Starting New AGP... Hoping for the best...

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M

MrRobbieM

0
Jul 9, 2015
5
Castle Rock, WA
Hello everyone! Found this resource and I've been reading through and amazed at how much knowledge is shared on here. I wanted to share how we are doing.
Took the plunge and got a pool for the family. Intex 18'x48" easy set. Filled with well water and added chlorine. Like clockwork water turned murky brown. Guessing that's the iron. Been working on filtering, cleaning filter and cleaning again frequently and trying to be patient. Got a good test coming in the mail but the drop tests that came with the SWG say the chlorine is around 5. I put probably half a jug in by now. Put maybe 1/4 lb if CYA in so far. Any recommendations? Hoping to see some change soon.
 
Hello and welcome to TFP!. Glad you have been reading-up on the TFP process. :goodjob:. As for your questions, lets see:
- When you first fill your pool with new water, you definitely want some stabilizer in there (CYA), but it won't show-up on tests right away. So we use the Poolmath calculator to help. Based on your pool volume, the fact you have a SWG, and referencing the Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart, to go from zero CYA to 70 would be just over 3 lbs of stabilizer. Now even if you decided to go for an initial non-SWG target of 30, it would still require 22 oz (1 lb, 6 oz). So you may want to add some more stabilizer to let it start working.
- Which test kit did you order? TF-100 or Taylor K-2006? I'm not familiar with your SWG drop test and how accurate it may be for FC, but you could probably just add about 1/2 gallon each evening just until your test kit arrives.

As for the brown water ... yep, sounds like iron. :) So now the approach is to physically remove these precipitates either through vacuum-to-waste, through sweeping to get to the filter (or to skimmer socks or batting material) and then you'll be left over with a smaller amount of iron in the water. At that point you can either use a metal sequestrant or physically remove it with something like Metal Free that tries to capture and precipitate more into the filter. Keep that stuff moving to the filter so it doesn't have a chance to stain anything.

Well, I hope this helps get you started. If you have any more questions, please let us know. Welcome to TFP!
 
Welcome.

FWIW - I have an 18' X 48" Intex Ultra Frame that I maintain at 40ppm CYA & 6-8ppm FC and find that I add about 3-4ppm chlorine daily.

HTH

Dom
 
If you're finding the filter looking strongly rust colored when you go to clean it, that's a good thing - means the iron is precipitating out in a particle size that can be caught by the filter.

With our pool we always have one week of washing rust out of the filter daily (after filling the pool at the start of the season), and then the water is fine for the summer. Some people find they have to resort to additional filtration and/or metal sequestrants to get the iron color out of the pool.

Give it a little time, and make sure you keep chlorine levels up also; don't just focus on the iron.

A previous poster mentioned vacuuming to waste or pushing settled material toward the filter; I don't know if iron precipitates ever get big enough to settle to the bottom like that; ours certainly do not behave like that.

In short, people's experiences with iron in pool water vary quite a bit from pool to pool.
 
Generally, I believe if you can see iron precipitating in your pool, you can get it out through filtering or whatever works best.

The longer term issue is what to do with the iron that comes into your pool if you continue to use the well as fill water?

Your only course then is a lifetime of sequestrant expense (and likely iron staining). An alternative is to have a water softener which you can use as refill water and eventually get the iron so low as to not be a problem.
 
Thanks for your responses! It's nice to find support here and we are looking forward to getting our pool on the right track. Trucking water would have been around $300 to fill the pool. However next time we may consider it if we can make sure there is no iron.

I have the K2006 that's supposed to get here Monday. I just don't want to over add something before then and have to work to fix that.

I had been holding off on the CYA because I read it can take up to a week to dissolve. So, my thoughts, if I'm rinsing my filter frequently (actually using the batting/filling in a bucket right now that we started last night) would that get caught up in that or the filter and then thrown or rinsed away? Let me know if I'm wrong.

Also I already dumped 160# of salt according to the pool math calculator so I should use the higher CYA target. If it's good to go despite the filtering iron out then I'll add it in today. Just slowly spread it in over the pool? What is the best method with no skimmer bucket? I've only got two inlets to the pump and one outlet.

This morning will be to see how the batting is working. Fingers crossed!
 
OP has a smallish seasonal pool (EasySet type) though, so long term concerns about stains, or what to do with refill water over the course of the season may not be an issue in this case.

(this was in response to Dave's post, above)
 

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Changed to new poly fill this morning and more clearing after running for 6 more hours... It's looking pretty good! :D going back to the cartridge filter now, testing again and using the pool for a bit this afternoon. So much better than the coke colored water we had in there yesterday!

Question: how do I add in the CYA? Don't have a skimmer attachment with the pool.
 
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