What have I gotten myself into??????

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priester68

priester68

0
May 26, 2014
7
Natchez, MS
Hi all. Got my daughter a Wal Mart pool (Intex 18x48 ultra frame round). I have it set up and almost done filling it up with water. What in the world do I do now? All this chemical stuff seems like rocket science to me. I have one of the floating things with the 3" chlorine tablets in it and that's all i have bought for the pool. Other than that, I'm lost. What is my next step? And please, give it to me in basic terms as I know absolutely nothing about pool lingo. Thanks for any help you can provide and I'm glad I found this site.
 
Welcome to TFP!

The first step would be to start reading a few of the first articles in Pool School. Then we can talk the same language.

Keep a few of the tablets floating in the pool for now, but keep track of how many you use. Eventually you will need to stop using them and switch to liquid chlorine.

Did you get any kind of test kit?
 
priester68 said:
At first I bought a test kit with the pool but after getting home and finding this site, I realize that kit is probably junk and not what I need. Do you have any suggestions?
Click to expand...

You can see Recommended Test Kits but for a small pool you can't go wrong with the TF 100. Link to tftestkits.com in my signature.

Read PoolSchool. Ask more questions. You'll get the hang of it.
 
Ordering a good kit now. Thanks for the advice. Do I need anything extra with the tf-100 kit or does it come with everything I will need? Is there any particular brand of Chlorine tablets I should be using in my floater thing? Or will tablets at Wal Mart do?
 
Do some reading in Pool School. I'd start with ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry. Understanding the relationship between cyanuric acid (CYA) and free chlorine (FC) is one of the most important parts of maintaining a pool. Everything else is important but getting and keeping a pool algae and bacteria free hinges on those.

Once you understand that, you'll understand why using pucks (assuming they're trichlor) over an extended period will eventually lead to problems with algae and poor water quality.
 
Yes, forget about pucks and use liquid chlorine. Sometimes 8.25% bleach you can find at most big box stores is cost effective. I suggest Walmarts great value because they have quick turnover of their stock, so it's always fresh.
 
As soon as the water level is high enough, you start the pump and filter and look for leaks.

And then you can cave in and let your daughter in the pool. Things may not be perfect, but she bathes in the same water, so she shouldn't contract anything lethal in the day or two you're anxiously awaiting the test kit.

Just run the tests and post results here and someone will be along soon enough to guide you. In reality, once you start doing, and add whatever and can see the test results change just the way they should, a light bulb will go off and you will understand.

You can save some of the CYA reagent and skip that test the first time, as long as you keep count of how many pucks you added. How-to videos.
 
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