New Pool set-up on Tuesday. Few ???'s

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M

Maveri9720

0
Jun 27, 2008
22
Georgia
Hi all. This is a great forum and I have learned ALOT over the past week or two. I read through the pool school and have a couple pages worth of notes jotted down from everything I have read thus far.

On Tuesday, our pool will be installed, hopefully, just in time for my birthday on Thursday. It is a 16' x 24' Doughboy AGP with a Hayward 1 1/2 hp pump and 230T sand filter.

Thanks to you all, I will be starting out using the BBB method. I have the TF 2006 test kit and did a test of my tap water. Here are the results:

FC 1.6
CC .4
pH 8.0
TA 40
CH 40
CYA 0

I used the ingenious and invaluable pool calculator and it came up with these numbers to reach ideal param's:

Add 47oz of 6% bleach to reach 4ppm FC
Add 4.4oz of 31.45% muriatic acid to reach 7.6 pH
Add 53oz of baking soda to reach 70ppm TA
Add 53oz of stabilizer to reach 40ppm CYA

The notes talked about what the effects are of adding these chemicals and I am alittle unsure of what to add and in what order.

My assumption would be to add the bleach first, by pouring it in front of the return with the pump running. Then add 3/4 of the stabilizer to the skimmer, after removing the basket first. Test for CYA after a week and then dose again if needed.

It says when I add CYA, that it will lower my pH, which is good b/c it's alittle high, so I shouldn't do anything to adjust the pH until all of the CYA is dissolved, correct?

When should I do anything about the low TA, b/c the notes say it will raise my pH?

Also, do I need to shock the pool to start with, since my CC is at .4? I have read once it reaches .5 to start shocking. Should I just leave it until I test to .5 or higher?

Last thing involves start-up: Can someone explain the process of when my pool is finally full, what I do next? Do I start the pump and let it run for 24 hrs and then start dosing? Do I let it run for 24 hrs, then backwash, then add chemicals? Something totally different? And when I add the CYA to the skimmer, do I let the pump run 24/7 for the week to dissolve the CYA or do I just run a normal 12 hr schedule?

Thanks to everyone for the help and info provided here. I have learned so much and am fairly confident that I can easily maintain my pool using the BBB method and get any help I might need for you all.

Mitch
 
Hi Mitch and Welcome!

If this were my pool, I would probably use the MA to bring down the PH first and an hour or so later, I would add some bleach and the CYA *I prefer the sock method over a return*.

After that settles in nicely, I'd add the Baking Soda.

But YEAH! That's just me. :mrgreen:

Enjoy your pool and HAPPY BIRTHDAY! :wave:
 
Mitch, welcome to TFP!! sounds like you got a great birthday present :goodjob:

As Casey said deal with the pH and cl first - take the pH to ~7.6 using Jason's calculator and add bleach to get to ~5 ppm for the initial dose. As you'll have no cya in the water the cl should drop quickly while still oxidizing the cc in the tap water - just stay ahead of your cl while the cya is dissolving! The tabs will add cya and lower pH, but not quickly enough - use muriatic acid (31.45%) and granular cya to get those #s in place, then use the tabs and BBB to do the finishing touches on your water.

If you know what the water #s are already, you can start dosing when you start the pool _ I would dribble a little chlorox into the water as it's filling, you know you'll need it and the sooner you can get a cl level established, the better :wink:

Thank you for doing all the reading and getting a good idea of what you'll need to do! (You do know that we want to see pictures of you swimming on your birthday, don't you :-D )

If I don't 'see' you again before Thursday --HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
 
Hi Mitch, welcome to the forum!

What is your tap water? If it's from a well, metals could be an issue, so you may want to have it tested for metals? High metals and high PH and chlorine DON'T GO TOGETHER very well!!! Just a thought.

You won't need to backwash yet. Do take note of your pressure reading upon start up, so that when it starts to go up to the recommended backwash level.... My PSI recommendation on my cartridge is 5 psi points. So find out your recommended level for backwashing, could be 10 points or whatever. After your first backwashing the pressure should return to the level it was a startup. That's like your baseline reading....

Which test kit do you have? The TF-100 or the Taylor 2006?

Either way, sounds like you're off to a good start! :goodjob:

Otherwise, ditto the prior advice. Enjoy! :mrgreen:
 
First off, thank you all for the kind words and the great advice. I'm happy to have found a forum where everyone is so nice and also knowledgable at the same time. Very friendly place and I look forward to spending more time here and learning as much as I can.

Seems like the plan is to drop the pH to 7.6 using muriatic acid, then add the chlorine and then add the CYA. Is there a minimum time to wait before dosing multiple chemicals? Casey stated to wait an hour after adding the MA to add the chlorine. Do I need to wait any amount after adding the chlorine, before I add the CYA?

I'll have to research the sock/return method for CYA. I've come across it here and there, but haven't seen any real instructions for it.

My tap water is public water, so I don't have to worry about excessive amounts of metal. Thanks for the tips on backwashing. Just wasn't sure if I had to backwash once the filter was initially set-up or not. Also, I'm using the Taylor 2006 test kit.

I'll try to get pics up as soon as I can.

Again, thanks for the help all. It is greatly appreciated.

Mitch
 
The acid and chlorine do not play well together!! In fact do not store the acid near anything that contains chlorine!!!!!!!! It can cause an explosion!! The chlorine and the cya do play well together and it's no problem for them to be introduced at the same time :)

To do the sock method - I use a lady's kneehigh - fill it with the desired amount of cya and tie off the top, tie a string to it and secure the string to something on the deck so that the cy-bomb is held in the stream from the return. This makes it dissolve much faster, though you still want to wait 5 days after it has all dissolved to test the cya.

The first thing you want to do after adding new sand to a filter is to backwash the filter to get the fine debris out of the sand (there's this article in Pool School that tells how too backwash a sand filter.

Congrats on being so close to having the pool up and running - if you have any more questions, you know where to find the answers :wink:
 

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