Initial Setup Intex 26'' x 52" with SWG and 3000gph Sandfilter

[DJinMO]

Hey folks, TFP is a great resource for learning about pools. Although with knowledge comes more money spent to do things right the first time. My wife wants to know why just using test strips and adding salt like we did a few years ago on our 14 foot standard Intex with SWG isn't enough. Anyway; I am learning more everyday but have a few questions in order to start our new pool off right.

I am at the level stage on the ground work and should get our pool up within the next few days depending on rain. What should I add or start with initially. After reading believe it should be CYA then Chlorine. In my case should I add CYA and salt (or salt plus liquid chlorine)according to manufacture specs, and then just let the pump run a day or so before testing and start up of SWG (or run SWG with CYA and salt/chlorine)?

Just want to make sure I hit the ground running and have it all ready to go once I get the wrinkles out and water in.

More info: Pool in direct sun most of the day so if I read correctly need the higher CYA.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

DJ

 

[cowboycasey]

DJ, welcome to TFP

Test (guess) strips are just not precise Amazon.com : Insta-TEST POOL4 Plus Pool Spa Test Strips, Free Chlorine, Alkalinity, Cyanuric Acid (stabilizer) and pH - 3032, 4-way kit includes 50 tests : Swimming Pool Testing Strips : Patio, Lawn Garden, take CYA on this kit, it has 0, 40, 100, 150, and 200, most pools we recommmend 30 CYA..

take free chlorine Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart, for 30 CYA the FC target is 4, they do not even have 4 FC on the strip

With the TF100 we do exact, it can test down to 0.2 free chlorine and up to 50 free chlorine.. with exact you know what is going on in your water and not guessing

shopping list
walmart pool isle: get 3, 4 pound bottle of pool conditioner/stabilizer it says 100 cyanuric acid
2 gallons liquid pool shock/bleach (SWG keep FC steady, if you need to raise FC use this)
lowes: 1 box (2 gallons) 20% baume muriatic acid

your pool is about 16000 gallons (I messed up and put 16 instead of 26, changed), so on a new fill: poolmath, its your friend http://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html

when your water is about a foot you can pour 1 cup bleach in and mix with a brush
at the same time put your CYA that is in an old sock in the pool attached to a float (11 pounds) that will bring you to 80 CYA
when your pool is full and pump and filter running you can pour 4 cups bleach in and kneed the CYA sock until all dissolved
pour in your salt after you check your salt content in the pool, there may be some salt already in the water.. use poolmath to know how much to pour in
test free chlorine and add to FC 9
wait 24 hours of filtering and all salt is dissolved then turn on SWG

enjoy pool

I hope this helps

CYA in sock (I used long johns )

 

[Isaac-1]

Ok, I will try to tackle this one as it is 3:51 am, I am awake now because someone drunk dialled my cell phone a few minutes ago and I can't get back to sleep.

I can tell you from personal experience that since switching to and embracing the TFP philosophy of testing with a quality test kit and adding only what the pool needs 6 years ago that my water has looked and felt better than it ever had before. I too thought I was doing mostly fine using test strips, or cheap color matching basic drop test kits, and the truth is I did not have many major issues, but I also did not know what I was missing, since switching I have had no more "chlorine smell", clearer water, and heard many more comment about how wonderful the water looks/smells/feels.

Now for the start up advice, first I am going to say get a quality test kit, Then assuming the pool hold 14,667 gallons of water per Intex for a 26x52 Ultra Frame, start a hose filling the pool (this will take a good while) get a couple of old sock (make sure it does not have any holes in it) and put 8.57 pounds (you can round up to 9 pounds since CYA stabilizer is often sold in 4.5 pound containers and you will likely loose a little to splash out) of granular CYA stabilizer in them, and hang them in the water flow this should get you to 70 ppm CYA our suggest level for operating an SWG. The CYA will dissolve very slowly, depending on the brand it may take a couple of days to dissolve and you want to keep it so it is not in contact with the pool as it is very acidic. If you are filling from a municipal water supply it should already have a bit of chlorine in the water, but without CYA to protect it the sun will burn off the chlorine within an hour or two, so once you get a foot or so of water in the pool very slowly add a quarter a jug of bleach to the water pouring in front of the running hose, add another quarter jug for each foot of water you add, no more than 1 jugs total while filling, this should keep you at a maximum FC level of no more than 4 ppm while you fill an the CYA starts to dissolve. You can also start add salt when the pool gets 1/3 full or so and wait 24 hours before starting the SWG to let the salt fully dissolve. Depending on your water pressure you may still be filling the pool 24 hours later anyway. Once you have the pool full check the pH and adjust as needed, then you should adjust FC to the desired starting target point point using bleach, for an SWG pool this is 5 ppm FC at a CYA level of 70 ppm per the CYA/FC chart Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart . This is another reason why you should get one of the suggested test kits, as only the FAS-DPD chlorine test can accurately tell you if you are maintaining 5.0 ppm FC with your SWG since most other types of test kits only measure FC up to 5 ppm. And FC levels are just too much of a guess with test strips.

I hope this helped and good luck with the pool, I am going to try to go back to sleep now.

Ike

p.s. with all due respect to Cowboycasey, those numbers are a bit off and based on 6,000 gallons, I am not sure where that came from

 

[DJinMO]

Appreciate both your responses. Ike, I hope being able to get something written down helped your brain unwind from the call so you could sleep. I'll definitely be getting the better test kit and will use the advice given here to do the start up. I'll follow up once I get the pool filled and test the water on how everything went. I've been taking a few photos as we progress, thank God for my boys and wife helping or this would have taken longer to get to where we are now, and I will try to post them once we are up and going.

V/R

DJ

 

[DJinMO]

Update, used the sock trick to add stabilizer and worked pretty good. Added chemicals and salt as advised above during filling process. Took 32ish hours to fill the pool and after initial test results I am pretty close:

FC 5.5
CC 1.0
CH 275
TA 220
CYA 70
Borates 0

using K-1000
CL 5
BR 10
PH 7.2

using K-1766
Salt 4000
usin Aquacheck strips 3470

Will be starting my pump in the morning for 24 hours and retest or should I add items per pool math before hand?

Thanks again for the assistance.

DJ

 

[cowboycasey]

we have numbers, nice... how does your water look now, the 1 CC is a sign your fighting something but it may go away fast... run the pump and wait 30 minutes and test this morning so we can see where your at..

the K1000 I only test PH with, it maxes out at 5FC so no need to use that

 

[DJinMO]

So spent yesterday at soccer fields cheering kids on yesterday and ran the pump last night. Just back from soccer and completed testing with following numbers:

FC 5.5
CC 0
pH 7.5
Ta 200
CH 200
CYA 70

Salt 4000 ppm 3250 with strips.

Water is crystal clear and the family has been in for about an hour already. Baby I'd up and we are heading in now. Will start the SWG tonight any ideas on run time?

Thanks again for the assistance.

DJ

 

[cowboycasey]

I do 12 hours now on low, it really depends on each pool.. your numbers look good, as you bring your PH down your TA will also drop and you will not need to drop PH as much

 

[DJinMO]

Awesome!

Thanks.