just refilled the intex pool- please help me get it right

[iamcparsons]

Hi everyone. I had a real problem getting my pool chemistry just right so I just emptied, scrubbed, and refilled. It finished filling yesterday morning, and I really want to get it right this time. It is a 1722 gallon Intex pool. So far, I only added 6 oz of HTH metal control last night...the water is still extremely orange (now 9am). I have several questions:

Should I add more metal control or get a different product?

Should I wait now to adjust pH, alkalinity and chlorine until the orange water clears up?

I heard somewhere that I can get away with ignoring TA? Is that right?

Another thing I am stumped on is how long to wait between adding any of the necessary chemicals (using pool calculator)...can everything be added within minutes of each other or do some need a full night?


Thanks so much for you help!
Christine

 

[kplaster]

? why did you add metal control.....You need to test water!!!!!!Need to get clorine going asap......Water will not clear up to you get it to shock level....If you wait till water clear's up which it want..you will be back too where you were before.....Get that pump going and start shocking!!!!You can't ignore anything to keep a clean pool....You get what you put into it....Hard work make's for a really nice pool to get into..."Hardwork at first will pay off in the end with a nice pool...

 

[Bama Rambler]

Are you adding metal control because you know you have metals?

You need to go ahead and adjust the chemicals. CH only matters if it's high.
How are you testing?
Can you post a set of test results?
pH
FC
CC
TA
CH
CYA

We usually recommend waiting 30 minutes between different chemical additions.

Have you read the article in Pool School on temporary pool setup?
There is also an article on metals and which sequestrants are the best to use.

 

[iamcparsons]

Hi everyone, thanks for responding, I know I can succeed with your help!
I have 2 test results the first is a 3-way drop test: 0 chlorine, 0 bromine, and 7.3 pH

The second test taken at same time is a test strip:
Total Hardness: 200
TA: 180
CH: 0
CYA: 0
pH: 7.8

So is the first thing I should do is to immediately shock? Can I do that with bleach or chlorinating granules (cal hypo), which I have on hand, or do I need to run out and buy something else?

I read the temp pool opening guide, but I got confused about something. Can't remember what it was, I guess I should go read it over

 

[Bama Rambler]

Since you just filled it yesterday I'd just get some chlorine in there right now. Cal-Hypo or bleach is fine to use with a CH of 200. With no CY bring it up to 4ppm.

 

[anonapersona]

Why is the water orange? Rust?

 

[iamcparsons]

Yup...we have very rusty water

 

[iamcparsons]

OK, the pool calculator recommends adding 14 oz of 6% bleach and about 6.1 ounces of Borax, but after entering my pool capacity at 1722, this pool calculator I found at
http://www.poolsolutions.com/frm/kiddie_pool_calc.html recommends 5.1 cups of 5.25% bleach and 1.2 cups of Borax as "start-up doses"...I feel like going with the 5.3 cups of bleach for start up, but the pool calculator seems to be a well-trusted resource here...what do you think I should do?

 

[JasonLion]

There are a couple of different ways to do things. You need to be consistent and follow one set of directions or another. We have our own seasonal pool directions at Pool School.

 

[iamcparsons]

I dumped in 3 cups of bleach and two hours it tested out at 0.5 chlorine (drop test) not even close to 6, so I dumped in about 4 more cups...tested two hours later...still nothing. Finally I just got done dumping in about half a gallon more of the bleach.

If chlorine still tests out so low in the morning, I wonder what I should do next. Should I go buy a bag of the shock treatment? Also, since my water is so rusty...should I put in ,more metal control (I did add 6 ounces yesterday) or is that not the right product to use for rusty water that is a dark orange color?

Thanks everyone!

 

[JasonLion]

You can't keep any chlorine in the pool because you don't have any CYA in the water. That is normal at this point.

Which directions do you want to follow, the usual pool routine, the Pool Solutions directions, or our seasonal pool directions?

 

[crek31]

From one Intexer to another, stick with this site and before long you'll have a pool of water that is sparkly and clear, the WHOLE swim season -- despite the Intex pump and filter being so under-sized. You might spend more than the pool itself on testing supplies ($75-ish on the kit I recommend, the TF100 from TF Test Kits, which is linked in Jason's signature, above), but by getting this kit you'll actually be able to use and enjoy your pool, any time. It is not difficult to learn to test your own water and then use the pool calculator to input your results and have the calculator tell you what to add to the pool. Before long you'll be able to test the three you'll most likely do daily - FC, CC, and pH PLUS add the necessary chemicals, all in 10 minutes or so a day. If questions arise, you can always post here and get expert advice from BBB veterans. Good luck, whichever decision you make.

 

[iamcparsons]

I think I'll use your seasonal pool directions because it looks like both use the same chems, but the pool calculator is more precise.

I checked the water this morning and the chlorine levels are up to 2.

I am confused at step five in the Beginners Guide to seasonal pool directions because it says that to be able to swim right away, use enough bleach (using calculator for guidance) to bring chlorine up to 6, but then, in the next paragraph, the writer says that over next four days, we'll be using dichlor to both chlorinate the pool and raise the level of CYA.

Tell me if I am correct in my thinking here...If I have to guess what to do next, I would run out and buy the dichlor to add in today asap- I know that I saw this in a floater form at Walmart, should I instead look for a bag of the shock (or super shock?)?

Once the pool is properly chlorinated, I would trash the HTH Metal control because it did not do what the customer service rep said 6 oz. would do and instead buy the more expensive stuff at the pool store called metal out (remover?) to clear up the orange, rusty water...but I am not sure how long I would need to wait before adding maintenance chlorine while this stuff is working or if that is something I can do simultaneously.

Once the water clears up (took about 3-4 days last time) I'll start adding the weekly dose of Polyquat 60.

My pH is still at 7.8, so I guess I don't need the Borax I purchased (yet!)

Please tell me what do you think?

I really appreciate you all for sharing your knowledge!

 

[crek31]

You are right you need to get CYA in the pool, along with bleach. There are several ways to do this. The temporary pool guide would say to add dichlor to the pool to achieve both at once. Dichlor has both CYA and chlorine in it, so the idea is you add a little each day until your CYA level slowly gets to your target value and then you stop using dichlor, to prevent too high a CYA level, and switch to straight chlorine (bleach). That definitely works.

What also works, is to buy CYA without chlorine -- in this form it is called either "cyanuric acid" or "stabilizer." You want it to be 99% or greater cyanuric acid. I'm told HTH makes it and some Walmarts sell it, but maybe only in five pound bags. My Walmart does not have it, but my pool store has 1 pound jars. You will probably only need a pound, or less. In this form, you add the CYA (as powder) to the pool by putting it in a cotton sock and letting it dissolve into the pool. Use the pool calculator to see how much to add to get from current to target CYA, and when it is dissolved you can assume it is active. Doing it this way allows you to to move directly to adding liquid bleach to add chlorine. I like this way much better because I just do the CYA calc once and I'm done with that component.

If you do it with stabilizer instead of dichlor, buy both stabilizer and bleach. Add the stabilizer per pool calc by hanging the sock in front of the return jet. Poor bleach into the pool based on what pool calc tells you to get from current to target. Keep pump running at all times no one is swimming. Test FC, cc if possible, and pH daily and add bleach as needed to stay within target range for your CYA value (30-50 is typical goal). Never let your FC go below the minimum on the CYA/FC chart -- and if it were me, I'd fudge upward a whole FC on both ends of the range to allow for testing margin of error (not sure others agree with this however). I am a lucky B'er (haven't needed any B but bleach) so I'll let others address pH.

 

[iamcparsons]

Thanks for the input crek31. If I go with the stabilizer in a sock route - will I have to keep the pool closed until it has dissolved?

Which would work fastest?

 

[crek31]

No, you can swim with it in the sock. In fact, massaging it from time to time will help it dissolve faster. Of course, I'm assuming that means there is supervision enough that kids won't suck on the sock and get straight CYA. If concerned in that regard, simply add bleach to keep between 2 and 5 ppm FC and add the CYA sock tonight when you close down the pool (and re-dose with bleach). It will likely be mostly dissolved by morning, or in five minutes of massaging it in the morning after soaking all night. For our sized pools it is quick to add our little amounts (comparatively) of CYA. To swim, all you really need is an amount of active (free) chlorine to be sanitary -- the CYA just makes it easier to keep that minimum FC because it makes it burn off in sunlight more slowly, thus helping ensure you never drop below the minimum between testing. Just check FC every four hours pre-CYA and add small amounts of bleach as needed to keep FC in range and you can swim today and be completely sanitary and not risk the health of swimmers or you water getting icky. Hope that helps, if too muddled, ask about what I've confused you on and I'll try to be more concise. Sort of distracted right now, but will check back to see that you are comfortable going forward and getting in some swimming today if desired.

 

[iamcparsons]

Not muddled at all! Thanks so, so much!
Ok, I just remembered I still had some CYA leftover...I placed the recommended amount in a nylon sock and hung by the intake and also added more bleach. I'll massage it when I get back from errands., meanwhile does anyone know if I can add the sequestrate (metal remover) right away or not?

 

[crek31]

Out of my league on the sequestrate -- someone will hopefully answer soon.

 

[JasonLion]

You can add sequestrant at any time. Red/rusty water is usually caused by iron particles in the water that can be filtered out. Sequestrant is designed to deal with dissolved iron, which would not color the water red (though often occurs along with iron particles).