Setup 12 ft x 36 in Intex pool this weekend

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teebob21

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Apr 13, 2015
5
Phoenix
Hi all -

Been reading this forum as a guest for the last two years to maintain a 8 ft round Intex pool. This year, we got a bigger pool to match our bigger kids. I spent last weekend leveling our hard Arizona clay as best I could (ended up about 2 inches too low on the low end, but it seems OK for now), and I'm ready to start maintenance.

I calculated the fill volume at about 2200 gallons. Since the kids can't wait to swim even though the water is 72F, the pool will be uncovered in direct sunlight for the next week to warm up. I added 64 oz of 10% Kem-Tek chlorine last night. I've been following the Easy Intex startup plan from the PoolForum, and my dichlor should be here tomorrow or Wednesday.

The pool calculator site tells me that 20 oz of dichlor will raise my CYA to 30. I don't yet have the K-2006 to test CYA, but I do have the recommended 6-way test kit. The chlorine registered off-scale high (5+ ppm) this afternoon on my cheapy test kit. Just to confirm, once it's up there at 30+, I don't need anymore dichlor/CYA unless I drain and refill? Can I use the BBB method for the rest of the summer with my 6-way or (as I assume) will I still need the K-2006 to measure the higher chlorine levels?
 
:wave: Welcome to TFP!!!

What suggested adding 64 oz of 10% bleach into the pool with no CYA? That seems very excessive ... and certainly not safe to get into.

Why didn't you just go the store and buy one bag of dichlor?
You only need about 18 oz of dichlor to get to a CYA of 30ppm ... and please realize you can not add it all at once ... just a few ppm of FC a day.

With the smaller pool, you can likely get by with the lesser test kit. You will just need to track the dichlor used to estimate the CYA level. If you run into problems with the water, you will either have to drain, clean, and start over or get one of the appropriate test kits.
 
Welcome to the forum teebob :wave:

Wow, , , that was a lot of chlorine for your pool. That would take the FC up to around 22-24ppm :shock:
Hopefully that drifts down to something safe soon so you can use the pool.
 
jblizzle said:
:wave: Welcome to TFP!!!

What suggested adding 64 oz of 10% bleach into the pool with no CYA? That seems very excessive ... and certainly not safe to get into.

Why didn't you just go the store and buy one bag of dichlor?
You only need about 18 oz of dichlor to get to a CYA of 30ppm ... and please realize you can not add it all at once ... just a few ppm of FC a day.

With the smaller pool, you can likely get by with the lesser test kit. You will just need to track the dichlor used to estimate the CYA level. If you run into problems with the water, you will either have to drain, clean, and start over or get one of the appropriate test kits.
Click to expand...

I misread the bottle. I thought I was adding 1 quart of 8.25%, and stupidly thinking "1 quart of bleach in a 2000 gal pool isn't possibly enough" I gave it a couple more glugs and sure enough: there went about a half a gallon. Only then did I see it was 10%. I tested today with my kit after a day under the sun and I think FC is down to 12-16 (reads between 3 or a 4 after diluting the pool water with distilled 4:1).

The big box stores around me don't carry plain dichlor, only some mixed with copper. I was ordering stuff from Amazon anyway, so I got 4 lbs. Sounds like that will be plenty. I'll update here with the additional requested information if I run into any problems. Thanks all!
 
It happens :rolleyes: You will want to get some CYA in there soon though as the Phoenix sun will likely burn off your chlorine pretty quick without it. You might want to go a little higher (40) than 30 for your location.
 
Patrick_B said:
We also have a guide just for smaller pools that you may find helpful. Whatever you decide, let us know when you have questions, we'll be happy to help.

Temporary/Seasonal Pool Guide
Click to expand...

That's the guide I was looking for! All I could find this year was the version at the Poolforum. My Google-fu must be getting weak. Thanks for the tips on running a slightly higher CYA with our level of sun (stabilizer was less important the last two years since the pool sat on a covered concrete patio).
 
You're welcome! Having a full blown kit is great for any pool, but quite often it's hard to swallow for a lot of people when so little is invested in drain/refill. Hence the development of this guide. Leebo and others went to a lot of trouble putting it together for just this reason. I hope it helps you, but feel free to ask anything you need too. We are willing to help for as long as you are willing to learn. :goodjob:
 
Added 4 dry oz. (of ~20 eventual) of dichlor tonight after 3 kids swam in the cold water (and probably peed). Patrick, you're right: It's only ~$20 or so in water to completely drain and refill this pool. I might do that if the low end sags more, but for now the clay is holding up OK...we'll see how badly it erodes where I didn't get the tarp on it.

Before addition: Temp: 77F; pH 7.8; FC: 6-8 (diluted 2:1 and couldn't tell if it was 3 or 4+ on test kit). Skimmed out some bugs and rinsed the filter. Long wet hair is gross. (Girls!!!) So far, so good. Sparkling and clear.

Question about raising temp without a solar cover: Should I leave the pool open during the day and covered at night to raise the temperature? (I have a debris cover) I know the water's going to eventually get up to 90+, but the kids think it's cold right now.

2nd question: How often to vacuum the bottom? We already have dust/sand in there. Should we just clean it when it looks icky or is there an advantage to more frequent bottom vacuuming? Thx in advance.
 

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The cleanliness is to your satisfaction. Best to keep it vacuumed up as much as you can stand, but it will get tiresome. Cleaner is better, as it is less load on your Chlorine, and just nicer.

Not sure what your debris cover is like, but if you put one on that's transparent, it will get the pool hot if it gets much sun. Walmart usually has this type made by summer escapes that are clear/blue. Leaving a cover on at night will make a huge difference in temperature retention. I promise you it helps a lot. If you get one, buy one for the next size up pool at least. One made for 15' at least.

On the level. If it starts bulging out on the bottom a fair amount on one side, watch out. If it goes too far, it can pop. Don't ask me how I know. :D

One more tip. Get a small kiddie pool, the cheapie hard plastic kind. Stick the ladder feet in it, and fill it with water half way or so. This forces the kids to rinse their feet before entering the pool, and it helps a bunch.
 
Kiss4aFrog said:
That's a great idea for a pool. :D
Click to expand...

I bought the Intex foot bath on Amazon when I got the ladder. Works good, surprisingly solidly built considering the price and the plastic molding. Much smaller than a hardware store kiddie pool, but that means it's easier to empty and clean.

Pool water still looks great, but its sagging even more on the low end. I guess that's what I get for putting 16,000 lbs of water on 3 inches of unpacked clay. Still might have to drain it and repair the foundation, but we're going day by day.

H20 Temp 81F
FC 5
pH 7.5
TA 190 (thanks PHX water)
CYA 10 (still slowly adding dichlor)

I'm already glad I posted here. The pool looks better in its first few days than the smaller one did last year at this time when I did bleach only.

Edit - just realized my kit says it tests for Total Chlorine, rather than FC. (Walmart HTH 6-way) Is this an issue? I read the links PoolDV posted, but they referred to a CC value over 0.5 as a potential problem. Are these test results useful?
 
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