have consumed too much info -- Now I confused myself.H

I haven't put anything in the water. This is the initial fresh water readings. For the PH question, the meter shows about 7.4.
 
Re: I have consumed too much info -- Now I confused myself.H

That's what I am trying to figure out, based on the readings I posted, how much shock packs do I put in, how much PH increase/decrease do I put in, how many tablets, etc. I've read that you need to shock the heck out of the pool in the beginning to get the levels up from regular tap water. But I don't want to over do it...
 
Re: I have consumed too much info -- Now I confused myself.H

Where did you read that?

If you were not using the stuff you have, we would say to get the CYA dissolving in a sock and maintain 2ppm of FC with bleach. And that is it, your pH is fine. TA is a little high, but that will come down as you keep the pH in range.

What we suggest kind of depends on how you plan to maintain your pool going forward.
 
Re: I have consumed too much info -- Now I confused myself.H

I don't have to use the stuff I have now, it was free, came with the pool. I would like to maintain the pool as cheap as possible, but not degrading from the quality or warranty of the pool.

I think I saw a youtube video somewhere that stated that you needed to shock the heck out of the pool in the beginning.
I need to go to Walmart in about an hour.. I can pick up baking soda, household bleach, etc. If that is what you guys are suggesting I do. I don't have a clue on how to maintain a pool. I am willing to learn, or shall I say I need to learn to make sure that this isn't a wasted investment.
 

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Re: I have consumed too much info -- Now I confused myself.H

You will not need baking soda (for now) so I wouldn't buy that. Bleach is good to get, make sure it is plain ol' bleach and not "splashless" or scented. Also, if they have it, pick up some Cyanuric Acid (also known as stabilizer or conditioner)...you will need about 7 lbs (but don't put it in all at once).

You did not post your ph, what is it?

Make sure you read pool school, the link is at the upper right of each page on tfp.
 
Re: I have consumed too much info -- Now I confused myself.H

lcifers said:
So how many gallons of bleach should I get?
Click to expand...

The nice hing about bleach is its available everywhere. Grab 4-6 jugs and get started. If you get some stabilizer in the pool, you will know in the next several days how much bleach you will go through.

Use the pool calculated for dosing size each time, using current measurement.
 
Re: I have consumed too much info -- Now I confused myself.H

Ok thanks. I will pick up 6 gallons of bleach. And 9lbs of stabilizer to be safe. My next question is..... Do I put the 6 gallons of bleach in and the stabilizer or put the bleach in and then take readings in the morning and then add stabilizer. Sorry I am new at this and confused and don't want to mess anything up...
 
Re: I have consumed too much info -- Now I confused myself.H

Put 4 lbs of stabilizer into a sock and hang it in front of a return. This should get you up to around 30 ppm.

Then add about 1/2 a jug of the larger bleach ... this should get you to about 2.5ppm of FC. You will have to measure and keep adding bleach to stay above 2ppm or so while the CYA is dissolving
 
Re: I have consumed too much info -- Now I confused myself.H

On those free start up chemicals you have, don't worry about them for now, dry chemicals do keep for a long time, and once you get a better understanding of the full effects of things you will likely be able to use them for fine tuning things. The problem is most / all of the dry chemicals change more than one thing at once, which can be confusing when you are first starting out.

Ike
 

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