Ground leveled and pool back up.. (now with photos!)

[Sissy907]

Ok So I drained the pool and started from scratch after leveling the ground (pictures later today) and we are only 1 inch off (higher) on the side that was so low which I am ok with as I know it will probably shift a bit with a good rain..

I was 2/3 full late last night so we cut off the water and started again this morning. I ran out to grab a sample of water and test it to know where I stand. As of right now, it looks like this;

Chlorine -0
pH - 7.5
TA - 140
Calcium -70
CYA - I think is 20 or less (I forgot to post this before I am editing- Obviously I need to get a sock of stabilizer in soon as well)

Obviously I am gonna run out and add some chlorine in a minute as we are really close to being able to turn on the pump/filter system. Other than that does everything look ok to you folks? I am unsure of the TA level and the calcium as well. Any other levels you would want to know right now?

Thanks! It was SUPER hard work but I enjoyed it and know it is gonna look AMAZING when its all grown in...

 

[AnnaK]

Re: Ground leveled and pool back up..

While you're out getting bleach pick up some stabilizer (cyanuric acid [CYA]) as well, then use the pool calc to find out how much you need for your water volume to get between 40 and 50 ppm. Add 1/2 of that amount. You can put the pellets or flakes in an old sock, knot it up and put it inside the skimmer basket. It dissolves slowly - though the flakes dissolve faster than the pellets. Don't backwash. CYA seems to sit in the filter medium for a few days, I don't know why.

Test for CYA in 4 or 5 days. If you don't have a test kit with the reagents, have a pool store do it. Or have two different pool stores do the testing (not with test strips!) and see where you're at.

The TA is high for a vinyl pool. Please look in the Pool School link above (under the pool picture in the logo) for how to reduce TA.

I can just imagine how hard you worked on getting the pool set up more level.

 

[Sissy907]

Here are the before.....

And here are the after! YAY!

Lots of hard work and persistence and we have it just about perfect.. Now for the rest of the yard... I still have 2/3 a dump truck load of dirt to figure out where to place and cover what the rains have uncovered! I still need to get the edging put around the mulch and a couple more bags of mulch to finish the job and then water water water that seed!!

Please tell me what you think!

Alli

 

[AnnaK]

Nice work!

A suggestion: until you get the grass growing again around the pool you might want to get a $10 baby pool at one of the X-Marts, fill it, and use it as a foot bath before anyone gets in the real pool. It will save you a lot of debris being dragged in. You could set the baby pool right in front of the ladder so anyone climbing it has to go through the foot bath. Add a glug of bleach.

 

[Sissy907]

Yep! I am gonna do it before anyone gets in it! We are also going to make a pathway with those big 16 x 16 path stones (you know what I mean) hopefully help keep some of the debris down until i can build the deck on the back of the pool... I think closet to Oct... we will see. After taking on this project I think I will wait for the next major project til hubby is home and can help! ]

Alli

 

[Casey]

It looks so much better!

 

[Butterfly]

You did a great job, Alli.

 

[vincent]

Nice job there. Did you do all that by yourself without your DH?

 

[Sissy907]

All by myself without DH and just a couple teens helping me. I am so thrilled that even after the last couple rainstorms IT HASNT BUDGED!
It is so nice to have it sitting there properly. After the grass is all grown in then I will start on the deck on the back half of the pool.
I am now in love with the new disco ball floaters that the pool store has. Has anyone seen or used them? I am concidering the big one with the fountain. Mostly for the fountain use but I love the idea of the pool lit up at night while sitting on the backporch enjoying a cool mojito!