New to the pool game

[brendanhow]

Hello all

On our recent yearly trip to the in-laws house, they gave us their pool. It is a 10 year old Sofpool that has sat in their garage for the last 6-7 years. It is 22' x 48" and holds 10,500 gallons of water.

Seems like everyone in the forum owns intex pools. Is Sofpool not popular or just garbage?

I've spent the last week setting everything up so far. Took a few days to level out the spot and create a nice solid base. I then spread out the pool and started figuring out how the in-laws had the plumbing and filtering system set up. It has a Pentair Clean and Clear filter and a propane heater. The O-ring for the lid broke in half, so I had to order a new one online.

I filled up the pool ring with air and started filling up the pool. Man it takes a long time, even with two hoses in the pool. About an hour later I found out that the ring had a leak. So I had to remove the ring and start spraying soapy water. I found it pretty easily and patched it with a vinyl patch. Seems to be holding air great now. The pool is at 36 inches, but I shut the water off for the night. I'll finish it tomorrow.

I have shock and 3" tablets from "In the Swim" from amazon. They seem to have good reviews. I also bought AquaChek Select 7-IN-1 Pool and Spa Test Strips. They also had good reviews. Any opinion on these?

Thanks to this site, I'm starting to get a grasp on this whole pool thing. Please give me any advice. Can't wait to finish filling it and start swimming. I know it's late in the year, but I live in South Carolina, and the pool temp is 83 degrees right now!. I don't think I'll even need to use that heater for a while.

 

[Patrick_B]

Welcome to the forum!

The first thing I would encourage you to do is to begin educating yourself on the Pool, particularly the chemistry. It isn't hard and once you get some basic understanding it will be easier. You will also need a good test kit. A 10,000 gallon pool is certainly worth it. This will be the best investment you make in your pool. We all prefer the TF-100, because it has the most of the reagents you use up first. The strips you have cannot be trusted at all. Sorry about that.

Start with the ABC's of Pool Chemistry. Read everything you can absorb in all of Pool School, and take a bite at a time. Ask questions as you need too. The links to read are in my signature line.

The tabs you mention are OK to start up with, but if you use them long term as your only source of Chlorine, they will give you unwanted side effects. We prefer Bleach/liquid Chlorine because it has none of those bad side effects. I would encourage you to pick up some plain, unscented bleach at your favorite big store. Get several gallons. You will also need some stabilizer/conditioner. As you read here you'll learn we refer to it as CYA which is Cyanuric Acid. It's main function is to protect the chlorine from the sun. It usually comes in a 4lb plastic canister so get one of those as well. You can find it in the pool section at Walmart or Hardware stores with pool chemicals. Or the Pool store. But don't let them sell you anything else. At all.

As for your pool brand, I am not familiar with them. Sorry I cant help you there.

 

[brendanhow]

Wow, thanks for all the helpful info.

I wish I could find more information on Sofpools though. The website is pretty much Crud and there isn't much online about them. I just don't want to put all this time and money into it and not be good/safe for my family.

I'm going to stick with the cheapo strips for now. Once I get the hang of these, I'll look into investing a little more money on a real kit.

 

[Patrick_B]

Ok, just let us know if you need some help when the time comes. Enjoy the forum.