Plaster goes in tomorrow, but I have a few questions.

[mlawrence17]

I built my own inground, shotcrete pool and the guys are coming tomorrow morning to apply the KrystalKrete quartz aggregate finish. I'll be filling the pool up with City water which the pool store tells me doesn't have much of anything in it. I've read thru the Pool School section (a couple of times) since this is my first pool, but I've got a couple of questions. The "start-up new plaster" section says to add a startup dose of sequestrant. Is this necessary if I don't have metals in my water? I know Jacks Magic Magenta stuff says it helps control plaster dust as well as preventing scale and stains, so maybe it's recommended even if I don't have metals in the water.

Secondly: The Traditional Startup mentions adding the CYA and Chlorine after 72 hours. What's the reasoning behind waiting days to add chlorine. I'm in South Carolina, and the pool will be getting full sun for about 9 hours a day. Is it ok to wait that long before I add some liquid chlorine? Also, I see that Leslies pool has liquid stabilizer as opposed to powdered CYA. Is one better than the other?

Thanks in advance. This forum has been great.

 

[yeggim]

The sequestrant could be a CYA (as in Cover Your you know what) situation. Since plaster manufacturers can't be sure what kind of water goes in every pool, they probably make it a blanket rule to cover the most situations. If it's part of a warranty then I'd go with it. Even if not needed you do have the side benefit of it keeping down the plaster dust.

Could be that since there's Chlorine in most municipal water, the immediate addition of more Chlorine could precipitate any metals if present before the sequestrant is thoroughly mixed.

I have no idea why CYA is included in the wait category. Waiting 72 hours will not put you behind the 8 ball that much if at all. There should be no problems with waiting. If those conditions are part of a warranty it's best to follow them.

 

[mlawrence17]

thanks, those weren't the manufacturer's instructions they were the forums "Pool school - Startup New Plaster" instructions but if they work, I don't care who's they are.
One more quick question. I've got Salt Chlorine Generator that I'm not supposed to use for the first 4 weeks. Would you recommend Liquid Chlorine for that first month or Trichlor tablets or something else?

 

[yeggim]

thanks, those weren't the manufacturer's instructions they were the forums "Pool school - Startup New Plaster" instructions but if they work, I don't care who's they are.
One more quick question. I've got Salt Chlorine Generator that I'm not supposed to use for the first 4 weeks. Would you recommend Liquid Chlorine for that first month or Trichlor tablets or something else?

Liquid Chlorine is usually recommended because it adds very little else to the water besides the Chlorine. Pucks are slow to add Chlorine and it's easy to lose track of how many were used. You've been around for awhile so it's up to you. You could weigh a few pucks to see the average weight and then put aside a fixed amount of pucks separate from the rest and use only those. A 7 ounce puck would roughly add 1.5 ppm CYA apiece in your pool.