New pool (pool store recommendations)

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Edgewood

Active member
May 10, 2020
29
Connecticut
Got the pool installed this weekend and the electrical will be finished this morning so I can start running the filter. Took a water sample to the pool store, these are my results and their recommendations ( I have added nothing yet). Can you guys tell me if their recommendations seem ok? I have no clue what I'm doing. Hopefully you guys can help me so I can start balancing the water today
 

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To be honest, we do not even look at pool store tests.
To prove that, they are saying for you to add calcium. Why? You have a vinyl liner. No heater. There is no reason to add calcium. That is pure profit for them.
Add 5 ppm FC worth of bleach/liquid chlorine. Start 30 ppm worth of CYA granules dissolving using the sock method. Keep adding that 3 ppm of liquid chlorine each day until you receive your test kit. I suggest you order the TF100 from TFTestkits.net.
 
I actually have the taylor test kit and will be testing the water myself as soon as the electrician has finished. Then I can post those results. The pool store isn't technically making any "profit" as of right now because their start up chemicals are all included in the pool package until my water is balanced. Although I'm sure I've already paid for them
 
Be sure you know what you are adding with their 'start up' kit. Much of it most likely should not be used.
 
Yea I figured since it's on their dime they likely wouldn't be giving away a lot of chemicals unnecessarily. It is a small mom and pop shop so I'm a little less weary than if it were a big box store but none the less they need to make money. I'll post my results ASAP
 
Edgewood said:
Yea I figured since it's on their dime they likely wouldn't be giving away a lot of chemicals unnecessarily. It is a small mom and pop shop so I'm a little less weary than if it were a big box store but none the less they need to make money. I'll post my results ASAP
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It is possible that they don't even know that a pool does not need all of those things. They are trained by the manufacturers on what is needed and why. If they give you some chemicals now, it sets the pattern that more chemicals are needed later.

When my pool opened up, I went to the pool store a few times and regretted it. At this point, you likely only need 3 things. Chlorine (aka bleach), Muratic Acid and CYA. For now, as already stated, the basic test kit is all that is needed to get you going until you get the full kit. If they want you to add anything other than those 3 ingredients, they are just selling stuff that is not needed. As suggested post their test results or yours or both.
 
Edgewood said:
Ok, so I hope I did this correctly (I followed directions) here are my numbers without adding anything
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Great. Pretty low TA. Might want to add 30 ppm TA worth of baking soda and then test pH and TA after a good circulation.

Then what I posted above about stabilizer (CYA) and chlorine. Salt once you get those things started. Add salt in increments. You do not want to overshoot as you would have to drain water.
 
mknauss said:
To be honest, we do not even look at pool store tests.
To prove that, they are saying for you to add calcium. Why? You have a vinyl liner. No heater. There is no reason to add calcium. That is pure profit for them.
Add 5 ppm FC worth of bleach/liquid chlorine. Start 30 ppm worth of CYA granules dissolving using the sock method. Keep adding that 3 ppm of liquid chlorine each day until you receive your test kit. I suggest you order the TF100 from TFTestkits.net.
Click to expand...
Based on those results, it was as if mknauss knew exactly what was needed. Just follow these instructions and you will be fine. Use Pool Math to determine how much of each. The CYA (also sold as Pool Stabilizer), chlorine and acid can be purchased at local big box stores. You don't need any acid right now.
 

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Unfortunately they determine what chemicals I get based on the water samples they take. So I'm pretty sure I can't go in there and just ask for all sorts of things. They only gave me one bottle of liquid shock and told me to add about half tonight after I added all of the other stuff (including salt). They said my SWG would then produce the rest of the chlorine I need in the next couple of days. Then I can bring them another sample on Wed. and they would tell me what else i need
 
Use the T3. That is rated for a 15000 gallon pool. The Aquatrol is rated for 18000 gallon.

You will be running it at near 100% generation for 24 hours per day.
 
Can I use any of the products that they have given me or should I stay away from all of it? Here's what I have...

•Water stabilizer (granual 100% cyanuric acid) 8lbs total
•PH up (sodium carbonate) 5lbs
•Alkalinity balance (sodium hydrogen carbonate) 25lbs
•calcium balance 20lbs
Liquid shock (12.5%) 1 gallon

What else do I need to get, and what should I not use?

I would also like to know what I need to add first, second, third etc... I really need this dumbed down a little because I feel like I've been reading so much and quite honestly I feel extremely overwhelmed right now. I dont want to screw this up!

Thank you all so much for your help in advance!
 
The stabilizer is CYA - use that.
Alkalinity balance is baking soda. You can use what you need to raise your TA by 30 ppm.
The Liquid Shock is liquid chlorine. You can use that get to chlorine in the pool. May need another bottle or two before your SWCG is ready to run.

PH up is borax, keep it. Not likely you will need it. Can use it to clean stuff, etc.
No need for the calcium. See if they will trade for a bottle or two of liquid chlorine.

You will need salt.

Add 5 ppm FC worth of bleach/liquid chlorine. Start 30 ppm worth of CYA granules dissolving using the sock method. Add 3 ppm of liquid chlorine every day until you get the SWCG running. Add salt when you can. Once you have that done and the water looks good, we will get you to raise your CYA level to 70 ppm.
 
The only thing I would add to @mknauss 's excellent advice is that a CH of 20ppm is somewhat low. It has no practical impact on your pool sanitation or your pool equipment, but when the CH is that low, you can get foaming of your pool water from bathers being in it (sweat & oils from skin, sunblock lotions, hair products, etc). So, after the pool is setup and running for a while and you've got all your other chemicals balanced out, you can retest the CH and increase it a bit. There's no harm in increasing the CH to at least 100ppm and you can do it very slowly if you want since adding calcium to a pool can sometimes cause temporary cloudiness. In your 15,000 gallon pool, adding 3 lbs of calcium chloride CH Increaser will raise the CH by roughly 20ppm or so. One can easily dissolve a pound at a time (no need to be exact) in a 5 gallon bucket of pool water and then distribute that around the pool and brush. At 100pm CH, foaming will be eliminated for the most part.

Good luck, glad you found TFP before the pool stores sent you on a wild goose chase...
 
mknauss said:
The stabilizer is CYA - use that.
Alkalinity balance is baking soda. You can use what you need to raise your TA by 30 ppm.
The Liquid Shock is liquid chlorine. You can use that get to chlorine in the pool. May need another bottle or two before your SWCG is ready to run.

PH up is borax, keep it. Not likely you will need it. Can use it to clean stuff, etc.
No need for the calcium. See if they will trade for a bottle or two of liquid chlorine.

You will need salt.

Add 5 ppm FC worth of bleach/liquid chlorine. Start 30 ppm worth of CYA granules dissolving using the sock method. Add 3 ppm of liquid chlorine every day until you get the SWCG running. Add salt when you can. Once you have that done and the water looks good, we will get you to raise your CYA level to 70 ppm.
Click to expand...

First off , thank you, thank you, thank you!

Should I add the CYA granules before adding chlorine? Will the chlorine burn off without any CYA?

Can I add salt right away or hold off? (SWG is currently off) I have 12 bags of salt they gave me (they said i would need 10)

Just so I'm 100% sure, all I'm doing right now is adding the CYA (using the sock method) and then adding chlorine?

Pool math is telling me I need 8lbs of CYA to bring it to the desired level and 66oz of Chlorine to give me 5ppm? Does that seem correct?
 
You can add the salt. Do you have any way to test the salinity? We recommend the Taylor K1766 kit.
I would only add 8 bags and get that well mixed in (run pump for several hours, brush, swim, etc) then see if the SWCG is generating. If not, add one bag at a time until the SWCG is generating.. Initially set the SWCG to generate 3 ppm FC based on your pool volume.

Add only 4 pounds of CYA right now. Eventually you will add the rest. Let that dissolve from the sock. 24-48 hours later test for it. Then add what you need to get to 70 ppm CYA.

Chlorine now. A half gallon per day until your SWCG is generating.

Normal maintenance will be FC and pH daily for awhile. Once you get a sense of your pool, you can back that off to every other day or so. TA weekly, CYA monthly.

But you will be doing more tests up front while you get things under control.
 

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