List of things I need? Cost cutting essentials

[aquamarine]

I was wondering if there's a list of what I would need for my pool, I thought maybe I should order it all at once. (Pool specs in my sig.)

So far I have: bleach, borax I have to find somewhere and buy, baking soda.
Good to have pH up from the pool store?
Should I also buy the cover cleaner, flocking stuff, or other chemicals that don't have cheap replacements?
Good test kit as described on this forum.
I have a leafmaster and will be getting a leaf rake.
Will get solar cover and have a reel, and I know these aren't necessary.
Have a crappy tarp that will suffice for winter covering if I cover my pool.
I have a pole with a net at the end, but it has a hole in it, so I guess I need to buy another... or how do I fix it?
I have a Dolphin so that helps.
Any other essentials I need to think about buying?

 

[spishex]

Is your pump on a timer? That can save you quite a bit in electrical costs.

 

[JasonLion]

Good to have pH up from the pool store?

PH Up is soda ash. Soda ash is available as ARM & HAMMER® Super Washing Soda Detergent Booster. Do not confuse this with ARM & HAMMER® laundry detergent! It is sold in the laundry detergent section of most larger grocery stores and some big box stores. You can also buy it from the pool store, but it costs more there.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

I was wondering if there's a list of what I would need for my pool, I thought maybe I should order it all at once. (Pool specs in my sig.)

So far I have: bleach, borax I have to find somewhere and buy, baking soda.
Good to have pH up from the pool store?
Should I also buy the cover cleaner, flocking stuff, or other chemicals that don't have cheap replacements?
Good test kit as described on this forum.
I have a leafmaster and will be getting a leaf rake.
Will get solar cover and have a reel, and I know these aren't necessary.
Have a crappy tarp that will suffice for winter covering if I cover my pool.
I have a pole with a net at the end, but it has a hole in it, so I guess I need to buy another... or how do I fix it?
I have a Dolphin so that helps.
Any other essentials I need to think about buying?

PH UP is the same as Soda Ash, and you should be able to get that and Borax at Walmart or grocery store, look in laundry aisle.

You should need cover cleaner, flocking stuff, algaecide or anything else. A properly balanced pool won't need anything else. If opening issues are present, usually all it takes is lots of chlorine and POP while letting the filter do it's job.

I've cleaned my solar cover by just hosing it off and let it dry, the FC levels in the pool should take care of anything else. I assume you mean the solar cover. If you want to scrub it good, just use a diluted bleach solution with water should do the trick.

Probably replace the net.

 

[marthas_ear]

Does the Dolphin eat the fish?
Sorry, I only have a rubber ducky thermometer....I don't know what a Dolphin is.

 

[JasonLion]

Dolphin is a brand of robotic pool cleaners, made by Maytronics.

 

[aquamarine]

Hehe I wish I had a pet dolphin. Of course you'd need a huge pool for a real dolphin. The dolphin is an automatic pool cleaner robot thing. It rolls around and vaccuums up stuff.

 

[aquamarine]

Okay great, so my list has borax, soda ash, baking soda, timer, leaf rake and new net.

If opening issues are present, usually all it takes is lots of chlorine and POP while letting the filter do it's job.

Umm... POP?

 

[aquamarine]

Okay, good about using diluted bleach on solar cover -- can I use that to clean this crappy black tarp too?

 

[aquamarine]

Um, maybe 1 bottle of flocking stuff for now though, so the dolphin can work better? Since I am trying to get my swamp back in shape. First I will fish out a lot with the leafmaster & leaf rake & vaccuum obviously. Well, I hope the flocking stuff is not needed, so I can save more money, lol.

 

[dmanb2b]

don't forget a good test kit!

 

[marthas_ear]

Oh! 8)
I will add my cleaner to my signature....my automatic cleaner's name is this:
Poolvergnuegen PVN 2X Suction In-Ground Pool Cleaner

 

[aquamarine]

Okay, you win the hard-to-say cleaner name contest. Dolphins are not that pretty but I like mine. It was on the less expensive side as far as those robots go.

I mentioned test kit

 

[PaulR]

Umm... POP?

Pool Owner Patience.
--paulr

 

[dmanb2b]

oops...missed that...sorry

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Um, maybe 1 bottle of flocking stuff for now though, so the dolphin can work better? Since I am trying to get my swamp back in shape. First I will fish out a lot with the leafmaster & leaf rake & vaccuum obviously. Well, I hope the flocking stuff is not needed, so I can save more money, lol.

You did say "need". You don't "need" floc, though some people like to use it. It's costly, it does work in some situations, but a need? No.

POP. Definitely POP!

 

[aquamarine]

Well in my book, I "need" the floc if it will save me more than 40-60 minutes of work or so. Considering my swampy situation.

Ah, I guessed patience, but couldn't figure out the rest.

 

[Guest]

don't know how well floc will work with a robot cleaner. It is usually better used with a manual vacuum and a filter that can vacuum to waste. Robots will probably disturb the settled stuff too much and cause it to mix back into the water.

I would hold off on the floc.

 

[orthofish]

Pardon my ignorance,but, what the heck is floc :?

 

[aquamarine]

Some solution you pour into the pool and it makes the little particles get grouped together (congeal) a bit so that you can actually scoop it out.