DustinSS, Noob

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Dustinss

Dustinss

0
Jul 26, 2015
5
Middle TN
Good morning guys (and ladies). I'm Dustin from middle TN. I'm going into my second season of pool ownership. Last summer, we had a 24 x 52 above ground pool installed. It has a Pentair Sand Dollar SD-40 filter, not sure of the pump hp, (I'll get it all added in my sig shortly). The installer sold us on the Power Ionizer, and while we were excited with the little maintenance involved, had begun to get worrisome as the summer went by. All I had to "test" the water were copper/ph test strips. I have two girls, and several young nieces/nephews who use this pool, and the more I read about the slow process of sanitation with copper only, the less confident I was in the ionizer use.

I'm a first time poster, but have read several threads pertaining to the BBB method, and I'm ready to give it a try. I removed my power ionizer, and my pool was so far gone (cloudy, nasty mess) that I drained the water and have started fresh with 12,000 gallons of crystal clear city water. I have glanced through the ABC's of pool chemistry (although a bit intimidating), and I'm ordering a "real" test kit as we speak.

I appreciate any info/advice you could give (and have already given) along the way!

Thanks,
Dustin
 
Welcome to TFP! You will never regret dumping that ionizer, especially with children involved. Good job on ordering a proper test kit! You're going to need it. Don't freak over all the info. Take it one article at a time.
 
Thanks for all the welcomes! As stated earlier, I "converted" from a Power Ionizer where all I ever did was add bleach and occasionally check copper levels.

I got my Taylor K-2006 this morning, and although a bit intimidated at first, got some test samples:

FC- No traceable amount. Not sure if I just wasn't doing it correctly or not (added 1 gal bleach 6 days ago)
PH-7.4
TA- 70ppm
CH-70ppm
CYA- Again, no traceable amount.
71* Water Temp

Tossed my numbers into the pool calculator and it tells me to:
-Add 145 oz Bleach to raise FC
-Add 9.4 oz Soda Ash to raise PH
-Add over 4lbs of Stablilizer to raise CYA

Does this sound about right? Off to a good start as water is crystal clear!

Thanks
 
PH is fine at 7.4, anywhere 7.2 to 7.8 is OK. Add CYA in a sock, or two. Get some bleach/chlorine in there asap to keep it clear. More here on adding CYA, Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals

Chlorine level is set based on CYA and the Chlorine CYA Chart. It is important to keep it at target and never let it drop below minimum or the pool will be unsanitary and algae will grow.
 
Dustinss said:
FC- No traceable amount. Not sure if I just wasn't doing it correctly or not (added 1 gal bleach 6 days ago)
Click to expand...

Another 'Welcome to TFP'!

Quite likely you were - it's really pretty easy. One thing to remember regarding chlorine (aka bleach), unlike most other pool chemicals you will add with the Trouble Free Pool Care (TFPC) method (formerly known as BBB), is that it's a consumable. After testing, it will normally need to be added EVERY DAY. Moving forward, some also choose a salt water chlorine generator (SWCG) to automate how chlorine gets added to their pools. Just something to keep in mind as you move to take ownership of your backyard pleasure vessel.

Cheers!
 
How much what an average add be daily? How many gallons of bleach should I go through in a week? I know it will vary pool to pool and be based on different conditions, but is a gallon a week about right? Just as an estimate? Do I need to buy stock in Clorox? ;) On a serious note, I bought the "regular" bleach.... not the "splashless" kind. Believe it's 8.25% Does this sound right? Thanks!
 

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Yes, generic concentrated bleach, unscented, not splashless is the right stuff. I get mine at the grocery store. Your pool should use 2-4ppm of chlorine per day. Do you know how to use Poolmath yet to figure out how much bleach that is? I'll give you the answer and you go see if you can repeat it in Poolmath, link above. It takes 21oz of 8.25% bleach to raise FC by 1 ppm in your pool. So, between 40 and 80 oz per day. Keeping your CYA at 50 will keep this on the lower end.
 
Yes the pool calculator is awesome. Was just curious how often I need to be doing the testing. Just based on the reading I've done, sounds like daily at first for PH/FC, and "everything else" weekly. Thanks for the insight!
 
Yes, that is a good start. Once you understand how your water behaves you can move CYA and CH to monthly. And maybe TA too if your PH and TA remain stable.
 
One more thanks to those that contributed. We are about a month into the pool season, and we couldn't be happier and (knock on wood) the water couldn't be clearer. Having a tough time keeping up with the CYA, always seems pretty low, but we are maintaining good PH and FC levels.

Thanks again! So glad I made the switch from Power Ionizer to this method.
 
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