first pool failure... starting over

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J

JRammit

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Jul 17, 2016
17
rhome
hi y'all!... first post, just joined last night

names Jeremy, im in north Texas just nw of ft worth...

as a kid, my pool was 2' deep with the floppy sides that stand up when you fill it, you know the kind... well everyone wants their kids to have it a little better than they did, so last month i bought a Coleman 18'x4' vinyl above ground pool

ill admit my ignorance and impatience.. i didnt read anything about pools, just filled it up and poured some chlorine in.... when the water got green, i added more chlorine........ well after a month if this, i had growth all along the bottom, could not swim without stirring up algae into the water

so... yesterday i drained the whole thing, scrubbed the floor, sucked up all the algae with a shop vac and let it fill back up over night

i now have chrystal clear water again, and id like to keep it that way..... ive already added my 3ppm of liquid chlorine, and now that i know chlorine is consumed by sunlight, ill be adding more every day

i read thru the pool school, and it sounds like chlorine is all i need in a vinyl pool .. however, i dont have a testing kit yet, but i will be getting one

am i on the right track?... or is there more i should be doing?
 
Welcome to TFP! Good to have you here :) And nice getting the kids (and adults) a pool. It's fun to have.

Yes, you need some stabilizer (aka cyanuric acid, aka CYA). Otherwise the chlorine burns off from sunlight within an hour or two.

You can follow this procedure for start-up: Pool School - Guide for Seasonal/Temporary Pools

You'll be very happy with the TF100 test kit TFTestkits.net
 
ok... im a little thrown off by the CYA reading
on this test strip..... first test showed 100 ppm, that didnt seem right since i had not put any in.... so i did a second test, which showed 30-50 ppm

unsure, i just added half the recomended amount... i will test again tomorrow

readings were

FC: 0
PH: 7.8
ALK: 240
HARD: 200
CYA: 30-50

I also added 32 fl oz of liquid chlorine, target 4 ppm (6,000 gal)

hows all this sound?
 
Welcome to TFP

We are really all about testing and adjusting our own water. With that being said, we don't trust the reliability of test strips for a variety of reasons that cause their inaccuracy. I'd highly reccomend one of the reccomended test kits here.

Pool School - Test Kits Compared

Stabilizer/CYA can take a while to dissolve depending on how you put it in the pool. We usually suggest putting it in a sock and hanging in front of a return so the granules don't sit on the pool surface.......unless of course you obtained liquid which is much higher priced.

Please consider a good test kit and reading up in pool school and you'll be the proud owner of crystal clear water all season.
 
What form of CYA (powder or liquid) did you use, and how was it added?
This link has methods: Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals

The reason I ask is that if the powder was poured in, I'd recommend you sweep the bottom of the pool pretty regularly this evening. The powder can bleach the vinyl if it lays there.
 
thanks for the replies guys!

the hth 6 way strip is the one i got.... the stabilizer is hth as well, powdered form.... i just dumped it around the edges of the pool.... so i will need to go back and sweep it when i get off work

for next time, how about disolving the CYA in a bucket first, then dumping in the pool?... thats how i add the chlorine
 
JRammit said:
thanks for the replies guys!

the hth 6 way strip is the one i got.... the stabilizer is hth as well, powdered form.... i just dumped it around the edges of the pool.... so i will need to go back and sweep it when i get off work

for next time, how about disolving the CYA in a bucket first, then dumping in the pool?... thats how i add the chlorine
Click to expand...
Welcome to the forum!

Test strips are not accurate at all. The HTH kit that was mentioned is a drop based kit, and is somewhat of a starter kit. It can get you going in a pinch, but the chlorine test is somewhat objective as you need to match colors, and it only reads FC up to 5ppm. Also IMO, it is useless for measuring CC's. At least you will have a CYA test, as well as TA & pH. With a CYA of 30ppm, your FC target is 4ppm, right at the top end of the HTH FC kit. If you overshoot your CYA (be careful NOT to) and end up at 50ppm, your FC target is 6ppm, outside of the range of the HTH kit.

http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/128-chlorine-cya-chart-slam-shock

Curious what those abbreviations mean? Have a read here:
ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry

Put that $23 towards a TF-100 or Taylor K2006 (not K2005, not the same). The TF-100 is the better value. http://tftestkits.net/Test-Kits-c4/

A proper test kit is the core ingredient of what we do with our pools.

Nice to have you with us at TFP.

Dom
 

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JRammit said:
thanks for the replies guys!

the hth 6 way strip is the one i got.... the stabilizer is hth as well, powdered form.... i just dumped it around the edges of the pool.... so i will need to go back and sweep it when i get off work

for next time, how about disolving the CYA in a bucket first, then dumping in the pool?... thats how i add the chlorine
Click to expand...


Are you using bagged shock? That might be why you showed CYA in your pool when you thought you didn't have any. Tablets and some types of bagged shock contain stabilizer.



And welcome to the forum!
 
Here is a good link about adding chemicals. Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals

If you tell us what you added, we can sort it out. +1 to PAGirl - don't use dry forms of chlorine. If you did, tell us what it was and how much.

If you can, tell us everything you put in.
amount, brand name, product name, chemical and %
 
once i filled it, i only added liquid chlorine, nothing else, no shock..... it was walmart chlorine, can't remember brand, its in the pool isle

next day is when i got the test strips, and tested before adding anything else

after testing, i added the stabilizer, then more liquid chlorine

im hoping i can contribute more info tonight after work when i can test again
 
OK, so it was powdered stabilizer. Just tell us the amount you put in. On a fresh fill of a pool your size, we can just calculate the level and adjust accordingly if needed. Don't even mention the results from a test strip, it just knocks you and us off the track.
 
that makes sense.. test strip threw me off too...... i added a total of 2 lbs (1 lb yesterday, 1 lb today after reading that pesky test strip)... pool is about 6,000 gal

boy, y'all are right about that stuff not wanting to disolve!... i thought i was clever, tried stirring it real well into a 5 gal bucket and then dumping in the pool.... no dice!.... i swept it around best i could, and left the pump running all night......... if i have to add more, ill try the sock thing mentioned above!
 
Yep, the CYA doesn't dissolve very quickly. But sounds like you working through the challenges really well.

Does 18' diameter and 3.5' of water make sense to you, allowing for 6" of wall above the water level?

If so, your volume is 6,700 gallons.

2 lbs of stabilizer in 6,700 gallons is 36 ppm CYA, and you would use the 40 ppm CYA row for recommended FC level, from this chart: Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart

How does that sound?
 
that sounds about right... so my target is between 3-5 ppm FC, and ive added 4 ppm each day (32 fl oz by my math)....... now, once the CYA dissolves will that change anything??

i should also mention we live on a hill, the pool is on the flattest part of our yard, there is about a 6"-8" difference in depth from one side to the other... this may change the math a little, but not much i hope
 
Your target stays the same because we just assume all the CYA is in solution from the time we add it. You may find your consumption drops a little.

The slope is beyond my knowledge. I only know they're supposed to be flat, but as far as how far out of level the AG pool structure can withstand, they usually say 1", but it's best that I leave the question for someone with more experience with AG pools.
 
I cringed when I read the title and clicked to see what the disaster was. You just got the chemistry wrong, and that's not a failure. Everybody starts there, it's just that most of them shovel enough money at the pool store that it doesn't show for a while.

Welcome aboard, you've come to the right place. Lots of friendly, knowledgeable people here and you're going to learn a lot.
 

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