Trying to grasp this whole pool thing

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J

JDeNova007

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Jun 19, 2014
19
Liverpool
Hi,

We just bought a house with an inground pool and a hot tub. Never had a either before. We just replaced the liner and filled it with fresh water a few weeks ago.

I have ordered the TF-100 test kit and it should arrive this week. As of now I have a Chlorine and PH test kit, and some test strips(used for the hot tub). I bought a 5 gallon jug of 12.5% liquid chlorine and a 12.5lb bag of Baking Soda. Will acquire the last 'B' soon.

I just tested my water CH and pH. CH is basically 0. and pH is within the normal range(it always seems fine, never had to adjust). I added 64fl 0z of liquid CH to raise the chlorine level. I diluted it and slowly poured it in front of a return jet.

My question(right now) is, how long until I can swim in the pool? How long should I wait after adding that much chlorine? When should I retest?

Happy to find this site because my pool was starting to really **** me off. Cleaned my filter a few times already because of the cotton trees; getting cloudy water a lot of the time. I know its just a matter of learning the ins and outs, but **** this is annoying. I have so much other **** to do other than worry about my pool everyday.

Thanks for your reply.
 
:wave: Welcome to TFP!!!

By CH I assume you actually mean FC (chlorine).

Second, do not go out and buy products that start with the letter B until you know you need them. Odds are you may never need baking soda or borax.

You can swim 30 minutes after adding chlorine ... ASSUMING the FC is in the recommended range for you CYA level (which is actually 0 until you add it). Your FC should be under 3ppm, so safe to swim, but it is going to disappear quickly to the sun. So get that CYA up to 30ppm.

The hot tub is kind of a completely different animal, while the chemistry is the same the methods of maintenance are a little different.
 
Lol... thanks

Yes, I mean FC. Still getting the acronyms.

I should have my test kit here soon so I can see what my CYA is. As I have read on the forums... I will be adding a bit of this liquid chlorine daily? of course depending on sunlight and CYA levels. but more often than not I will be putting some FC into my pool regularly?

Will get readings from the kit and update this thread ASAP.
 
Yup, you should start off testing and adding chlorine daily. You may learn in the future that you could get away with every other day, but it takes time to learn your pool.
 
Just used my Test Kit today. Here are my findings....

FC - 0 ? (I couldn't get this test done right, but am certain I have no FC in my pool)
pH - 7.6
TA - 120 ppm
CH - 150 ppm
CYA - I couldn't get the black dot to disappear, so my CYA has to be 0 as well)

Any thoughts? What's good or bad, I know the CYA and FC need immediate attention... like today. How and in what order do I adjust those? Also unsure of the other items if they are up to standards or if they will get adjusted when I adjust my FC and CYA.

Thanks
 
What does the pool water look like?

I would get 30ppm of CYA dissolving in a sock and start adding bleach to maintain 2ppm until the CYA dissolves and then keep it about 2ppm.

The rest of the numbers are fine for now.

I suspect you may need to go through the ShockLevelAndMAINTAIN Process now that you have a good test kit.
 
Water is pretty cloudy. My filter gets clogged easily and then loses pressure and doesnt filter enough so the water gets cloudy. I think its all beacuse my FC level keeps dropping and I am not keeping it up to the right level consistently. I have enough Bleach to shock it tonight.

How do I get the 30ppm of CYA in a sock thing started? Where to get CYA, what to buy, where to put it. I can search the forums if its easier to get those answers...

Thanks again
 
There are rarely questions that can not be answered by searching ;)

You need to SLAM ... review the link I provided as the "shock" you mention is not what we mean.

CYA = stabilizer = conditioner = cyanuric acid available at pool stores or pool sections of hardware stores or Walmart.
Put it in a sock, hang it in front of the return jet.
 
With NO CYA in the water you need to not go too high on the FC. The sun will burn off that FC right away so don't bother to put in a whole lot, just take it up to 3 or 4 ppm at the end of the day. Circulating chlorine in the dark will allow the chlorine to attack the algae while the algae is asleep. Get moving on getting the CYA up to 30 so you can keep some chlorine in the pool during the day.

CYA in the filter basket is Ok if you have it tied into a sock or knee-hi. you don't want it to clog the pipes.
 

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You can put the sock in the skimmer if that is what you mean if you leave the pump on 24/7 (which you should be for the SLAM).

The Diagnostic is not as nice as the dual-motor remote controlled Dynamic that died, but the Diagnostic was free :)
 
Ok cool. Well I put about 180oz of 12.5% FC... it should bring it up towards 10ppm (prolly about 8ppm) for the SLAM. I will get some Stabilizer in the skimmer in a sock first thing tomorrow morning so the sun doesn't kill my FC. I know it takes a while for the stabilizer to dissolve, I will retest the CYA in a week....

Seems as though I will have gone through this Test kit REALLY quickly with all this testing.

The Pool Math says to "Add 88 oz by weight or 92oz by volume of stabilizer or add 228 of liquid stabilizer." To go from 0 to 30 CYA level... seem right? not sure I can fit that much into my skimmer without blocking all the waterflow, I may need to hang it like jblizzle suggest. Would the liquid be better if it doesn't cost too much more...?

Nice to have this site and you guys available. Thanks as always. If you ever have a Computer question, ask me :)
 
96oz by weight of CYA added; hung one in front of deep end return and the other in the skimmer. FC was 3/6, added 64oz more of FC. should bring it up to 10. Brushed the side walls and floor as they had brown/green buildup. water is looking better, but still dirty. Had to backwash my filter, may need to flush it soon even though I just cleaned it. Pump always runs 24/7. I just have to keep on the FC daily!

If this works and I can learn to keep my pool clean, I will most certainly become a TFP Supporter!

Thanks, I will update over the weekend.
 
Checked the FC three times today. added some. the CYA dissolved really fast....

My biggest problem... is my filter being clogged. It's PSI has gone up from 7 to 20, three times today. I purge it and it drops back down to 7 PSI, but 2 hours later its back up to 15-20 PSI. I know I can backwash it, but when I do I am going to flush out all the CYA I just added.

Is it normal for the filter to get that clogged during a SLAM, I know the algea and such isn't helping.
 
I hung one 3lb sock in front of the deep end return and put the other 3lb sock in the skimmer. The 1 in front of the return was basically empty in a few hours. The one in the skimmer seemed to still be really full, so I hung it in front of the return with the nearly empty one. Now they are both basically empty.

No granules in the bottom that I can see, so it seems most of it dissolved. I did just do a backwash and purged some water from the filter, but it was pretty clear when it emptied... So I may need to take the filter apart and clean the "fingers" (again!) tomorrow. I will see how the PSI holds up tonight and tomorrow morning.

My pH seemed to have dropped a bit since this yesterday/this morning. I will be getting some Borax tomorrow if need be to bring that back up to normal.

*UPDATE* - Just checked and my PSI is back up to 20... so the backwash didn't help, which means the fingers are covered and require disassembly and cleaning... this is getting stupid. Maybe i need a new filter because I can't take this thing apart every week.

*UPDATE #2* - Took filter apart and it had some green algae on the fingers. not bad though. Rinsed it off, soaked in dishwasher soap for 3 hours to get grease off. Rinsed. Then soaked in 10 to 1 of water and muriatic acid. Rinsed. Re-assembled. Let air out and ran for a few seconds; then put 5lbs of DE in (as suggested by the filter label; I previously did 4lbs as suggested by the manual)... running on about 7PSI now with good flow. Water is looking much better. Checked FC, its about 6 or more... put another 64oz of 12.5% Liquid Chlorine in. pH is 7.2 or so. Will check before dusk and again in AM.

Maybe I will be swimming tomorrow!?!?!?
 
Sweet... went swimming today. Everything was clear and felt great. I am going to check the CYA and FC levels in a bit to see how they look.

Question.... How often will I need to check or add CYA? Or any other chemicals?
 
You should check FC every day for a while, then you might be able to drop to every second day or so. Same for pH - check it regularly. For CYA once a month is probably fine once everything is dissolved and stable... maybe even every couple of months. Not sure about the rest, guessing Pool School covers it but haven't read those parts yet.

CYA changes very slowly, FC changes very fast, everything else is somewhere in between.
 

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