new house with pool, what do I need to get started?

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femin

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May 25, 2016
27
Brooklyn, NY
Hi all, recently purchased a house with pool, Found this great website on google as I was thinking opening the new pool myself .

can you guys please show me what i need to purchase to open the pool and balance the water.


so far this is what i'm planning to buy, is this all I need for opening? the pool uses DE for filter.


http://i.imgur.com/ULdlP93.png



I'm thinking maintaining the pool myself, so i will probably need a testkit everyone recommends:
TF-100 Test Kit ™


How about chemicals?
Chlorine tabs, ph plus, alkalinity increaser?
 

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Hello and welcome to TFP! :wave: Without a doubt, the MOST IMPORTANT thing you need first is the proper test kit. The TF-100 (with speed stir) is you best choice. After that, have some regular bleach available (NO tabs/pucks) and possibly a bottle of muriatic acid. I wouldn't buy any other chemicals until your receive your TF-100 and can test the water to se what you need. Great to have you with us!

- - - Updated - - -

Oh, and review the "Recommended Chemicals" link below in my sig for more, but don't buy them until you know you need them. :)
 
Texas Splash said:
Hello and welcome to TFP! :wave: Without a doubt, the MOST IMPORTANT thing you need first is the proper test kit. The TF-100 (with speed stir) is you best choice. After that, have some regular bleach available (NO tabs/pucks) and possibly a bottle of muriatic acid. I wouldn't buy any other chemicals until your receive your TF-100 and can test the water to se what you need. Great to have you with us!

- - - Updated - - -

Oh, and review the "Recommended Chemicals" link below in my sig for more, but don't buy them until you know you need them. :)
Click to expand...


Okay i got the results from tf100



10,000 Gallons Vinyl Liner

FC = 1
CC = 1.5
PH = 7.8
CH = 50

I was not able to get any results for TA and CYA

TA = I tested 3 times, 2 drops of 007, 5 drops of 008, and over 30 drops of 009 still didn't change color, why is that?

CYA = tested 4 times, the tube was clear and I could see the black dot even the whole tube was filled with water.
 
femin said:
Okay i got the results from tf100



10,000 Gallons Vinyl Liner

FC = 1
CC = 1.5
PH = 7.8
CH = 50

I was not able to get any results for TA and CYA

TA = I tested 3 times, 2 drops of 007, 5 drops of 008, and over 30 drops of 009 still didn't change color, why is that?

CYA = tested 4 times, the tube was clear and I could see the black dot even the whole tube was filled with water.
Click to expand...
Your TA is likely quite high. Mine was pushing 400, so you just have to keep adding drops until you get the color change.

If you've never added any, there won't be any CYA in your water. It does not occur naturally.
 
Don't worry about TA until you get everything else in line, it is really a fine tuning item, and no need to worry about it yet. If you don't have any CYA chances are it was lost over the winter to bacterial conversion.
 
So last night I put 44oz of bleach to bring the FC to 4 according Poolmath, this morning I tested the water again, the FC dropped to 0.5.
I vacuumed the pool again this morning thinking there might be stuff in there thats consuming the bleach.

does it mean I need to SLAM the pool?
 
Okay, now that you've got the right test kit, we're going to give you some concrete steps to follow. Because you may have ammonia in the water, you need to do the following:
*** FIRST ensure pH is adjust to 7.2 *** Then ......
1. Begin a SLAM and dose FC up to SLAM level. If your CYA test is showing as zero (perhaps already converted to ammonia), use a SLAM/Shock FC of 10. Do not add additional CYA at this point.
2. Retest FC at 10-minute intervals.
a. If FC loss is greater than 50%, add FC to bring back up to SLAM level and continue retesting FC @ 10-minute intervals.
b. IF FC loss is 50% or less, add FC to bring back up to SLAM level. Go to Step 3.
3. If CYA is below 30 ppm, add enough CYA to bring level up to 30 ppm.
4. Continue SLAM as directed in the SLAM article until the SLAM Criteria of Done are met. Test as directed in the SLAM article - no longer need to test FC at 10 minute increments at this point.

This 10-min drill will resolve potentially 2 things at once ... ammonia and the SLAM sequence. So once you are able to hold FC as noted in the steps above and finally add stabilizer, make sure to maintain the FC of 12. Follow everything you see listing on the SLAM page and you will begin to see noticeable improvements. If you have any questions, please let us know.
 

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Texas Splash said:
Okay, now that you've got the right test kit, we're going to give you some concrete steps to follow. Because you may have ammonia in the water, you need to do the following:
*** FIRST ensure pH is adjust to 7.2 *** Then ......
1. Begin a SLAM and dose FC up to SLAM level. If your CYA test is showing as zero (perhaps already converted to ammonia), use a SLAM/Shock FC of 10. Do not add additional CYA at this point.
2. Retest FC at 10-minute intervals.
a. If FC loss is greater than 50%, add FC to bring back up to SLAM level and continue retesting FC @ 10-minute intervals.
b. IF FC loss is 50% or less, add FC to bring back up to SLAM level. Go to Step 3.
3. If CYA is below 30 ppm, add enough CYA to bring level up to 30 ppm.
4. Continue SLAM as directed in the SLAM article until the SLAM Criteria of Done are met. Test as directed in the SLAM article - no longer need to test FC at 10 minute increments at this point.

This 10-min drill will resolve potentially 2 things at once ... ammonia and the SLAM sequence. So once you are able to hold FC as noted in the steps above and finally add stabilizer, make sure to maintain the FC of 12. Follow everything you see listing on the SLAM page and you will begin to see noticeable improvements. If you have any questions, please let us know.
Click to expand...


So I think I just made a big mistake.

Today I lowered my pH to 7.2, then I added 144 oz to bring to FC to SLAM level of 10. I went to re-test after 10 mins, after 2 drop of R-0871 the water turned clear, thinking that was fast, I went back poured in another gallon of Bleach 8.25%, waited 10 mins and brought new sample to test. To my surprise the previous tube I was testing with, it turned back to pink, this is when I realize I f'ed up.

Even with the new sample (should be plenty of bleach in there now) after few drops it would turn clear, but if I let it sit for a min or two, it will turn back to pink, this is done with the speed stirrer, I'm now completely lost, how should I test this.

Please help and shed some light, I hope I didn't do too much damage to the liner. what are my options at this point?
 
That's expected. When we test FC and make the water go from pink to clear, it will change back to (light) pink if you let it sit for a few moments. Just ignore that. :calm:

But that 10-min drill is very important at the moment because we want to ensure you have no ammonia or over-abundance of organic material in the water. It's important to focus just on the FC testing every 10-min and adjust FC back to 10 until it starts to hold. Once you get the FC to hold for about 10 min, then you can add stabilizer and continue with the SLAM. So stick close to those steps above in post #10 and you will see improvements in the testing and how FC holds better.
 
phew....okay, I just tested it again, after about 6 drops it turned clear (3 FC), and this is after 2+ gallon of bleach within the past hour.
if I let it sit for 15 seconds it turn back to pink, this is normal?

if normal, I should go back add more bleach to adjust it to FC 10? I was reading too much bleach would cause issues to liners and pipes, that was my concern
 
Hi femin, and welcome. can you please add your pool details, eg, finish type, size, gallons if you know, to your signature in your profile? That helps us help ;)

While it is normal for swamp pool water to consume a lot of chlorine at the start of the slam, the quick test Texas is talking about needs successive testing just to prove the water WILL hold enough chlorine. So we can't gauge that over an hour...need to gauge that over 10 minute intervals.

So, if you add the equivalent of 10 ppm FC for your number of gallons in your pool, and 10 minutes later, its less than 5 ppm when you test the FC again, keep doing this til it holds MORE than 5 ppm 10 minutes later.

As soon as it holds more than 5 ppm, add your CYA and carry on with the slam, adding your cya in a sock and then dosing according to the SLAM level using the [fc/cya][/FC/cya] chart.

If you use that FC/CYA chart, you do not need to worry about hurting the equipment. Just be sure the filter is running 24/7 and that you pour slowly in font of a return.

Make sense?
 
Thank you, I appreciate both of your help, it makes sense to me, I think I was a little lost on how to properly test FC


I followed Texas Splash's advise
1) tested water, determined FC at 2
2) using calculator pour in the suggested amount to bring FC to 10
3) test again, rinse repeat step 1 and 2 until FC holds more than 50% of 10 FC


Anyways, I brought the FC level to 10 about 4 times tonight, it would not hold more than 50% of the FC. so on the very last time, RIGHT AFTER I poured in the bleach I scooped up some sample water and tested, it was still at 2 FC, I thought because the bleach is not circulated through the pool so waited 10 mins and tested, same results of 2 FC. Am I doing something wrong?
 
Good morning, Femin.

Once you get more bleach, here's what I want to make sure you do so you can get the slam fully going on ;)

The way to "force" the water to hold chlorine when its misbehaving is to oxidize the thing that's fighting the chlorine so hard...in this case, possibly ammonia from a previous zeroing out of cya and FC.

So the trick is to do the repeated 10 min. tests consecutively until you get it to hold...not take any time in between.

If after you try again, it doesn't hold after you've brought it back up to 10 3 or 4 times, or even now if you want, you might wish to consider picking up ammonia test strips at a fish/pet store.

For every 1 ppm ammonia, it takes 10 ppm FC to beat it. So if you had a reading of 8 ppm ammonia or something, I might suggest that a partial water change would help you tackle it faster, using less chlorine.

I know it can be overwhelming at first -- I recovered a foreclosure swamp in 2012 and I never thought I'd get the water to hold, but once I followed the routine and nailed that ammonia, the rest of the slam was a breeze AND I've never had to slam again ;)

So I'm sending you the sustain-maintain mojo ;)

Cheers to clear.
 
so i went to Walmart bought 30 gallons of 10%, dated May 2016

started around 4pm, its now almost 8pm, been doing it every 10 mins, 15 gallons into the pool, FC still doesn't hold more than 3 FC....im losing faith and tired, ammonia test next?

just to confirm, I'm testing the FC using the powder then 0871 reagent, the total drop count it takes to bring pink to clear x 0.5 = FC
 

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