Brand New Pool

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Tengage

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LifeTime Supporter
Apr 30, 2009
20
Frisco, TX
So we were considering selling our house and cashing in on the stellar buyer's market but then we realized how much it costs to move so.......

we built a pool instead!!!! Here are the pictures of our new pool - http://picasaweb.google.com/tengage/pool#. The pool was filled two days ago (4/28) and I had my pool school today. We're in the Dallas area.

The pool has Pentair stuff, a suntouch, a legend cleaner, a rainbow in-line chlorinator, a paramount clear O3 ozone generator, and a pentair 4x160 with the suction shutoff VFSRS whatever, and a 520 filter. I have a really basic (Deluxe apartment in the sky style) Pentair test kit (chlorine, PH, acid demand, and one other that I forgot). The Pool was built by Hobert pools, it's gunite / marble plaster, and about 7,500 gallons. The start-up guy was awesome but knew way more than me and I have some questions, maybe I should order a T100 and ask you guys daily what to do until I too am a comfortable pro but in the meantime;

For the startup, he poured a bunch of chlorine and a gallon of muriatic acid in the pool and did whatever else the pool guy does. Before he left, he showed me how to test the chlorine level on pool water and how to test PH using tap water and told me to get my water tested in 3 days by the pool supply store. Chlorine on the pool water was really high, dark yellow, over 5 and we didn't look at the PH of the pool because he just dumped a gallon of acid in the pool.

So I picked up 4 gallons of muriatic acid and some 3" tabs to go in the in-line chlorinator on my way home. I got home and try out the kit and I register NO chlorine on the test (or pale yellow - clear). I added a stack (8) of the tabs to my chlorinator and turned it up to the highest setting. I'm running the pump on high for 24h a day for 2 weeks.

The PH Test I ran was in the ideal range but I got the acid because he said the plaster is a base and will cause severe acid demand for a couple of weeks.

SO,
1. Why is my chlorine so low. Will it go up with just the combination of 3" tabs in the rainbow and a non-stop pump? If it's not up tomorrow should I add something else like granular or bleach or some of grandaddy's leftover mustard gas?
2. Is the chlorine drop like that (from 5 to 0 in 8 hours) normal in a new pool?
3. What do all you experts need to tell me (the new pool owner) that I can't live without? Are there more steps that I need to worry about on day 1? Is there more things I should be testing for or will the pool supply store do it right for now?

And,
Thanks for the awesome forum. I plan on reading as much as possible tomorrow, and buying the T100 test kit.
 
With a brand-new fill you probably have no CYA. In the daytime, with no CYA, chlorine gets burned off by the sun very rapidly; that would be why you had none left. CYA protects against this (but "protect" is not the same as "prevent").

The 3" tabs are almost certainly "trichlor" which contains both chlorine and CYA. The thing is, the chlorine will burn off and the CYA will stay, so once you get a reasonable CYA level you want to stop using the tabs.

The rule is, for every 10ppm FC you get from trichlor, you get 6ppm CYA. A possibly more useful number (from the Pool Calculator) is that for a 7500 gal pool, one 3" (8 oz) tab of trichlor will raise CYA by about 4. So when those 8 tabs are all gone, you should be around 30ppm CYA, which is the low end of the recommended range.

I have no clue how the ozone thingy affects where your FC should be at. I'm sure other more experienced heads will come along to advise you.

Fresh plaster will cause pH to rise; word is this effect can last a year, not just a few weeks, so you'll want to keep a close eye on the pH until you get a feel for how the pool behaves.

--paulr
 
Please do buy a TF100 test kit! Your beautiful pool deserves the best kit on the market and this is it!

You recieved some great info from paulr about the 3"pucks and CYA. There is no way those puck will sustain the chlorine demand so you should go out and purchase some bleach either regular non scented 6% from your local store or 10-12% from the pool store.

We have a wonderful section here called Pool School. If I may, I'd suggest you read it several times over to absorb the info. It's the meat and potatoes of running a Trouble Free Pool! :mrgreen:

Welcome to TFP! I love how you packed that pool in your back yard! 8) It reminds me of ktdave's pool <Little OT but... where is he anyways? Anyone know?> :-D
 
You got great advice above. :goodjob:

Absolutely get the test kit, it will be the best investment in your investment. :mrgreen:

Once you get it, post a full set of test results on this thread. Now off to pool school for you!

FYI, the ozone unit destroys CCs. Kind of unneccessary in outdoor, uncovered pools cause the sun does too (for free). But it's there, oh well.

Ditto the advice on the tabs, okay to use for awhile. They are acidic which will help keep your PH in check from the plaster curing (yes, PH rise can last a year). You still may need to use MA tho.

Once your CYA levels hits 50, it's best to save the inline unit/tabs for vacations and such. That being said, they probably won't provide enough CYA right away to keep the FC from burning off. So you have a choice of adding CYA alone (buy at wal-mart or pool store), (maybe enough for 20ppm of CYA) and use the tabs to bring it into 30-50 range, or supplement now with liquid chlorine or bleach checking twice a day for FC levels to make sure the sun hasn't destroyed it all... boosting the CYA to 20 will make a difference with the sunlight issue, you'll see your FC holding for longer periods.

Now, make friends with The Pool Calculator. Play with it, get to know it. :wink:

Lastly check out the chart. As your CYA increases, so should your level of FC that you keep in "reserve". You never want to let it go below the "minimum" level for your CYA, or you risk an algae bloom. Quite often a pool can be clear, but can't hold chlorine, and this is the beginning stage of an algae outbreak, and it's usually because the FC was allowed to drop too low.

So congrats on your pool, and welcome to TFP! :goodjob:
 
:mrgreen:

Hokay so here's the deal. I bought the TF100 kit so I'll stay home from work until it shows up.

I added the 3" (I think they're trichlor pucks I'll check) and cranked the rainbow in-line as high as it would go (6). This morning, the Chlorine was back up to 5 so I turned it back down to 2. I really have no Idea what CYA is so I'm going to go read the pool school now, then I'm on my way to the calculator. The PH was almost perfect, needed a cup of muriatic acid this morning and it looks good. It's much less cloudy now that some of the plaster dust has been filtered out.

Sunday, I'll clean the filters and bring some of my water to the Leslie's down the road (unless I get my kit by then) to see what they want to sell me.

Thanks everyone for the quick responses!!!
 
Make sure you read the article in pool school called "start up new plaster". Lots of advice there....

You should be vacuming and brushing with the kind of brushes/vac heads for vinyl pools, and disregard my earlier advice about adding the 20ppm CYA. The article says to do it slowly which is what you are doing using the inline unit. :wink:

But with all the brushing and stirring up the plaster dust you may need to clean the filter before sunday. So read the article and follow the steps, it doesn't sound like your PB did what he was "in theory" supposed to do so it will fall on you.
 
Tengage said:
:mrgreen: Hokay so here's the deal. I bought the TF100 kit so I'll stay home from work until it shows up.
Click to expand...
Whoa! Good deal! :-D Congratulations on the TF100 purchase. Best investment we made in our pool.

You have gotten great advice. Maybe I missed it, but just wondering if someone is brushing that new pool every day?

[ETA: FPM got the info in there while I was being distracted :mrgreen:]

Welcome to the forum :wave:
 
Tengage said:
...poured a bunch of chlorine and a gallon of muriatic acid in the pool and did whatever else the pool guy does...
Click to expand...

Is the chlorine drop like that (from 5 to 0 in 8 hours) normal in a new pool? YES

All of the above comments are fantastic :goodjob: !

Without CYA (stabilizer) your chlorine will be used by the sun in nothing flat :| , especially in the Dallas sun! Using 3" tablets will cause a gradual increase in CYA.
{edited per Jason's input - THANKS! :idea: }.
Too much CYA means draining and replacing the water: just get some in the water!

Either plain 6% bleach or pool store chlorine (10 or 12%) will be the best source of chlorine 8) .
 
Yes, I'm brushing the plaster at least twice a day. It clouds up much less now than when we filled it 3 days ago. I'm reading the pool school now but I haven't gotten to the new plaster pool startup part yet.

I'll keep PH and chlorine in check now and when my TF100 shows up I'll post the results and what I think I should do based on my new found knowledge (and the pool calc), then you guys can tell me what to really do.
 

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THANKS for all the support. I've been reading as much as possible. I'll be doing BBB when my TF100 shows up (tomorrow). In the meantime I wanted to get my levels right because I've got some mottling that's borderline "extreme" but I don't mind it so much, it adds character. They're coming out to check on it tomorrow to make sure it's normal and that I'm doing everything right (although I'm going to play shocked) and I need my chemicals to be decent. They really should prepare pool owners on what to expect with dark colored plaster.



Anyway, I took my water to Leslies and here are their results and what I added



FC-1 (I'm using the trichlor tablet in-line feeder and I can't get it dialed in right because my CYA I think. After my chemicals are right I'll be BBB :mrgreen: )

CC-0

TC-1

PH-7.8 (the plaster is a week old and I add about 1/2 to 3/4 muriatic per day)

TA-50 (I added 4 pounds of Leslie's Alkalinity Up Sunday morning)

CH-180 (I added 3 pounds of Leslie's Hardness Plus late Sunday)

CYA-0 (I added just over 100oz of their liquid conditioner that said it would get me to around 40ppm)



Here's what it looks looked like about 10 minutes ago
Pool


Thanks again guys, this forum is great!!!
 
Tengage said:
So we were considering selling our house and cashing in on the stellar buyer's market but then we realized how much it costs to move so.......

we built a pool instead!!!!
Click to expand...

Hi Tengage!

That's what happened to us also! We had contemplated to buy a new home (5 years or so back), due to possibly having both of ours mom's live with us, but once we calculated the cost of moving and location we decided to stay and put a pool in (since then we also put on an addition-so plenty of room for everyone now).

Good luck with the "brand-new" pool, it looks beautiful already! You sure will enjoy it and people here are very helpful. I have needed their advise and recommendations alot lately when we switched to SWG (Salt) and I all the sudden had a green monster on my hands instead of Clear, Clean and Blue :mrgreen:

Welcome to TFP...BTW: You need to get the TF-100 Test it will make your life alot easier :lol:
Cheerio :wave:
 
Re: Brand New Pool + Test Results

My TF100 showed up today and I'm really happy with the both the kit and the numbers, I'll get my chlorine up to 4 or 5 and my TA should go down because it's new plaster and I keep adding muriatic acid and I'll turn the falls up a bit (another week of 24/7 pump-on-high-kill-my-electric-bill mode). I added about half of the amounts of chemicals Leslie's recommended and it looks like most chemicals are happy so it's a good thing I didn't add everything.

FC - 2.5
CC - 0
TC - 2.5
PH - 7.5
TA - 100
CH - 290
CYA - 40

So how much Bleach per week do you guys normally use? I have been using the Trichlor 3" tabs but I'm going to stop when the 8 tabs get used up and then I'll start on the BBB (will the 8 tabs raise my CYA too much they're probably about half chewed up by now?). The pool probably will get about 8 hours of direct sun per day and it's 7,500 gallons. As far as the MA, I'm still adding about 1/2 to 3/4 cup per day.
 
The liquid conditioner got you to 40ppm CYA. The Pool Calculator has an "effects of adding chemicals" section at the bottom; for 7500gal, it says 64oz trichlor (8 of the 8-oz pucks) gets you 35ppm CYA. So that will put you into the 70-80 range.

That's probably a leetle bit high, but in sunny TX maybe okay.
--paulr
 
My pool is 13,500 and I would say I go thru a small jug of 6% a week in the heat/sun of the summer. I keep my solar cover on when it's not used, that helps cut down on FC loss from sunlight. I have a light batherload. From what I have seen on here, my FC use is on the low end of the range.

Sunlight and batherload, watertemps, these will all affect your FC level, it should take you about a month or so of using bleach for you to "know" your pool and how much it will lose daily. Any unusual events, like a pool party, bump the FC up about 3ppm before the party and check the level after, you may have to bump it up again, lots of swimmers can make the FC drop rapidly.
 

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