First home/First pool

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jcs11236

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May 4, 2019
24
Bayshore, NY
Hello to all. I purchased my home back in late summer last year. I’m located in Long Island New York. House came with a 8800 gallon above ground pool. The water in pool was toxic green until a few week ago when I drained the whole pool and ripped out the vinyl liner. I ordered liner and ordered new filter as well as new pump. Already received my Taylor k-2006 kit. Going to start setting up the pool in the next week or so but want to make sure I have everything ready to go. I plan on mainting my Pool with your trouble free method. Plan on using 10% pool chlorine or 6% bleach to maintain FC. Standard arm & hammer for TA and not sure yet about what to you use for PH yet. Ash or borax.
I just want your help to make sure I do the steps right and start off this pool the correct way.

First I plan on filling pool. Of course put liner in first. Lol. After it’s full I believe I should get the PH in check. After PH I should adjust the TA to right levels. Then I’m not sure. I read both ways but what is better. Do I adjust FC next or should I adjust CYA first? Or is my order all off?

Any advise would be helpful.
 
Congrats on the new pool! Once you have the pool full, run the pump for about 30 min to get it all mixed and run a full set of tests.
- CYA is the only product not in new water. So use the PoolMath tool to increase CYA to at least 30, maybe even 40 as the summer approaches. Use the sock method below.
- Add only enough bleach on day one to increase the FC to 2-3 ppm. Once the stabilizer is all dissolved, increase/maintain the FC according to the FC/CYA Levels. That's very important to avoid algae.
- Yes, now adjust the pH. Usually it's high which requires muriatic acid to lower, but that depends on your fill water. If it's low, then we can help you raise it in various ways.
- The TA may not need much attention unless it's very low or exceptionally high. We can come back to that after you post results.
- CH (low) should not be a factor for vinyl.

So start there and let us know if you have questions. Post those results later and we'll help you some more.

Oh .... and welcome to TFP! :wave:

Adding CYA:

To increase CYA via granular stabilizer, place the required amount as calculated by the Poolmath calculator into a white sock and place in the poolside skimmer basket. For those concerned about suction flow to the pump, suspending the sock near a return jet or from a floating device will also suffice. Best never to allow undissolved granules to rest directly against the pool surface. Squeeze the sock periodically to help it dissipate. Once dissolved, consider your CYA adjusted to that programmed (target) level. CYA test readings should show a rise in 24-48 hours, however some pools may experience a longer delay to fully register. Best to confirm final CYA in about 5-7 days before adding any more stabilizer/conditioner.
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On day 1 add stabilizer, add chlorine, and adjust pH only if it not in the 7s. Ignore TA initially and CH.

Since you have your test kit test your fill water for CL, pH, TA & CH and post the results. We will then know exactly what chemicals you will need day 1.

Download the PoolMath app as it will be a great tool to manage your water chemistry.
 
jcs11236 said:
Hello to all. I purchased my home back in late summer last year. I’m located in Long Island New York. House came with a 8800 gallon above ground pool. The water in pool was toxic green until a few week ago when I drained the whole pool and ripped out the vinyl liner. I ordered liner and ordered new filter as well as new pump. Already received my Taylor k-2006 kit. Going to start setting up the pool in the next week or so but want to make sure I have everything ready to go.
Click to expand...
Welcome to TFP! You are off to a head start!

The only thing I'll add to Texas' info is, can you add your pool, equipment & test info to your signature, please? Thanks! (it will save you from having to repeat it whenever you post questions/info) ;)


jcs11236 said:
I plan on mainting my Pool with your trouble free method. Plan on using 10% pool chlorine or 6% bleach to maintain FC. Standard arm & hammer for TA and not sure yet about what to you use for PH yet. Ash or borax.
I just want your help to make sure I do the steps right and start off this pool the correct way.

First I plan on filling pool. Of course put liner in first. Lol. After it’s full I believe I should get the PH in check. After PH I should adjust the TA to right levels. Then I’m not sure. I read both ways but what is better. Do I adjust FC next or should I adjust CYA first? Or is my order all off?
Click to expand...

jcs11236 said:
Any advise would be helpful.
Click to expand...
Read pool school articles :D Ask questions (as you are)
Check out the TFP info & testing suggestion links in both our signatures :)
 
Welcome! :wave:

You're overthinking things. If you're filling from a municipal source and not a well, things are not going to be too far out of whack. You can have everything balanced in an hour or less.

Test your tap water with your kit. It's good practice and it will give you a clue what you will find once the pool is filled and circulating. Just don't waste reagent on CYA, because there won't be any in tap water. Rule of thumb: pH goes up. So if the tap water is already in the 7s, you can be pretty sure you'll be needing acid to adjust pH. If the tap water pH is in the 6s and the TA is low -- say, below 60 --you'll likely need baking soda and borax. Unclear? Run the pH and TA tests and post about it. The pH will change between the time the first water leaves the tap and the pool is filled, but this gives you an idea of what to buy.

The chlorine test can probably also be skipped, since whatever is in the tap water will dissipate within an hour or so of seeing the sun, until you get some CYA in the water. Unless you want to practice.

CH is good to know, not that you'll be doing anything about it. If low, it's no problem with a vinyl pool. If high, what are you gonna do about it-- drain and refill with more of the same? But you may need to watch pH and TA closer if CH is high. If low, do a happy dance.

Anyway.... you'll have some bleach standing by, and the CYA, and you should know in advance if you're likely to need to raise or lower pH and if you need to add baking soda or not so you'll have that standing by. Quick note on using poolmath: use the suggested goals from TFP. Plug in your current number. Is it within the parameters? If so, make the current number your target. Don't arbitrarily pick some number midpoint in the range and be constantly fiddling with the chemistry.

Fill it up, fire up the pump and check leaks, add 3 ppm FC, mess around with the CYA and the sock. You needn't even test first -- you can safely assume both are zero. By the time you're done messing with the sock, you can test things (Again, save the CYA reagent; it won't show up this fast) and fine-tune the pH and TA. Go slather a kid with sunscreen. By the time that's done, things will have mixed enough. Throw the kid in.
 
Thanks for all the replies. What a great forum. A lot of great info on the threads. I will be posting my test results once I fill. I know I’m over thinking everything but I just want it to start off on the right foot.

Not really sure how to edit my sig to add my Pool equipment info?
 
jcs11236 said:
Not really sure how to edit my sig to add my Pool equipment info?
Click to expand...
Left menu go to SETTINGS and there should be a signature selection. If you're on a phone, you may have to tilt it sideways to see everything.
 
Okay guys. Was finally able to install liner over the weekend and has been filling up. By the time I get home it should be ready to get fired up.
I have been reading trouble frees guide to swg.
Just want to confirm that I should add the salt first to my swg recommended level. But can I add the stabilizer in the sock at the same time that the salt is dissolving.
And can I add the chlorine one shot to the starting level of the swg or wait first to get the salt and cya in check.
Originally I was doing manual dosing but bought a circupool sj20.

Starting to get nervous setting up first pool
 

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Add the salt and CYA at the same time. Also add chlorine to keep FC above minimum for your target CYA. May take a day or so for the salt to be fully circulated. Then fire up the SWCG. I assume it is on the same timer as the pump.
 
When you do the CYA test, try this next time.

Once you have your solution ready, back to the sun, etc. Fill the vial to a line, say 80, lower the vial to your waist level and glance for the dot, you see it, add solution to the 70 line, glance, see it, repeat until you no longer see it with a glance. Then use the CYA value one step above the line you read. So if you stopped at 50, use 60 ppm CYA.

The vial is in logarithmic scale. So it is not viable to interpolate between the lines. Just use the whole numbers, such as 50, 40, 30, ....
 
mknauss said:
When you do the CYA test, try this next time.

Once you have your solution ready, back to the sun, etc. Fill the vial to a line, say 80, lower the vial to your waist level and glance for the dot, you see it, add solution to the 70 line, glance, see it, repeat until you no longer see it with a glance. Then use the CYA value one step above the line you read. So if you stopped at 50, use 60 ppm CYA.

The vial is in logarithmic scale. So it is not viable to interpolate between the lines. Just use the whole numbers, such as 50, 40, 30, ....
Click to expand...
mknauss, if you stop at 50, why wouldnt it be 50?
 
We always round CYA up. If the dot disappears between 60 and 50 you call it 60.
 
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So the pool has been running nicely for the past three weeks.
Weather has been pretty cold and rainy so I haven’t got in the pool as of yet. Wife went in for a dip once. Lol
My levels have been steady at:
PH 7.6
FC 5.6
CC 0
Alk 60
Cal 60
CYA 80

I’m having a bbq and a few friends are planning on going in pool this weekend and now I’m worried about my levels going out of wack.
Should I raise my SWCG to a higher % before they come/during/ or after. Or keep it up during all three. I read on the forum that PH might go up due to splash etc so I should lower my PH some before hand.
Currently I’m running my SWCG at 25% and on with pump 7 hours a day. Levels have been steady but like stated no usage and the weathers been pretty cool and lots of cloudy rainy days.

Any tips on what you guys do when you have a heavy pool load.
Thanks
 

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