Hi, I just bought an Intex easy set 15 x 42 pool. I've never had a pool before!!! My main question is this, As soon as it fills can the kiddies go swimming? I'd like to do the BBB method, I tried the calculater(I'm a little confused by it) but I have not tested yet. I did buy a basic ph and cl tester. will that be okay til i get a tf-100? I really need to succeed with this pool because it is my tester pool before jumpin into a large pool. Thanks in advance
What do I do?
- Thread starter oasis1
- Start date
Welcome to TFP 
Read pool school on temporary pools and that'll get you started.
Before you can swim you'll need to balance it. What that entails depends on your fill water. If you're filling it from a public water system you can get a water report from the system and you can post the numbers here and we can help you. You'll need some chlorine in it and the pH will need to be between 7.2 & 7.8.
Read pool school on temporary pools and that'll get you started.
Before you can swim you'll need to balance it. What that entails depends on your fill water. If you're filling it from a public water system you can get a water report from the system and you can post the numbers here and we can help you. You'll need some chlorine in it and the pH will need to be between 7.2 & 7.8.
Assuming you have reasonably good tap water, for a 3300 gallon pool you will need to add about 1 pound of dry stabilizer to keep your chlorine use down, this should put your CYA around 40 (a good starting point), initial chlorine dose should be around a quart of 6% bleach, you will need a test kit soon afterward to maintain it at the correct level. And you will need to adjust the PH, again if you have good drinkable supply water, your likely in the 7.something range, the general advice is pools should be somewhere in the 7.2-7.6 range, a simple $10-15 drop test kit will tell you all you need to know on this, don't trust the dip strips. You will need a better kit to fine tune and tell when to shock (when combine chlorine gets too high) , alternatively you can use the cheap test kit to keep the total chlorine at good levels, and shock often, more often than you need to, I would suggest using a non-chlorine shock if you go this route, like HTH shock N swim, this way you don't have to wait a long time for chlorine levels to fall on a small pool it is cheap enough.
This is the article which outlines the steps you need to follow.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/temporary_pool_guide
For your size pool - if you should develop green or cloudy water, it will be much simpler to simply drain and refill and start over than try and treat it.
If you maintain the proper levels and follow the steps in the article you should have a trouble-free summer.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/temporary_pool_guide
For your size pool - if you should develop green or cloudy water, it will be much simpler to simply drain and refill and start over than try and treat it.
If you maintain the proper levels and follow the steps in the article you should have a trouble-free summer.
I think if you fill it with city water (I know nothing of wells) you should be able to put in some bleach, mix in the bleach by walking in circles in the pool and then across the pool, wait 20 minutes, and let the kids swim. That is, assuming they can take the cold of a freshly filled pool!
As to how much bleach, a 15 x 42 Easy Set is about 3284 gallons if filled to max (to bottom of ring). Assuming you have no CYA (you shouldn't unless you added some) you would want a minimum FC of 2 and I'm guessing a maximum of 4 or 5. To get from 0 FC with 0 CYA to 3 FC, add 21 oz of 6% bleach. That should get you through day one and let people swim. When you are done swimming, or that evening when closing pool for the day you could add another cup or two of bleach.
Then, go buy some dichlor and starting the next day follow the instructions on the temporary pool school article for Intex pools. You'll gradually build up CYA with dichlor (which will also add FC) and then keep your FC in the target range thereafter by adding bleach.
In short: Fill; add bleach; mix in bleach; wait 20 minutes; swim; add a little more bleach; get dichlor; follow pool school for temporary pools. In the meantime, test often to be sure FC never falls below 2 (or whatever your then-current CYA reading mandates -- if it does, add more bleach. If getting too close to 5, back off on the bleach a bit but be aware that until you get some CYA in there FC will disappear quickly so stay on top of it. You want to start each day with more than the minimum FC so that as sunlight eats it up (which will happen quickly til enough CYA) you don't fall below the minimum.
Enjoy, and check back to this response to be sure no one has corrected me on any part of it -- I am pretty new so take my advice with that in mind. It is about how I manage my 15 x 36 Intex, however.
As to how much bleach, a 15 x 42 Easy Set is about 3284 gallons if filled to max (to bottom of ring). Assuming you have no CYA (you shouldn't unless you added some) you would want a minimum FC of 2 and I'm guessing a maximum of 4 or 5. To get from 0 FC with 0 CYA to 3 FC, add 21 oz of 6% bleach. That should get you through day one and let people swim. When you are done swimming, or that evening when closing pool for the day you could add another cup or two of bleach.
Then, go buy some dichlor and starting the next day follow the instructions on the temporary pool school article for Intex pools. You'll gradually build up CYA with dichlor (which will also add FC) and then keep your FC in the target range thereafter by adding bleach.
In short: Fill; add bleach; mix in bleach; wait 20 minutes; swim; add a little more bleach; get dichlor; follow pool school for temporary pools. In the meantime, test often to be sure FC never falls below 2 (or whatever your then-current CYA reading mandates -- if it does, add more bleach. If getting too close to 5, back off on the bleach a bit but be aware that until you get some CYA in there FC will disappear quickly so stay on top of it. You want to start each day with more than the minimum FC so that as sunlight eats it up (which will happen quickly til enough CYA) you don't fall below the minimum.
Enjoy, and check back to this response to be sure no one has corrected me on any part of it -- I am pretty new so take my advice with that in mind. It is about how I manage my 15 x 36 Intex, however.