First off, thanks for the help so far. I have been sneaking through the forums for a week now and have gotten a ton of helpful information. I picked up a 10' x 30" Intex Easy Set 1.5 weeks ago after the wife overheated one Friday afternoon and started tearing into me, lol.
I originally set it up in a far corner of the back yard under a maple tree since I never could grow grass there anyway. I used a bit of sand from the sandbox to "level" it. This only lasted a few days for two reasons. A. I didn't realize how important leveling was. Not only did I lose a ton of the already minimal depth, but the bulge at the low side looked like it might let go or at least deform the pool over time. B. I had no idea how much use we would get out of it. I figured it would be like any other kiddie pool we have had, but man was I wrong. My three boys practically lived in it during the hot afternoons and the wife and I would spend an hour or so in it after getting them to bed.
So now the move to central back yard location right on top of my beautiful new grass. After 30 bags of sand I had a nice level area with a minor depression in the middle to add to the depth slightly. In hind sight I should have gotten 1/2 yard of sand delivered as it would have been cheaper. Filled it halfway and realized it was set off center and flopping over the side. Drained, centered and refilled. Now that I had a nice level location I picked up the BBB stuff you guys talk about. I only found a PH/FC kit so im in the dark on TA for now. I also made a bottle of diluted Muriatic for dropping the PH. Given I only have 1000 gallons the Muriatic would have been almost impossible to measure in such small quantities. I added 1 part Acid to 9 parts water so the calculated add can be x10 and easily measured.
For the past few days I have adjusted the PH and added chlorine to stay between 1-3. I just picked up 1lb of Dichlor this afternoon. Going to put 1 cup into some tuperware with a tablespoon. I figure 1 cup will get me to just over 30 CYA and I can add the Dichlor by dissolving 1 TBSP into a bucket every time I need to bump the FC by 2ppm. Once that is done I will switch back to regular bleach for the rest of the season and target 3-5 ppm.
Thanks for the help so far. Let me know if Im missing anything and I will keep you posted as I tweak and add to it.
I originally set it up in a far corner of the back yard under a maple tree since I never could grow grass there anyway. I used a bit of sand from the sandbox to "level" it. This only lasted a few days for two reasons. A. I didn't realize how important leveling was. Not only did I lose a ton of the already minimal depth, but the bulge at the low side looked like it might let go or at least deform the pool over time. B. I had no idea how much use we would get out of it. I figured it would be like any other kiddie pool we have had, but man was I wrong. My three boys practically lived in it during the hot afternoons and the wife and I would spend an hour or so in it after getting them to bed.
So now the move to central back yard location right on top of my beautiful new grass. After 30 bags of sand I had a nice level area with a minor depression in the middle to add to the depth slightly. In hind sight I should have gotten 1/2 yard of sand delivered as it would have been cheaper. Filled it halfway and realized it was set off center and flopping over the side. Drained, centered and refilled. Now that I had a nice level location I picked up the BBB stuff you guys talk about. I only found a PH/FC kit so im in the dark on TA for now. I also made a bottle of diluted Muriatic for dropping the PH. Given I only have 1000 gallons the Muriatic would have been almost impossible to measure in such small quantities. I added 1 part Acid to 9 parts water so the calculated add can be x10 and easily measured.
For the past few days I have adjusted the PH and added chlorine to stay between 1-3. I just picked up 1lb of Dichlor this afternoon. Going to put 1 cup into some tuperware with a tablespoon. I figure 1 cup will get me to just over 30 CYA and I can add the Dichlor by dissolving 1 TBSP into a bucket every time I need to bump the FC by 2ppm. Once that is done I will switch back to regular bleach for the rest of the season and target 3-5 ppm.
Thanks for the help so far. Let me know if Im missing anything and I will keep you posted as I tweak and add to it.
