New Pool, First Fill (Need Help)

[Branch Fly]

First pool going up Friday, weather permitting. I received my TF-100 today and tested the tap water so I can practice and to see what I may need to have on hand. My neighbor's pool water temp is 67, if that make a difference at this point. I will be starting off with the Trouble Free Pool method and have read the required reading numerous times. Here are my numbers:

FC- less that .5

pH- 7.2

TA- 110 (but I have to retest bc I didn't read the slip of paper in the kit until after that directs to wipe the tip of the dropper each time for a week to create static electricity)

CH- 130

CYA- 0

I have a 18' x 54" round AGP. I estimate the water to be 7,600 gallons. My thoughts are to buy the HTH stabilizer at Walmart and try to get the CYA up. I will obviously have bleach on hand for sanitizing. The retailer where I bought the pool gave me a bottle of pH up, pH down, and a bag of shock, so I guess I'll just use the pH up this time since I have it on hand. Walmart, Lowes, and Home Depot all sell a calcium increase product, so I plan to get that as well. Please check my numbers since this is my first time EVER maintaining a pool, but I'm coming up with the following:

The default FC goal is 4. I'm not sure where that comes from, but if that's the case, then I should be adding 63 ounces of 6% bleach; 18 oz of pH up or 36 oz of borax (or should I just aerate?); 146 oz of calcium chloride or 194 oz of calcium chloride dehydrate (depending on what the retailers sell); and 41 oz of stabilizer to increase CYA.

Thanks in advance for the help. I feel a lot more comfortable taking on pool maintenance with this site.

 

[Divin Dave]

Just a couple of comments,

the FC is based upon your CYA.
For a vinyl pool, CYA recommendation is 30-50 if using bleach to chlorinate, so use this in your CYA target. Based upon a CYA of 30 the FC to shoot for is 3 minimum to max 7. 5 or 6 would be a good FC target.

CH isn't a big deal for vinyl pools. No need to add any CH increaser.

Your PH is good for now.
Get your TA down to recommended level by aerating. Aerating will also increase the Ph, so aerate a bit and check ph. When its up to 7.4 or 7.5 Bring ph back down to 7.2 with muriatic acid, then aerate more. It may take a few times to get the TA and ph within recommended levels.

In case you havent seen this, here are the recommended levels all in one spot. Very handy quick reference.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/134-recommended-levels

good luck.

 

[jblizzle]

Dave gave you some good info.

I just want to correct that all aeration does is drive the pH up. Then once it is high, you can add acid to lower both the pH and TA. Personally, I would not worry about doing this actively for now until you have everything else nice and stable.

- Add 30ppm of CYA to start
- Keep the FC above 3ppm at all times
- Ignore the CH as it does not matter for you (unless it climbs very high)

 

[Branch Fly]

Thanks so much for the responses. I'm glad I checked. I realize that I am supposed to run my pump for 24 hours after adding the CYA. I have a 2-speed pump, should I run it on high or low? Thereafter, as far as regular maintenance, how long should I run it and again should it be on high or low? I have a Waterway Clearwater II cartridge filter with a 1.5 hp dual speed pump, 150 gpm.

Thanks again. You guys are awesome!!!

 

[pwrstrk]

For general filtration run your pump on low. When you add bleach or other chem's you can use high to mix faster. For vacuuming or if you need your skimmer to be more effective use high. As for how long, there is an article in pool school, how to determine pump run time. I run mine for about 6 hours a day split up into 3 periods. Do you have a timer ? ?

 

[Branch Fly]

I do have a timer. I like the idea of splitting the run time into sections. I'll be sure to look for that article in pool school. I guess I was so focused on chemistry I overlooked it.