Brand new Start-up Requirements

[vvbrock]

Hello all. in the absence of a local pool store, I am wondering what I need to have on hand to start our pool up for the first time. It is 45,000 gallons and will be filled with drinkable well water. I can tell you that the well water is slightly alkaline and reads slightly high on the mineral hardness test. I know that folks in the civilized world usually order pool water and then have a "pool service" come and start the pool. Unfortunately, that responsibility falls to me, and I am a lost ball in high weeds. We are polishing the pebble finish this week and hopefully on the weekend will be sticking a hose in the pool to fill it. I need to order chemical supplies from Lima - the capitol city over the Andes - and they will take about a week to get here. My wife has planned a birthday party for one of my children in about 2 weeks and the kids are super excited to swim in the new pool. I realize the pool will probably not be "ready" to swim in by then, but it probably will be..... So my question is, how do I get there from here? Some folks have said not to bother with the salt for the first month... So I need to start it up with chlorine. How much do I need to have on hand for this? I can get it in 5 Gal buckets apparently. Can I use bleach that I can buy locally for starting?? Do I need to order CYA? I realize I need a test kit. I am paying 150 buck for a k-2005 kit from Lima. I know it is high, but the only other kits available are test strips that measure chlorine and ph only. I have a k-2006 in the US, but the airline says it is Hazmat so we couldn't bring it, and all the shipping companies were charging 400 bucks for shipping - not including customs duties. All this to say, in a week I will be testing the water and have a better idea of what the water doesn't have, but I would like to have the chemicals on hand for when I need them. Can anyone help? Thanks in advance.
~Vann

 

[duraleigh]

Chlorine is mandatory. I suggest you start with enough to keep it at 3 ppm daily until you can test your water. Look at PoolMath on this site to tell you how much that will be.

Please read "The ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry" up in Pool School. That'll get you started on what chemistry is needed and the ranges you need to be in to keep your pool clear.

 

[jblizzle]

You are in a tough spot like a few other members.

One immediate concern I have is that the K-2005 is not one of the recommended test kits and is missing the crucial FAS-DPD chlorine test. That is going to make accurately maintaining the chlorine levels difficult and make dealing with any problems near impossible if you need to follow the ShockLevelAndMAINTAIN Process.

As Dave, said, spend some time reading in Pool School starting with these:
ABCs of Water Chemistry
Recommended Pool Chemicals
How to Chlorinate Your Pool

You need to get some chlorine in there ASAP.

 

[vvbrock]

Ok. Got chems. As it is a new pebble pool I am not wanting to put too much chlorine in at once. We just filled it to the brim with water. It took two days. When finished, we can't see the drains. It's very green.

These are the readings I am getting

FC 1.5
pH 7.4
TA 150
CH 50

 

[JamesW]

Since the plaster is new, you should wait 30 days to add salt. Using trichlor tabs in the interim would be a good choice to add chlorine, lower pH and add cyanuric acid. If the pH is good, use sodium hypochlorite instead.

Since it's plaster, you will need to add some calcium to help protect the plaster.

The green might be copper, so you should be careful not to cause it to drop out as a stain. Adding sequestrant would help.