New Member, AGP owner in a land void of AGPs

[briangstein]

Good afternoon, all. I purchased an Intex 16'x32' above-ground pool in late May 2020. We live just outside of Denver, Colorado. No one in our neighborhood has an AGP of any significance (toy pools notwithstanding). I could not find any pool company in the area willing to help me set up or install the pool. Colorado is pretty void of humidity and so if you don't have an in-ground pool here, you probably go to a neighborhood pool or athletic club.

Here's a summary of my equipment:
* Intex 32ft x 16ft x 4.3ft Ultra XTR Rectangular Pool
* Intex 2800 gph Krystal Clear Sand Filter (use Zeo Sand as filter media)
* Intex Krystal Clear Salt Water System up to 15,000 gallons
* Sun2Solar Blue 800 thickness Solar Cover
* Intex Heavy Duty Aluminum Base AGP Cover Reel
* Intex Deluxe Wall Mount Surface Skimmer

Under the Pool
* 16 individual Owens Corning FOAMULAR 150 1/2 in x 4ft x 8ft sheets (for liner protection)
* 4" Concrete slab 18 ft x 37 feet

Cleaning Equipment
* Skimmer net with extension pol
* Brush that attaches to extension pole
* Dolphin E10 robotic cleaner

Happy to answer questions about setup, trials, and tribulation 30 days into this endeavor.

 

[kellyfair]

Hello! You are missing a key piece of equipment - a test kit! Check out tftestkits.net.

 

[briangstein]

Hello! You are missing a key piece of equipment - a test kit! Check out tftestkits.net.

Thank you. I have the test strips as well as Taylor Test kit. I bought the Taylor kit thinking I needed "more" but since the first day playing with the Taylor kit (like a kid in Chemistry class), I've gone back to using the Test strips. Other than chlorine, my water chemistry stays pretty consistent so I haven't found much use for the Taylor kit.

 

[kellyfair]

Thank you. I have the test strips as well as Taylor Test kit. I bought the Taylor kit thinking I needed "more" but since the first day playing with the Taylor kit (like a kid in Chemistry class), I've gone back to using the Test strips. Other than chlorine, my water chemistry stays pretty consistent so I haven't found much use for the Taylor kit.

You are likely going to end up regretting that. Test strips are unreliable.

You might want to check out Pool School, starting with the ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry. Link is in my signature.

 

[outpost]

If you’ve got your chemistry right with the Taylor kit and your chlorine levels with the strip match what you see with the Taylor kit consistently, I don’t see a problem using strips for routine testing and using the Taylor every few days for a more thorough checkup.

 

[stringer77]

Stop using strips