How to treat a newly filled pool

[beachyoest]

We installed a 15 x 24 above ground pool over the weekend and we are finishing filling it today. Our water comes from a municipal well and is very hard. As the pool fills, the water seems to be clear, but yellowish. It completely slipped my mind to get a test kit, so I don't have any test numbers. We have had a floater with chlorine tablets in it since it started filling. I want to get rid of the yellow and have the water sparkling as soon as possible, but I don't know where to begin. Should I start with liquid bleach or a shock treatment? I've read about the BBB method, but I'm still a little confused as to how to get started. We have no pool stores in the area (small town, Michigan), so I'm limited to Kmart and the supermarket. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Hi and welcome

What kind of pool is it? Is it a temporary pool, like Intex Easy Set? If so, there is an article in Pool School that you should read for advice.

How many gallons is it? 15 x 24, oval? or is it 15' round and 24 the height?

See if Kmart has some metal sequesterant, it sounds like the water has iron...the water will turn funny colors when you add chlorine. Sequesterant will help prevent staining.

Do you have an Ace Hardware, Lowes or similar store that might have pool supplies?

You will need a test kit, so order one of these recommended kits online:
http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/pool_test_kit_comparison
This article compares the two kits we recommend.

You don't need to shock necessarily but you do need to add chlorine, in the form of clorox/generic brand bleach - 6%. Look for sodium hypochlorite 6% on the active ingredients. (No scents, etc. make sure it's just 6% bleach).

You'll also need stabilizer/CYA - if Kmart doesn't have it separately, see if they have Dichlor granular chlorine in one pound bags. Dichlor (look for dichloro-s-triazinetrione) has CYA in it, so you can use it to chlorinate and raise your CYA at the same time. Otherwise you'll need to order stabilizer online. Stabilizer protects your chlorine from the sun, otherwise you won't be able to maintain chlorine in your pool.

Learn how to use the Pool Calculator - instructions are in Pool School. It will tell you exactly how much of each product you need to add.

Without test results its impossible for us to know if you need to adjust the PH and TA. So order a kit ASAP - I highly recommend the TF100.

Read the articles in Pool School, after two or three read thrus it will start to make sense.

Hope this helps.

 

[zea3]

We installed a 15 x 24 above ground pool over the weekend and we are finishing filling it today. Our water comes from a municipal well and is very hard. As the pool fills, the water seems to be clear, but yellowish. It completely slipped my mind to get a test kit, so I don't have any test numbers. We have had a floater with chlorine tablets in it since it started filling. I want to get rid of the yellow and have the water sparkling as soon as possible, but I don't know where to begin. Should I start with liquid bleach or a shock treatment? I've read about the BBB method, but I'm still a little confused as to how to get started. We have no pool stores in the area (small town, Michigan), so I'm limited to Kmart and the supermarket. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

Congrats on the new pool!
First thing order the TF100 test kit. It is well worth every penny and will pay for itself in savings in no time! The kit usually arrives quickly. Go to the Pool calculator to find out what your levels need to be. Since you have no CYA you can use a bag of "shock" or granular chlorine with stabilizer, but go easy on it and don't buy a case of that junk! The pool calculator will tell you how much stabilizer you need to add. Once your CYA is around 30-50 I would stop with the bags of shock and use only bleach or liquid chlorine from then on. I would stop with the tablets also, you won't need them. I'm no expert but there are plenty of them around here and they give good advice. Good luck with your pool!

 

[beachyoest]

Thank you so much for your input!

It is not a temporary pool, it is a 15 x 24 oval, 52 inches deep. According to the calculator, it holds approx. 10,500 gallons of water.

We do have an Ace Hardware nearby, I forgot that they carry pool chemicals!

I will look for metal sequesterant and stabilizer to add with the liquid bleach. Would altering the ph have any effect on the yellow tint in the water? For the time being, I will have to rely on test strips, but it looks like the test kit you recommended would be a good purchase.

Thanks again!

 

[beachyoest]

Just a quick update. I found that we did purchase a bottle of test strips. My readings were:

Free Chlorine: 1
pH: Hard to tell by the color chart, between 7.8 and 8.4
Total Alkalinity: 180

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Unfortunately test strips are very innaccurate, which is why we don't recommend them.

Lowering the PH should help, you may want to pick up some Muratic Acid, just in case. A drop based test kit would be more accurate, the ones I linked to are the only ones we recommend.

If Kmart sells the HTH 6-way drop test kit, that would be o.k., the PH/TA/CYA tests are accurate, the chlorine test is just OTO so it's not great. Better than strips tho...