Hidey ho, folks :)

[gboulton]

Greetings to all. Just wanted to drop in, say hi, and "meet" a few folks.

Our family finally has our first "real" (to us anyway) pool, after several years of puddle containers and water park passes. Of course, just our luck, after 80 degree days in March, we buy a pool, and April sees highs in the 50's, so we still haven't managed to jump in. :grrrr: Wife and daughter say the water is mocking them. :lol:

My background includes maintaining aquariums of every conceivable type, size, and shape, from 10G planted FW tanks, to 200+ G reefs, and anything in between, and over the years I learned something about bodies of water...the simpler, less expensive, and less invasive you can make it, the more likely it is you can keep it right.

I was, of course, pretty excited to learn there's a whole community of folks who believe the same thing about swimming pools! So I did a bit of lurking, reading, devouring pool school, and registered today.

TF 100 is ordered, should have it by the end of the week I'd think, using 1" tablets and test strips from the "free starter kit" to test and chlorinate for now (pH and Alk are "acceptable" out of the hose)

Looking forward to learning lots from you guys, and hopefully some day gaining enough info to give back a little.

 

[Richard320]

Welcome

You can probably get away with using those tabletrs for a while - you need to get some stabilizer in there somehow. And since they were free, even better. When you get your test kit and do the CYA test, pour it back in the mixing bottle a few times and take several readings. You don't want to overdo the CYA.

 

[Butterfly]

Welcome to the forum

 

[duraleigh]

Welcome to the forum. :lol: We look forward to helping any way we can.

 

[gboulton]

Thanks for the welcomes, gang. Friendly lot!

Welcome

You can probably get away with using those tabletrs for a while - you need to get some stabilizer in there somehow. And since they were free, even better. When you get your test kit and do the CYA test, pour it back in the mixing bottle a few times and take several readings. You don't want to overdo the CYA.

Thanks for the advice, Richard!

Unfortunately, 4lbs of "conditioner" already went into the pool (thanks SO much pool guys) but I'm hoping that and the few tablets this week won't be enough to drive CYA through the roof. *heh*

Along those lines...I'd be tickled to death to go ahead and begin using bleach to chlorinate, but I'm unsure how best to calculate necessary amounts, given that i don't yet know the CYA level. Is there a basic "rough guess" set of numbers I can get away with for a few days until the test kits get here?

Or would I be better off just ignoring the silly thing until the kit gets here? Like I say...we aren't likely to swim in it this week anyway. Chlorine was at .5ppm (test strip - opposite side of the pool from the return) and 4 more 1" tablets went in...I would think the pool couldn't get TOO far out of whack between now and say...Friday?

 

[duraleigh]

I'd be tickled to death to go ahead and begin using bleach to chlorinate, but I'm unsure how best to calculate necessary amounts, given that i don't yet know the CYA level. Is there a basic "rough guess" set of numbers I can get away with for a few days until the test kits get here?

Better than that, we can get your CYAS pretty darn close through calculation. Use the pool school in my sig. Enter the size of your pool in the upper left and then enter thfe 4 lbs of CYA you added. That should tell you how much the 4lb dose added to your pool.

Now, to get even more accurate, use the "effect of adding chemicals" section of the calculator down at the bottom. Figure the weight of each puck you used roughly how many and then use "tri-chlor" as the cemical and it will tell you just how the pucks have affected your pool water (it probably won't be much.

That should get you started. Hundreds of us here use the calculator so post back if you have trouble with it. :lol:

 

[jblizzle]

Check out poolcalculater.com ... see my signature. That will calculate dosages and you should be able to estimate your cya at the bottom knowing what you have put in.

As I recall a gallon of bleach will add 2.5 ppm FC to a 25 k gallon pool.

If I were you I would shoot to stay around 4ppm while you wait.

Posted with Tapatalk ... sorry if I sound short ... hate typing on phone

 

[gboulton]

Niiiiiiiiiice!

I'd been playing with the "main bit" and had, bluntly, not even NOTICED the lower part! That kicks significant amounts of you-know-what, thanks!

From that, looks like i should have a CYA somewhere in the low 40's..just about where we'd want it I think. Surely that number will be 'close enough" to keep on top of things for the rest of this week.

Thanks for the tip!

And jblizzle, thanks for the info as well..you posted as I was typing this. 4ppm was exactly what I was aiming for, this will sure help.

 

[gboulton]

Man..you guys rock so much.

Poured in the calculated amount of 6% bleach, left the return jet aerating last night, and woke up this morning to 5ppm Chlorine and a pH of 7.6 on the 3-way strips.

Test kit is in transit, probably here tomorrow, so I'll have more precise numbers, as well as being armed to battle anything unexpected that comes up....but for now, color me one happy new pool owner just waiting on the warm weather!