Thinking of converting

[Metallica]

Hello all, I have. 24' by 52 above ground pool and I would love to switch to this method. I have a few questions:

1. Please Recommend me a good test kit that I can order from amazon
2. What are the normal chemical levels for my pool
3. Are their any exhaustible supplies in the good test kits ill have to replace or refill?
4. How often would I need to test?
5. Does the chlorine burn off quicker than other forms of chlorine? I heard bleach has less chlorine in it so does that mean ill have to use more to get the same effect?

Thanks

 

[jblizzle]

1. Why does the kit have to be from Amazon? The best kit is the TF100, which is not on Amazon. You can find the K2006 there, but it is not as good of a value since you do not get as much of the reagents you need: pool-school/pool_test_kit_comparison

2. Depends on your stabilizer level (CYA): pool-school/chlorine_cya_chart_shock

3. Yes, see #1. The reagents will not go bad for a few years (if stored properly), but you may run out.

4. Some things daily, others weekly, others monthly ... roughly, but all pools vary: pool-school/basic_pool_care_schedule

5. All chlorine is the same once in the water. Generally bleach is the cheapest in terms of $/ppm of FC added and does not have the side-effects of other forms: pool-school/types_chlorine_pool

I would suggest starting at the top and reading all of Pool School (button at the upper right of the page).

 

[Isaac-1]

What he said, but I will add:

3, yes you will use it up, how fast depends on a number of factors, for example if your pool has very stable pH you may find you don't need to test very often, same goes for TA and CH, if your fill water is relatively low in CH, etc. One nice thing about TF test kits, is in the past they have offered spring special deals on refill supply kits, basically the most common stuff to run out of from the TF-100 kit, they also sell by line item in case you run out of one test sooner than the others.

4, this relates to 3, the link Jason gave you is a good ballpark reference, but as you get to know your pool you will find you may need to test for certain things less often than the guidelines say, or perhaps more often on others, every pool is different.

5, there are trade offs with each source of chlorine, liquid chlorine / bleach tends to be the cheapest per unit of chlorine, but more importantly it tends to have the least undesired side effects, the only real downside is it is relatively dilute so is heavy to carry around. A 9 pound 1 gallon jug of common 6% bleach contains about the same amount of active chlorine as a 1 pound bag of powdered dichlor. However that dichlor is acidic, and will also add lots of possibly unwanted CYA to your water which will lead to needing higher levels of chlorine, and eventually water replacement.

 

[Metallica]

Thank you, how do I know what cya level is appropriate for my pool? What about the other chemicals aswell?

 

[Richard320]

Thank you, how do I know what cya level is appropriate for my pool? What about the other chemicals aswell?

pool-school/recommended_levels

They're also preprogrammed into http://www.poolcalculator.com/if you choose your surface material and so on.

 

[Metallica]

Thank you, I found that out after making that post. Should I go ahead and balance all of the chemicals even though we will not be swimming for a few weeks?

 

[Richard320]

Thank you, I found that out after making that post. Should I go ahead and balance all of the chemicals even though we will not be swimming for a few weeks?

Yep. Unless you want to deal with a green swamp when the water warms up.

 

[Metallica]

Ill be ordering the test kit soon, I read that 1 gallon will bring the pool to shock level generally on A 10,000 gallon pool with normal cya. This true? On a normal pool with general chemical consumption does a gallon last a week or less?

 

[jblizzle]

Not true ... well at least not specific enough.

A clean pool loses about 2-3ppm of FC per day. How much liquid chlorine you need depends on its strength and the size of the pool.
For a 10k pool:
1 gallon of 6% bleach raises FC by 6.2ppm ... not shock level
1 gallon of 10% bleach raises FC by 10ppm ... could be shock level if your CYA < 20ppm which is too low
1 gallon of 12.5% bleach raises FC by 12ppm ... could be shock level if your CYA = 30ppm which is the low end of recommended.

Use poolcalculator.com to do these calculations for you.

Your pool is about 13500 gallons,
So assuming 2.5ppm needed per day * 7 days = 17.5ppm / week = ~2.3 gallons of 10% / week ... assuming you pool has nothing growing in it and little use

 

[Metallica]

Hey JB. So basically, i will need to use about a gallon and a half to shock it at minimum cya once a week. Also putting in daily enough bleach to keep the FC above the recommended level.

 

[chem geek]

You only shock when you need to. You do not shock weekly. I didn't shock at all last season nor the season before that.

 

[Metallica]

I gotcha. I'm used to shocking once a week with the powder version..

 

[harleysilo]

Hi Metallica! Seems like you've been reading and have grasped the general concept. Once you are able to test with your new test kit you can dial in all the numbers. I'm curious, how long have you had your pool? (okay i saw your other thread you've had it for a year).

How has your water been over that time period?
How long did you not use your pool for after your weekly shock?
Do you have a pressure gauge on your filter, you never really answered that in the other thread.

Basically what led you here?

 

[BoDarville]

Metallica:

If you need further evidence that BBB works, check out my before & after results here: http://www.troublefreepool.com/bbb-saved-me-over-1-400-in-the-first-full-year-t54033.html

 

[Metallica]

Hey Harley, thank you guys for the reply. The water during last years swimming season was almost always clear, or close to it, save for a few times it got cloudy. Which I corrected with powdered shock. I tested my water using the pool store's professional computer strip tester.

It ran okay, I just read about how it constantly adds cya to the water and overtime it can cause problems. Therefore I figured I should go ahead and switch over to using bleach as chlorine. We do backwash whenever the pressure rises by 10 and we backwash a substantial amount of water, for approx. 3 min. It drains like an inch or more each time so that may help the cya. Our normal pressure is about 20.

 

[jblizzle]

the pool store's professional computer strip tester.

:lol: how does using a computer to read the color off or an inaccurate test strip make it "professional" :lol:

 

[msgtdan]

I'll take my amateur status up against their professional status any day of the week!

 

[Metallica]

Lmao I didn't literally mean professional I just meant I didn't test it with a strip kit you buy from Walmart. I trust you guys' knowledge over pool store employees' anyway of the week. Do you guys have any major tips? I am very interested in converting.

Yesterday, before I left I put in a gallon of 8.25 bleach into the pool as it was cloudy. It didn't quite clear it completely, any idea why? I know I didn't use enough bleach for full shock level, and I'm running filter 24/7.

 

[Richard320]

...
Yesterday, before I left I put in a gallon of 8.25 bleach into the pool as it was cloudy. It didn't quite clear it completely, any idea why? I know I didn't use enough bleach for full shock level, and I'm running filter 24/7.

Ummm, you just answered your question.

Shock is a process, not a one-time thing, nor a magic powder they sell at the pool store, no matter what they call it.

[center:1ufjnsr0]In a tough case, you might end up using this much:

Or this much

first-time-shocking-with-bleach-t45074.html[/center:1ufjnsr0]

 

[harleysilo]

Love those pics! Yes I have advice read pool school again specifically shocking your pool. The problem today, me included, is I don't really learn anything, I constantly reference it, like pool school. If I were given a test I'd fail unless I had access to pool school. I reference it everytime I need to adjust something. Oh the pitfalls of instant information.....