My brand new pool in officially OPEN... Now what?

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choman77034

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Jun 26, 2009
6
Hey All,

I just finished assembling my new 15 x 30 AG pool. Had it filled with 12,000 gallons of crystal clear "city" water that I had trucked in. I live outside of town, so my only water source is well water. I didn't want to fight with the metals in my well water, so I decided to go with "city" soft water & have it trucked in.

Anyhow, the pool is looking GREAT!!! Crystal clear water & a water temp of 80 degrees. Kids LOVE it. It's been 24 hours since the water was put into the pool. I tested the water with some simple test strips that came with the pool. I plan on buying a nice test kit this week.

Here are my readings from the test strip...

Free Chlorine = 1 ppm
pH = 8.4 - Very High
Total Alkalinity = 240 ppm - Very High

My pool came with chemicals such as pH Reducer & Increaser, Algeacide and Chlorine Tablets.

I haven't added anything to the water yet. Nor have I shocked the pool yet. I would think that the first logical step would be to add pH reducer to get pH down to a normal level. Should I add a chlorine tablet to the skimmer basket even though my chlorine level is o.k.?

Please see my sig below for my pool specs.

Thanks & sorry for my newbie stoopidity. :)
 
First thing to do is read Pool School. The link's in my signature.
The second thing to do is read it again! :)

Then Learn to use the Pool Calculator. It's link's in my sig too.

If you have dry acid (pH Down). You can use that to get started. You'll need to add 80oz of it to get your pH down and help with your TA. Mix it with water in a bucket first and ten pour it in your pool. Wait about 30 minutes to an hour then add chlorine to it. Since you have tablets (and no CYA) you might as well go ahead and use them. That'll help you bring your FC up as well as adding some CYA (Stabilizer). While that's working, go get yourself some bleach and a jug of Stabilizer. Make sure it's almost 100% Cyanuric Acid. 4 lbs should be enough.

Go ahead and get that test kit ordered today! You won't be sorry. I'd go ahead and order an additional refill of CYA reagent. Since you're just starting out you'll be trying to adjust the CYA and will use up a good bit if it till you get it set and stable.
 
Hello and welcome!

Time to go to pool school (the link is in the upper right corner of the screen)

There are 2 test kits that we recommend, the Taylor K2006 and the TF-100 TestKit. Most of us use the the TFTestKit because it ships fast and you get more reagents for the price. It can be ordered at tftestkits.net.

Your FC levels are too low. We realize that most places recommend a level of about 1-2ppm, but that is really too low. It should really be between 3-5ppm with a CYA reading of 40.

That leads me to the next thing. You need to add CYA, also called stabilizer, to the pool. CYA helps reduce the amount of CL loss due to the sun and makes it much easier to maintain adequate CL levels. You can purchase it at Wal-mart, Lowes, Home Depot or a pool store. The amount of stabilizer you will need to add is based on your starting level, 0, your desired level, 40, and the amount of gallons your pool is.

There is a handy tool we use created by our forum admin called the pool calculator, that we use to calculate the amount of chemicals we need to add. Link is here: http://www.thepoolcalculator.com

Your pH is very high and so is your TA, so you will have to work on these together. There is an article in Pool School called Lower Total Alkalinity that will explain how to lower your TA . First thing you need to do is lower your pH to 7.0. Since you already have the pH decreaser from the pool store, you can use that. Use the pool calculator to figure out how much you need to add. You will then need to aerate until the pH goes up to 7.6. Lower the pH to 7.0 again and aerate again. Keep repeating the process until your TA is in the desired range. For a vinyl pool, that is 70-90.

As far as the algecide and Cl tablets are concerned, we don't advocate using them. We use 6% bleach or 12.5% liquid CL to chlorinate our pools. It is easy, cheap and keeps our pools trouble free! :-D

So just to recap:

1) Order your test kit

2) Read Pool School

3) Use the pool calculator to figure out how much bleach you need to add to get to 3-5ppm FC. To give a head start, to raise your FC level from 1pmm to 3ppm, you need to add 54oz of 6% bleach.

4) Add the pH decreaser to lower your pH and start the process to lower your TA.

5) Get some CYA/stabilizer and add it. We usually recommend putting it in a sock and tying it in front of the return. It takes about a week for the reading to show up, so don't test for it before then. Also, don't backwash or clean your filter until after the week has passed. Although it may dissolve in the sock in a day or two, it will take about a week for it to fully dissolve and much of it will be in the filter.


Congrats on your new pool and if you have questions, we are here to help.
 
Hi,

You have gotten good information :-D

Just to recap:

1. Lower your pH to the mid 7's sooner rather than later!

2. Add a small jug (96 oz) 6% plain bleach each evening

3. Add enough CYA/stabilizer via sock method to get you to about 40

4. Forget about the test strips (notoriously inaccurate) and order a good test kit

5. Once you get one of the good test kits (my preference TF100 from http://www.TFTestkits.net) restest and
post your new numbers back here in this thread.

6. Forget about your TA reading until you get your new test kit

7. Do not add the algecide

8. Read Pool School

9. Happy swimming :-D

Welcome to the forum :wave:
 
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