Losing my mind

[dezzie.dd]

I hear you guys work miracles! Here's the deal and thanks in advance for helping me give my kid a summer to remember!

We have an 18x48 intex easy set. It's up, filled (well water trickled over a 6 day period), running pump. I'm clueless about the chemicals. After reading other posts, i used a couple different chemicals in an attempt to get things started but nothing working. I purchased a Taylor 2006 kit. As of right now, my FC is 2 and my PH it's 7.0. From what I understand, those are the ones i need to get straight first. I have no CC level. I'm just lost.

Any suggestions are GREATLY appreciated. I'll be on here around the clock if you guys need anything else. Thank you!

 

[Divin Dave]

hi dezzie,
we dont work miracles around here. There is no such thing as a miracle cure. Not here and not at the pool store for sure.

We just teach people the easy way to take care of their pools. Thats really all we do. There are lot of very smart people who have put together
the TroubleFree method of pool keeping and we are all lucky its here for us to use - for free.

There is some good info in all of the posts and threads on the forum, but the real way to learn is by clicking the pool school button. I will help get you started though.

1. You have a good test kit, thats excellent and required.
Can you post a full set of test results? That will tell us what more you may or may not need. (no need to test for CYA, it doesnt naturally occur in water).

2. You need to get some CYA in the pool. About 30-50 ppm. Walmart has about the best price on it. Its known as Stabilizer and Conditioner. What this does is protect the FC from being burned off by the sun. Until you get your CYA in the water, keep your FC at 2 and not higher than 3 ppm.

3. If you pH is 7.0, then its just barely on the low side. You can use Borax to raise it a tad, to 7.4 or just leave it..it will likely go up on its own in a day or 2.

Do you know how to use Pool Math? Its a handy deal.
At top left, add how many gallons your pool holds
In the boxes on the far left, add your test results
In the boxes to the right of that, add your recommended level and click calculate
Pool math will then tell you how much of something to add.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html

Recommended levels
Pool School - Recommended Levels

Recommended Chemicals - you may or not, need all of these. It just depends on your test results.
Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals

FG/CYA Chart Keep your FC at the level recommended for your CYA level by using this chart and you will not ever have any algae. Use liquid chlorine (regular old bleach). You will have to add a little bit each day. FC is consumed by sunlight and organics in the water and so you have to maintain it daily.
Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart

Read This. It will help you better understand what some of this stuff is all about. No one expects you to learn it overnight, so ask questions if you dont understand.
Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry

Please also fill in your signature so that we wont all have to scroll back up to your first post to figure out what type of pool you have. What type you have is important for folks who want to help to know. Add as much info as you can.

 

[Richard320]

I hear you guys work miracles! Here's the deal and thanks in advance for helping me give my kid a summer to remember!

We have an 18x48 intex easy set. It's up, filled (well water trickled over a 6 day period), running pump. I'm clueless about the chemicals. After reading other posts, i used a couple different chemicals in an attempt to get things started but nothing working. I purchased a Taylor 2006 kit. As of right now, my FC is 2 and my PH it's 7.0. From what I understand, those are the ones i need to get straight first. I have no CC level. I'm just lost.

Any suggestions are GREATLY appreciated. I'll be on here around the clock if you guys need anything else. Thank you!

Welcome!

What does the water look like? Clear? Green? Cloudy? Rusty?

You really should run all the tests, with one caveat: if you haven't added any stabilizer, either by itself or included in some powdered chlorine product, you don't need to test CYA. But you need TA for poolmath to calculate doses to adjust pH, and you do need to at least know your CH level, even if there is no minimum for your pool. There's still the potential for scaling if you have hard water.

If you have high alkalinity, your pH will likely fix itself as soon as some kids get in and start splashing around - aerating - and 2 FC is perfect if you have zero CYA. So far, you're doing okay.

 

[dezzie.dd]

Thanks for responding guys! This is what I have right now:

FC- 0.6
CC- not changing color so 0
pH- 7.0
TA- 40
Calcium Hardness- 70

The water looks clear. Not cloudy at all.

I will check out the pool math tonight and throw in some stabilizer. How much stabilizer do you guys recommend? What does 30-50ppm translate into? The pool is about 5700 gallons.

 

[woodyp]

Pool math is your friend for adding cya.

 

[Divin Dave]

In addition to the CYA, you also need to add some bleach to get your FC back up to 3 for now.
Use Pool Math to tell you how much. Instructions on how to use pool math in my first reply to you.

 

[Isaac-1]

One more question, you say you added some chemicals, do you know what they were?

 

[dezzie.dd]

One more question, you say you added some chemicals, do you know what they were?

I added bleach in the beginning. I don't remember exactly how much. Also i bought the 3" chlorinating tablets. That's currently floating around in the holder. I put some hth brand stabilizer and conditions in a stocking and hung it over the side. And 1lb of hth shock and swim. All of that was put in around the time we filled up the pool. Since coming on here and learning about the calculator, i followed those directions last night. I added more bleach, baking soda and borax. I used the amounts suggested by the calculator. These were my readings today after adding suggested things :

FC- 1
pH- 7.8
TA- 90
CH- 70

 

[pooldv]

FC of 1 is too low. It is important to never let the chlorine level drop below the minimum level for your CYA level or algae will start to grow. Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart

Also see Pool School - Recommended Levels for your pool.