Above Ground Pool set, filled, shocked. Now questions :)

[asliboogie]

Hi all,
Up to today: I have added 10% liquid chlorine every day after testing at the end of the day and calculating to hit 5.
TODAY: My Taylor Test kit just arrived and I have done the tests to my best ability.
Free Chlorine - 2
Total Chlorine - 2
Combined Chlorine - 0
Bromine - 4
PH - 7.5
Total Alkalinity - 180
Calcium Hardness - 130
Cyanuric Acid - I didn't understand this test. I filled the bottle till 7ml line with water, added R0013 to 14ml mark, mixed it but the solution was not cloudy, the black dot didn't disappear. How do I read this?
Sodium Chloride - There is not R-0630 in the test kit even tho it is in the instructions but I guess this is for salt water filter pools.

Please tell me what is the next step? Also I would really appreciate if you can tell me a schedule as such:
1- Do I check Chlorine after each use at the end of the day and add the Liquid Chlorine after kids are out of the pool everyday?
2- How frequently I need to do the whole test kit?
3- Would you recommend me backwash the sand filter and vacuum the pool every week? (Say every Sunday)
4- And do I need to shock anytime (I've read some says every week) and for shock, do I use the Pool Meter and use the liquid chlorine again?
5- What I have in hand: Borax, 10% liquid chlorine from Lowes, HTH Ultimate Shock 7 in 1 and Leslie's Chlor Brite

 

[Holydoc]

You are doing very well. It is nice to see you taking over control of your pool. Once you get everything dialed in, it will get much easier. Everyone seems to have you under control so I will leave them to give you more specifics. To answer your questions:

If the Cyanuric Acid test is not cloudy, this means you have little to no CYA. Use PoolMath to determine how much CYA you must add to bring your levels up.

1. Check Chlorine and pH every day for now while you are dialing everything in. I would add Chlorine at the end of the day. Time does not really matter as long as you add each day.
2. All other tests except Chlorine and pH can be done once a month unless you are adjusting for them. In your case, you will be adjusting CYA so continue to test it after each adjustment until you get it where you need. Then once a month.
3. Yes
4. Shock is not necessary if you follow the lessons here. I refer you to read Pool School here on the forum to understand everything about your pool.
5. You will only need the liquid chlorine from here on out. It does not add any other ingredients that will counteract everything else you have done to balance your pool.

 

[Mdragger88]

Glad u got your kit in
Doc’s got u pretty covered-
I’ll elaborate a bit.
#1 dont worry about bromine u don’t have any
in reviewing your poolmath logs it says u have 30 ppm cya - did u add some. ?
If not then trust your test- right now its 0.
You need 30 ppm cya/stabilizer pronto- they sell it @ Walmart for about $12
Pool math tells me u need about 1 1/2lbs. Or 24oz. A cheap $1 plastic measuring cup w/ a handle is useful for these kinda things.
U add the granular stabilizer to a tube sock or knee high , tie a knot in it & hang it infront of a return jet.
If u squeeze it every few min it will dissolve pretty quick
Then EVERY day you will add enough liquid chlorine to get your to your top target on theFC/CYA Levels .
As soon as u start dissolving the stabilizer you can assume it’s there & your daily fc target will be 6.
The cya won’t show up on the test for a few days so don’t waste reagent on it until then.

you can backwash every week if u like or wait until pressure rises by 25% its up to u .

its not terribly complicated - chlorine is paramount. So if u have a party or something test 1st & add a little extra liquid chlorine then test again afterwards.
You’ll start to get an idea for how much chlorine your pool drinks every day.
Just put those other chems in the shed.
If u have anymore questions just ask
This might be helpful too:

Recommended Pool Chemicals

Which should I buy? TFP's recommended pool chemicals are cheap, easy, and won't unbalance your pool water.

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[asliboogie]

Glad u got your kit in
Doc’s got u pretty covered-
I’ll elaborate a bit.
#1 dont worry about bromine u don’t have any
in reviewing your poolmath logs it says u have 30 ppm cya - did u add some. ?
If not then trust your test- right now its 0.
You need 30 ppm cya/stabilizer pronto- they sell it @ Walmart for about $12
Pool math tells me u need about 1 1/2lbs. Or 24oz. A cheap $1 plastic measuring cup w/ a handle is useful for these kinda things.
U add the granular stabilizer to a tube sock or knee high , tie a knot in it & hang it infront of a return jet.
If u squeeze it every few min it will dissolve pretty quick
Then EVERY day you will add enough liquid chlorine to get your to your top target on theFC/CYA Levels .
As soon as u start dissolving the stabilizer you can assume it’s there & your daily fc target will be 6.
The cya won’t show up on the test for a few days so don’t waste reagent on it until then.

you can backwash every week if u like or wait until pressure rises by 25% its up to u .

its not terribly complicated - chlorine is paramount. So if u have a party or something test 1st & add a little extra liquid chlorine then test again afterwards.
You’ll start to get an idea for how much chlorine your pool drinks every day.
Just put those other chems in the shed.
If u have anymore questions just ask
This might be helpful too:

Recommended Pool Chemicals

Which should I buy? TFP's recommended pool chemicals are cheap, easy, and won't unbalance your pool water.

www.troublefreepool.com

You all are so AWESOME! I tell about this forum to everybody I talk to these days
I ordered the stabilizer, will be here tomorrow. The previous CYA number was from the test strip. I will do all of the test again tomorrow to make sure I am doing them right. The Pool Math says I need to add Borax. What is the procedure to add those extras. (Phew at least now I know jow to add chlorine. Hahaha)
Like with CYA I read run the filter 24 hr. What about Borax? When should I add those and Chlorine. Can you put them all together or is there an order. Most importantly when is it safe to swim again?

 

[wireform]

HI, Just read through this thread. You don"t need borax. The advice given above is solid. Poolmath is your best friend as long as you have the information correctly in it. Make sure the % chlorine in the settings for your poolmath will be key to having the right amount added as strength determines how much chlorine needs to be added per your pool capacity. The TA is somewhat high but leave it alone for now and it'll come down slowly if and when your PH rises to 7.8-8. At that point you'll use MA (muratic acid) again using pool math to lower the PH and some TA comes down with it. To know what your next step is depends on if you have any specific water issues you can see, otherwise bring the FC level to spec and see how that holds and then do a OCLT (overnight chlorine loss test) and we can then discuss it further. For now get the CYA up to the 30ppm mark asap.

 

[asliboogie]

HI, Just read through this thread. You don"t need borax. The advice given above is solid. Poolmath is your best friend as long as you have the information correctly in it. Make sure the % chlorine in the settings for your poolmath will be key to having the right amount added as strength determines how much chlorine needs to be added per your pool capacity. The TA is somewhat high but leave it alone for now and it'll come down slowly if and when your PH rises to 7.8-8. At that point you'll use MA (muratic acid) again using pool math to lower the PH and some TA comes down with it. To know what your next step is depends on if you have any specific water issues you can see, otherwise bring the FC level to spec and see how that holds and then do a OCLT (overnight chlorine loss test) and we can then discuss it further. For now get the CYA up to the 30ppm mark asap.

I feel like I am about to take my finals at college!
Ok. No Borax for now, keep the chlorine going everyday to achieve 5 ppm and will add stabilizer tomorrow as soon as I receive, keep an eye on PH. Correct? How long should we wait to swim and is it ok to add the Chlorine same day after adding the stabilizers? Is there a chance the agent I received is not good since there is no CYA showing when it shows in the test strips? I'll do the test again tomorrow anyway but want to make sure.

 

[wireform]

With the test kit you should get there soon enough, not sure about something just ask. CYA can take a day or two to fully show. If you put in stabilizer enough for 30ppm it will most likely show in 24 hours. If you hadn't done it yet go ahead and put it in via the sock method and just call it 30ppm for your chlorine calculation. You can squeeze the stabilizer every so often and it'll be done pretty fast. Chlorine can go in at the same time and 10 minutes later you can safely swim.

 

[Mdragger88]

I just caught up on this thread & one thing I noticed is that upon fresh fill (no chems added) leslies has said u have 30 ppm cya. That’s not possible. The 5oz of chlor brite you have added has added about 2ppm cya to your water.

If the only thing u have ever added was the 5oz of chlor brite- u have almost no cya.

You’re ph is fine - when it rises to 7.8/8.0 lower it back down to 7.2 w/ muriatic acid
All the info of how to add each chem is in this link

Recommended Pool Chemicals

Which should I buy? TFP's recommended pool chemicals are cheap, easy, and won't unbalance your pool water.

www.troublefreepool.com

It is safe to swim so long as u have free chlorine levels between min & slam for your cya FC/CYA Levels

 

[asliboogie]

Happy Monday Troublefreepool family,
I added the CYA on Friday, ran the filter for 24 hr. added the Chlorine and repeat all the tests yesterday. The results;
FC: 2, CC: 0, PH 7.3, TA 160, CH 140, CYA 55
How are these? Do I need to do anything other than daily Chlorine check/add at this point?

Also I would like to get your guidance on the filter and vacuum. So, the filter was all set with the heater pad. On Saturday, I realized there were a lot of impurities floating in the pool. I thought maybe because of the heater pad, the filter wasn't working well. So, I bypassed the heater pad and as soon as I started the filter a big stream of brown (sandy) water rushed into the pool. The thing is, I backwashed the filter when I first installed it. How come the brown water? When I first installed the filter the pressure was 9 psi, after a week it was 9.5 psi, now that I bypassed the heater, it is 6 psi. I don't think I need the heater. Am I assuming correct that it is better circulation without the heater pad and I should prefer that?

I purchased XtremepowerUS 75037 Climb Wall Pool Cleaner Automatic Suction Vacuum but it didn't fit the inlet, I went to the pool store but they didn't have any adopter, I read that this one can fit into skimmer so now I purchased Bestway Above Ground Swimming Pool Surface Skimmer Debris Cleaner | 58233E. I saw reviews that this works well on above ground pools but then I saw some concerning ones that says it damaged the liner. Do you have any idea if this is ok to use, or do you have other recommendations for a vacuum?

Thanks so much...

 

[wireform]

Just jumping in about the chemistry. The FC is low and needs attention. The CYA is considered 60 so you need the FC at 6

 

[asliboogie]

Just jumping in about the chemistry. The FC is low and needs attention. The CYA is considered 60 so you need the FC at 6

Thank you wireform, I did the test before adding daily Chlorine. I added the Chlorine last night. I will set the goal to 6 from now on, thanks.

 

[Mdragger88]

Thank you wireform, I did the test before adding daily Chlorine. I added the Chlorine last night. I will set the goal to 6 from now on, thanks.

You don’t want it to go below min ever - so always dose to the highest target which is 9 for cya of 60 see the FC/CYA Levels
I Have printed the chart out & taped it to the inside of my kit for easy reference.
That way no matter what comes along (Really sunny day, high bather load, debris etc.) u won’t be below min before u dose the next day .
The average pool loses 2-4ppm fc daily

Fwiw - i have the intex auto pool cleaner & its been going strong for over 3 years.
But i think u should just be able to push your vac hose onto the pool suction inlet - if not they make a cone that helps the transition

 

[Mdragger88]

You don’t want it to go below min ever - so always dose to the highest target which is 9 for cya of 60 see the FC/CYA Levels
I Have printed the chart out & taped it to the inside of my kit for easy reference.
That way no matter what comes along (Really sunny day, high bather load, debris etc.) u won’t be below min before u dose the next day .
The average pool loses 2-4ppm fc daily

Fwiw - i have the intex auto pool cleaner & its been going strong for over 3 years.
But i think u should just be able to push your vac hose onto the pool suction inlet - if not they make a cone that helps the transition

If u have two suction inlets you may have to plug one to get good suction/movement with that auto vac. Since its a suction side cleaner designed for larger pumps.

 

[asliboogie]

You don’t want it to go below min ever - so always dose to the highest target which is 9 for cya of 60 see the FC/CYA Levels
I Have printed the chart out & taped it to the inside of my kit for easy reference.
That way no matter what comes along (Really sunny day, high bather load, debris etc.) u won’t be below min before u dose the next day .
The average pool loses 2-4ppm fc daily

Fwiw - i have the intex auto pool cleaner & its been going strong for over 3 years.
But i think u should just be able to push your vac hose onto the pool suction inlet - if not they make a cone that helps the transition

Thank you, this is really helpful.