Starting up on a budget

olag25

0
May 31, 2012
6
I'm trying to figure the chemicals I need to add to my 10,000 gallon pool to get it all right. I have an Intex SWG system hooked up.

Test results
FC 2.0
TC 2ppm
Comb Chlorine 0
pH 8.2
Hardness 25ppm
Alkalinity 60ppm
Cyanuric Acid 0ppm
Copper 0ppm
Iron 0ppm
Total Dissolved Solids 1100ppm
 
Pool Calculator can do the math for you. Bookmark it; you'll be using it constantly. Enter your pool size and your current readings. Down near the bottom it asks for surface finish and chlorine source, enter those and "troublefree pool" for suggested levels. It will then give you appropriate target levels which you can enter in the target column. Then it's a simple matter to add what it says.

First get that pH down. Muriatic acid is the cheapest way to do it. They sell it at big box hardware stores, and any big box store that sets up a pool display this time of year. You'll also need "stabilizer" aka CYA aka cyanuric acid. That can come from the same place as the acid, most likely. Measure out about 3/4 of what Pool Calculator says to add in a sock, tie it off, and hang it in the pool in front of a return jet. It will take a few days to dissolve and a week or so to register. Then see what it says and add whatever Pool Calculator says you need to finish. I recommend undershooting because it's easy to add more, hard to get rid of it if you overdo it.

Pool School has some very good articles explaining pool chemistry.

Even if you're on a really tight budget, spring for a good test kit. It will repay its cost 2 or 3 times in the season by what you save not buying unnecessary pool chemicals. Don't skimp here, that's penny wise and pound foolish to the extreme.
 
Richard320 said:
Even if you're on a really tight budget, spring for a good test kit. It will repay its cost 2 or 3 times in the season by what you save not buying unnecessary pool chemicals. Don't skimp here, that's penny wise and pound foolish to the extreme.

^^^This^^^

There are so many people who find this forum who don't want to buy the kit because it's too expensive. But these same people, if they didn't find the forum, would have gone in to the pool store and unquestioningly bought $200 worth of chemicals.

Bite the bullet, buy the kit, and you will save you tons of money in the long run.
 
X3 on the kit. I still use the little yellow & red kit daily, but that kit doesn't give all the information needed to keep things in check.

I started off using chlorinating granules with stabilizer, and used roughly half a small bucket over the course of a few days/week to get my CYA up above 20 (going to check it again in a a few minutes, I expect it to be around 30 by now). Once I had CYA in, I switched over to liquid chlorine. So far it's not required much to maintain. I did need to add baking soda to get the TA & PH in range, but I had just enough left over from last year to get my numbers up.
 
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