Brand new pool

[belle4397]

Hi, I've had a pool for several years now and am accustomed to taking care of one, thanks to so much help from you all when we first started! My question now, is we just got a new liner the other day, and so just refilled the pool with fresh water. I'm just wondering if there is anything that might be a little different at first that I need to watch out for with the chemistry. Will the pH be more susceptible to fluctuations, for instance? So far the only things I've had to add were chlorine and stabilizer, but the pH has been on the low side and the alkalinity has been pretty high (both within the acceptable range, though). Usually pH tends to be high and alkalinity low, so this is a new scenario for me! Should I just treat it the same as our "before" pool, or should I check anything more frequently than usual? For reference, it is a traditional chlorine pool, about 20-25k gallons. I usually only check pH 1-2x per week and chlorine maybe every other day (although in the height of summer I usually add chlorine every day). Stabilizer and alkalinity I check infrequently. Thanks for any help!

 

[mgtfp]

Could you first post a full set of test results before we start speculating what's going on?

 

[belle4397]

Could you first post a full set of test results before we start speculating what's going on?

There isn't anything going on. I've just never had to refill the pool before, so I'm just curious if there's anything that may be a bit different to start with that I should keep an eye on. Something that I may be unaware of since I've only ever taken care of an "established" pool before.

 

[proavia]

Without a full set of current test results from your K-2006 there is no way to know what you may need to do.

FC
CC
pH
TA
CH
CYA
Water temperature

 

[mgtfp]

There isn't anything going on. I've just never had to refill the pool before, so I'm just curious if there's anything that may be a bit different to start with that I should keep an eye on. Something that I may be unaware of since I've only ever taken care of an "established" pool before.

We'll only know what's different when we know your water parameters.

 

[belle4397]

I guess the answer I'm looking for is that there isn't anything particularly different about a pool with new water vs an established pool. The question I was asking shouldn't have anything to do with my test results, because I just wanted to know, in general, if there are any differences between caring for a new pool vs an established one. Things that might fluctuate differently than usual at first, stuff I should keep a closer eye on than I'm accustomed to. So I'll just assume that since no one is getting the gist of my question, it's probably because it's just a dumb question and that I should just treat the pool exactly the same as I have for the past several years. Lol. I think the problem here is that I was probably just overthinking things!

 

[proavia]

I guess the answer I'm looking for is that there isn't anything particularly different about a pool with new water vs an established pool. The question I was asking shouldn't have anything to do with my test results, because I just wanted to know, in general, if there are any differences between caring for a new pool vs an established one. Things that might fluctuate differently than usual at first, stuff I should keep a closer eye on than I'm accustomed to. So I'll just assume that since no one is getting the gist of my question, it's probably because it's just a dumb question and that I should just treat the pool exactly the same as I have for the past several years. Lol. I think the problem here is that I was probably just overthinking things!

We get the gist of your question.
But without accurate test results, we can't help you determine a couse of action for your recently refilled pool.

Why the hesitation to post current test results?
How do you chlorinate?
Do you follow TFP methods?

 

[belle4397]

We get the gist of your question.
But without accurate test results, we can't help you determine a couse of action for your recently refilled pool.

Why the hesitation to post current test results?
How do you chlorinate?
Do you follow TFP methods?

It's not exactly that I'm hesitant to post results, I just didn't think the results were particularly relevant to the question I was trying to ask. But maybe the problem is that I didn't even know the question I *should* be asking, which is maybe the question you all are trying to answer. Lol

I haven't actually tested CYA since I was assuming it should be at zero, so I added enough to bump that to 50. I use liquid chlorine. pH has been in the 7.4-7.6 range. Alkalinity was 110, which seemed high to me, but the book that came with my test kit said up to 120 is fine. Could not even tell you what the calcium hardness is. I tested it and it was fine, but I don't remember the number. Chlorine fluctuates a lot now that it's hot out, obviously, but we aim for 6. I can't remember the last time I tested for CC because every time I've ever tested that it's been zero. Everything I've ever done to the pool has been based on TFP, but it's been so long since I've actually had to think about any of it, I can't say for sure if we strictly follow any protocol.

 

[mgtfp]

Seeing that the pool came with a book, I assume we are talking about an above ground vinyl liner pool?

The only thing that would make a new pool behave differently to an older pool would be having a new plaster pool. Those pools tend to have fast riding pH until the plaster settles down.

With a vinyl liner, there is no real need to keep TA as high as the handbook says, because you don't need to worry about CSI between too low.

With a lower TA (around 60-70, but not below 50) your pH will not keep rising as fast, but from what you are saying this doesn't seem to be an issue right now.

Depending on how much evaporation losses you have to replace, and how often you have to add acid, TA may keep rising, or not. Ideally you'll find that ballance between fill water additions (which raise TA) and acid additions (which lower TA) where TA is kind of stable without having to add baking soda due to over-adding acid.

CH is only critical for a vinyl liner pool when it gets too high which could lead to scaling. Would be good to get a baseline where your CH is now.

Your CYA should be good now, I'd still recommend to confirm that you got where you wanted it, and test it maybe monthly. Depending on climate, CYA will slowly decrease over time.

Remember that for CYA 50 your min FC is 4. I would shoot for more like 8 or even higher, rather than 6, when adding chlorine to make sure you never drop below 4. Ideally you'll always have at least a day buffer to your usual chlorine adding schedule before hitting min FC to cater for life happening.

 

[Sunny Blues]

We too just replaced our liner after 17 years a few weeks ago. I was also worried that the truck that brought the water (14,000-15,000 gallons of it) would be horrendous to balance. We used tap water to fill the last 6” of the pool. (Its 18,600) I was pleasantly surprised that it was just as easy to balance as our past water, actually much easier and I’m not sure why. Maybe because this water had never been tampered with by pool store chemicals? Our old water had four years in their unsavory hands. But the past 13 years was all TFP. Still, we had never drained all the water out before so it’s kinda nice starting with fresh water and using TFP from the get-go.

Its been about 3 weeks now and nothing untoward has happened with the water. At first the alkalinity was lower than our water usually is when we take the cover off so that was nice. It was super easy and a first to get it down to 80. My opinion is you’ve got a nice fresh slate to work with and it’s going to be better.

Oh, we keep our CYA at 60 since it declines throughout season a bit. We always aim to keep the chlorine at the higher of the target range, so around 8ppm.

 

[duraleigh]

TFP begins and ends with test results we can trust. Without them, we are only stabbing at guesses

 

[belle4397]

Seeing that the pool came with a book, I assume we are talking about an above ground vinyl liner pool?

The only thing that would make a new pool behave differently to an older pool would be having a new plaster pool. Those pools tend to have fast riding pH until the plaster settles down.

With a vinyl liner, there is no real need to keep TA as high as the handbook says, because you don't need to worry about CSI between too low.

With a lower TA (around 60-70, but not below 50) your pH will not keep rising as fast, but from what you are saying this doesn't seem to be an issue right now.

Depending on how much evaporation losses you have to replace, and how often you have to add acid, TA may keep rising, or not. Ideally you'll find that ballance between fill water additions (which raise TA) and acid additions (which lower TA) where TA is kind of stable without having to add baking soda due to over-adding acid.

CH is only critical for a vinyl liner pool when it gets too high which could lead to scaling. Would be good to get a baseline where your CH is now.

Your CYA should be good now, I'd still recommend to confirm that you got where you wanted it, and test it maybe monthly. Depending on climate, CYA will slowly decrease over time.

Remember that for CYA 50 your min FC is 4. I would shoot for more like 8 or even higher, rather than 6, when adding chlorine to make sure you never drop below 4. Ideally you'll always have at least a day buffer to your usual chlorine adding schedule before hitting min FC to cater for life happening.

The book came with the test kit, not the pool itself. It is a vinyl liner, but in-ground. I'm used to having to bump TA higher, if anything, so the higher reading was outside my experience so far. But, since it wasn't "too" high, I was hoping we wouldn't have to worry about it.

 

[belle4397]

We too just replaced our liner after 17 years a few weeks ago. I was also worried that the truck that brought the water (14,000-15,000 gallons of it) would be horrendous to balance. We used tap water to fill the last 6” of the pool. (Its 18,600) I was pleasantly surprised that it was just as easy to balance as our past water, actually much easier and I’m not sure why. Maybe because this water had never been tampered with by pool store chemicals? Our old water had four years in their unsavory hands. But the past 13 years was all TFP. Still, we had never drained all the water out before so it’s kinda nice starting with fresh water and using TFP from the get-go.

Its been about 3 weeks now and nothing untoward has happened with the water. At first the alkalinity was lower than our water usually is when we take the cover off so that was nice. It was super easy and a first to get it down to 80. My opinion is you’ve got a nice fresh slate to work with and it’s going to be better.

Oh, we keep our CYA at 60 since it declines throughout season a bit. We always aim to keep the chlorine at the higher of the target range, so around 8ppm.

There's a truck that brings the water?! I didn't kniw that was an ootion!! We just filled with hoses, it took 3 days I too was pretty excited about a fresh pool, since who knows what the previous owners put in this one. I only ever put in chlorine, stabilizer, acid, and baking soda, but they sell all sorts of yucky stuff at the pool store.

 

[mgtfp]

I'm used to having to bump TA higher, if anything, so the higher reading was outside my experience so far.

Means that your fill water has that TA, which is not unusual.

If you had to bump TA up frequently then you were probably trying to maintain pH too low, having to add acid quite often.

Once TA is below 80, pH usually settles somewhere around 7.8 - 8.0. As long as you don't have high CH it's OK to just leave pH there and only add acid once you get to or above 8.

Eventually TA will rise from added fill water, making pH rise again. That's when it's time to add acid to bring pH down again and TA with it.

By just generally aiming for a pH of say 7.4 because that's considered "ideal", you will just get into a seesaw of first adding acid to get pH down and then adding baking soda to recover TA.

 

[Sunny Blues]

There's a truck that brings the water?! I didn't kniw that was an ootion!! We just filled with hoses, it took 3 days I too was pretty excited about a fresh pool, since who knows what the previous owners put in this one. I only ever put in chlorine, stabilizer, acid, and baking soda, but they sell all sorts of yucky stuff at the pool store.

Lol yeah. It’s a trade off between water bill and truck fee. It takes about 3 trucks to fill our pool but we only paid for 2. It’s $400-$450 a truckload. But our water bill would have been at least half that total. It’s more of a convenience in time.

Our TA is usually high and we struggle to bring it down. But after this fill it was only 110. It’s very easy to get it down to 80 from there using MA. I never use anything to raise pH. If I’m in a hurry I’ll use our little fountain feature to aerate and it rises pretty quickly that way. If not I just let it rise naturally.

 

[proavia]

It's not exactly that I'm hesitant to post results, I just didn't think the results were particularly relevant to the question

We have asked for them several times - so they are important.

TFP chemical levels are rooted in science and tend to be a bit different from the 30-40 year old wide ranges in that book. Use the TFP levels.

Posting them in paragraph form makes it extremely hard to pick them out.
And we need to see all of them to start with.
Use this format and post a curremt full set of test results ....

FC
CC
pH
TA
CH
CYA
Water temperature

 

[belle4397]

Means that your fill water has that TA, which is not unusual.

If you had to bump TA up frequently then you were probably trying to maintain pH too low, having to add acid quite often.

Once TA is below 80, pH usually settles somewhere around 7.8 - 8.0. As long as you don't have high CH it's OK to just leave pH there and only add acid once you get to or above 8.

Eventually TA will rise from added fill water, making pH rise again. That's when it's time to add acid to bring pH down again and TA with it.

By just generally aiming for a pH of say 7.4 because that's considered "ideal", you will just get into a seesaw of first adding acid to get pH down and then adding baking soda to recover TA.

That's basically what I had been doing with my pool prior to now. I very rarely had to add baking soda and was just trying to keep pH below 8. We had a pretty good routine going, I just was curious whether the routine would be disrupted significantly by starting with fresh water, or if I could just keep plugging along the same way I am used to. lol

 

[mgtfp]

With a vinyl liner, there's not much to it. Make sure the water is balanced, especially FC/CYA and pH, test regularly and add what's needed.

New plaster pools do need a bit of special attention.