Need advice on vacuum and/or skimmer for new Intext pool

[mitchmiller]

Hi everyone
We are in Chch New Zealand and need some help with our new Intex pool we have just bought. We have never owned a pool before so a big learning curve.
We have bought a 16' x 48" Intex Ultra Frame round pool. It came with a Sand Filter which is good as from what I have read the cartridge filters are not as good.
What it didn't come with however is a skimmer or any way of cleaning the pool. I have bought a telescopic pole with flat leaf skimmer thing which we use to manually get the bugs and leaves out.
Have chlorinated and done the PH and that seems under control but after a week of being up have noticed a wee bit of sludge on the bottom. So the next thing we need to buy is some sort of vacuum but one pool shop told us because our pool does not have a skimmer that a vacuum cannot hook up to use.
Questions: Do we need a skimmer of any sort and if yes why do we need that if we have a sand filter?
What type of vacuum can we buy? Do we need to buy a skimmer so that whatever vacuum we buy hooks into it or can we get some sort of vacuum that hooks directly from the sand filter pump somehow and works that way?
Any help much appreciated and from what I have read on here there are some very knowledgeable members, so you will no doubt think us very "green" when it comes to pool care but hey we've got to start somewhere! Any other advice is welcomed.
Look forward to hearing from you all out there
Thanks
:-D

 

[Patrick_B]

Welcome to the forum Mate!

Glad you found us and you came to the right place. Skimmers are for the top surface and they can be added to your pool depending on the type, but I don't suggest it for of pool for the hassle entailed. If you have the inflatable ring type of Intex you can't install one through the wall. Some of those models come with one that hangs on the side, but they are pretty worthless.

Honestly you may do better or at least as well keeping the pool covered when not in use. You can however vacuum these pools by rigging up a hose to fit one of the barb fittings inside the pool connected to the suction side. That's how I kept mine clean when we had one, and it works well. I never had luck with the suction side cleaners for these little pools, but there are lots of threads here about all this in the above ground pool section. Folks have come up with all sorts of things to modify and clean them with, so do some reading in there to get some ideas. Good luck and post back when you have questions, and enjoy your summer!

 

[mitchmiller]

Thanks Patrick, will do some reading and come back to you with any questions (there will probably be lots!)