Idiots guide to BBB please

[shelley748]

Ok I have been reading all the posts re BBB.

I bought a 15ft round AGP today 4ft deep. Here are my questions below

1. How high do you fill the pool with water?
2. How do you know how much BBB to put in and what to put in?
3. Do you run the pump the whole time?

I have never had a pool before so all this terminology is Greek to me!!

I would just like someone please to post in simple instructions what I should do once I have put the pool together,,,,,,thanks a million!

 

[JasonLion]

Welcome to TFP!

1) About half way up the skimmer opening.
2) Measure all your starting levels and then use the Pool Calculator to figure out how much you need to add. If in doubt, post your starting levels and we can walk you though the entire process.
3) If everything goes well, you don't need to run the pump all the time. Just how long you need to run the pump depends on the relative size of the pump and the pool. 8 to 12 hours a day is a good place to start.

 

[coloeb]

At the top of the page is a link to the Pool School ( right hand side ). There are a series of short articles that will help you understand greek! Seriously, This is a wonderful site with tons of good advice and people that want your pool to sparkle as bad as you do. Please find the time to read this material, you will be happy you did. Knowing what to do is only half of the battle though.
You will need a good quality test kit ( I use the tf-100 sold on this site) in order to determine exactly what your water chemistry is. Input these numbers into the Pool Calculator to determine what if any action should be taken. TFP can help you all the way from digging the pool to BBQ recipies and everything in between. Welcome aboard!

 

[shelley748]

Thank you very much- I discovered Pool School after I had posted my questions- so thanks for your patience.

We bought an Intex 15ft x 4ft round pool- I am so excited cos it'll be our first pool !

I like the idea of not paying for chemicals and using Borax, Bleach and Baking Soda.

I do have one more question though- what does SWG in the salt talk mean please?

Thanks and hopefully in the next few days we will get things underway!!

Our ground is fairly level, but because we are placing it on our lawn, we don;t want to be digging it up to level the site, so is this going to be a problem? I had intended to place a couple of tarps under the pool cloth before we start t protect further from stones working their way through.

I was also reading about the inflatable rings not being reliable on these type of pools- any tips on this?

 

[rastoma]

1. How high do you fill the pool with water?
2. How do you know how much BBB to put in and what to put in?
3. Do you run the pump the whole time?
I would just like someone please to post in simple instructions what I should do once I have put the pool together,,,,,,thanks a million!

Hi Shelley,

If you've never dealt with a pool before it can seem a bit overwhelming at first. Just reread through the BBB article 2-3 times and it will start making sense.

You want to good test kit. That's always recommended here and the best one to get is the TFTESTKITS kit:
http://tftestkits.net/splash-page.html

Get the TF-100. It seems like a lot, $68 but you're gonna save so much money by following the school and using the pool calculator.

The calculator is at: http://www.poolcalculator.com/

You will need something called CYA or Stabalizer as soon as you fill your pool. You will have around 4600 gallons of water in your pool so the calculator will tell you how much. You can get stabalizer at Lowe's and some Walmarts and at pool stores (but don't let the pool store talk you into anything else).

Get a few gallons of generic bleach from Walmart or the grocery store. Get a couple boxes of baking soda, and a box of borax (in the laundry isle). You will need some muratic acid that can be gotten cheap at Lowe's. That will be your stock of chemicals and will be way less than using tablets or other powders from the pool section.

I would put one gallon of bleach in as soon as the pool is full and the pump is running. Just my own guess, until you get a good test kit, is to put about 1/3 gallon a day in. You need the test kit soon because you may need more or less and you just can't guess at it long. This is only for the first couple of days until you can start testing your water.

Others will probably have better suggestions. Jason already told you how high the water should be.

Once you get the test and RE-read through the school a couple of times, you'll find it VERY easy to maintain your pool.

 

[NWMNMom]

SWG = Salt Water Chlorine Generator - electronic device which converts salt to chlorine and used chlorine back to salt and so on -

 

[MikeInTN]

Congrats on your first pool! We also started out with an Intex readyset pool. This pool has a different type skimmer, so you'll actually fill the pool up until the water is just touching the ring, or just below.

The only problem we had with the ring was it slowly losing air, as does all things inflatible with the little stopper. If it got a bit soft, we'd just blow it back up again, no biggie.

Some more hints and tips;

Be prepared for all grass under the the pool to die and possibly rot during the pool season. I still remember when we took ours down the first year, our yard smelled like a barn for a couple of weeks.

The pump and filter that come with it are not the best in the world. The filters especially are really inadequate. I'd go ahead and get several extra, so you can change them out every couple of days and have a clean one ready to go in. I'm not sure if they can be cleaned and reused or not.

One of our members (with the assistance of several other members) developed a beginner's guide for temporary/seasonal pools. You can find it in the Getting Started section of Pool School. This article was developed specifically for pools such as the Intex Readyset.

Good luck!