New Intex pool owner

[Woodstock]

Seeking advice on a new pool start up filled by well water. 20 foot round Intex above ground. Test kit on order. Water is filtering. Have test strips. What should I do while I wait on my kit to arrive?

 

[Texas Splash]

Hello and welcome to TFP! Here you go:
1 - Use the Poolmath calculator (link below and on Home Page) to increase CYA to an initial target of 30 ppm.

To increase CYA via granular stabilizer, place the required amount as calculated by the Poolmath calculator into a white sock and place in the poolside skimmer basket. For those concerned about suction flow to the pump, suspending the sock near a return jet or from a floating device will also suffice. Best never to allow undissolved granules to rest directly against the pool surface. Squeeze the sock periodically to help it dissipate. Once dissolved, consider your CYA adjusted to that programmed (target) level. CYA test readings should show a rise in 24-48 hours, however some pools may experience a longer delay to fully register. Best to confirm final CYA in about 5-7 days before adding any more stabilizer/conditioner.

2 - Add some regular bleach near a return jet with pump running for a day one FC target of about 3 ppm. Tomorrow add bleach each evening for a target of about 5 ppm. We'll update FC and CYA more later.
3 - Test/adjust pH to the mid 7s
4 - Throw away test strips.

You should be able to do those 3 things with any cheap HTH drop test kit. The CYA is just adding according to the calculator. This will get you going for now. Hope this helps.

 

[Woodstock]

Thanks for the starting advice. I will do as suggested tomorrow and report back with results. Getting a simple test kit should be no problem so I will do that as well. Thanks so much for the help.

 

[PAGirl]

Welcome! When I first came here I read, read, and read some more, luckily be fore I even got my pool up. (We had just gotten our 18'x48" Intex then.)

To get you started.....

Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry

Pool School - Basic Pool Care Schedule

Pool School - Handy Reference

 

[Woodstock]

Got the drop test kit and added cya as suggested. Following other instructions as directed. Any other advice for now or wait on advanced test kit? Thanks to Texas Splash and PAGirl for the responses.

 

[Texas Splash]

Nothing else right now other than what you've already done. Good work. Best to not get too carried away without those good test results. Since you're on a well, we want to keep algae away but not get too high with chlorine either in case it tries to precipitate out and change color on us.

 

[PAGirl]

Got the drop test kit and added cya as suggested. Following other instructions as directed. Any other advice for now or wait on advanced test kit? Thanks to Texas Splash and PAGirl for the responses.

My advice for now? Enjoy your new pool!!

 

[Woodstock]

Still waiting on the good test kit. PH - 7.8. There is an orange goo that settles out on the bottom of the pool. Going to attempt to vacuum with a battery operated vacuum system this afternoon. Having owned a real pool for 16 years in my past and now messing with this Intex without a good way of vacuuming is a challenge. In the past I would have just shot the orange stuff to waste. Any suggestions?

PAGirl I checked out your photos. Looks really nice on the install. How do you vacuum? Do you have the Intex sand filter and if so do you recommend? I was thinking of installing a skimmer and getting a real filter system?

 

[Richard320]

The goo is probably rust and fine silt from the well water settling out.

If your little battery vacuum doesn't catch it -- you'll see a cloud around it -- stop! Line the vacuum bag with paper towels or coffee filters or polyester pillow/quilt stuffing or a slice of an old rag T-shirt or something that is fine enough to catch it. But get rid of it before you lower pH, or you may just dissolve the Iron back into solution and you want it out of the pool.

 

[PAGirl]

Still waiting on the good test kit. PH - 7.8. There is an orange goo that settles out on the bottom of the pool. Going to attempt to vacuum with a battery operated vacuum system this afternoon. Having owned a real pool for 16 years in my past and now messing with this Intex without a good way of vacuuming is a challenge. In the past I would have just shot the orange stuff to waste. Any suggestions?

PAGirl I checked out your photos. Looks really nice on the install. How do you vacuum? Do you have the Intex sand filter and if so do you recommend? I was thinking of installing a skimmer and getting a real filter system?

I got the medium sized sand filter when I had my 18'. I have a regular pool vac, I rigged it up to fit as a screw on attachment on the Intex inlet by disassembling the hose from the 18's over the side skimmer. It works okay. I had bought an adapter to go straight to the pump with it, but it makes my hose too short and it's difficult to keep air out of the hose when taking it outside of the pool. If my sand filter breaks, I will go with the largest sand filter, then I won't have to run it so much. I go back and forth in my head about the through the wall skimmer. Heavy pollen right now is making me wish I had one. But I hate to lose the water depth. (6' son) I know some put it right to the edge of the grey, but that's where I keep my water level most of the time, I'd still lose a couple of inches.

Here is a picture of the one end..... The other end of the hose is connected to the vacuum hose with a clamp and duct tape, lol. It isn't pretty, but it works, ha ha.

 

[Woodstock]

Hello everyone. We made the vac thing work like PAGirl and vacuumed the orange goo to waste like I used to do with my metal wall pool. Thanks for the input on that. We did have to add some water to make up for the vacuuming which may be why the CYA is now low? The kit arrived and the numbers are:

PH-7.8
FC - 4.5
CC - 0
TA - 350
CYA - <20

Plan to add some more CYA per pool math and begin to lower the TA.

Any other suggestions?

 

[Texas Splash]

As long as your water is clear now and there is no signs of algae, then those are pretty good numbers. Your TA is quite high which may be indicative of your fill water's TA as long as you are sure there was no testing error during the TA portion. If testing was good, then you may want to think about reviewing the Pool School - Lower Total Alkalinity page. Have a nice day.

 

[Woodstock]

Thanks Texas Splash. The water is clear and I am confident the testing was done properly. I did it twice to confirm. Will review the lowering of TA page and report back. Have a great weekend or what's left of it!