First time pool owner - My Intex 16' x 48" AGP build log

[orion2001]

Time for an update. My wife was able to do the OCLT last night. Started at 10.5ppm of FC and it dropped down to 8.5ppm in the morning... so 2ppm drop. So, to be safe, I added in more bleach and tested 30 mins later (pump running) and FC is now at 20ppm and CC was 0.5ppm. There is a chance my wife could have made a mistake with the test, but I'll be redoing the OCLT tonight to see how things are going.

What should my target SLAM FC level be? For non SWG with CYA of 40-50 it is around 16-20. But my CYA isn't all dissolved yet. Could I hurt my liner with 20ppm of FC at the moment? No one will be swimming till I pass OCLT and FC drops to around 12 or lower.

PS - My pump ran overnight during OCLT. I don't think this should have impacted my OCLT test (except that I did not clean out the Intex filter yesterday).

 

[robertmee]

The pump should run overnight and always until you complete SLAM. For the short amount of time you are over chlorinating it should not affect your liner...just be sure you always add bleach in front of a return so it's immediately dispersed.

Your target FC is based on what you expect the CYA to be so if you calculated 40 use shock level for 40.

 

[orion2001]

FC dropped from 20ppm today morning to 16ppm in the evening. Also measured 1ppm of CC which I guess isn't great? Seems like 16ppm would be a good shock value of FC to sustain. Will try the OCLT again tonight. Pump has been running non-stop and I washed out the filter in the evening.

 

[orion2001]

Looks like I passed the OCLT test last night. FC only dropped 0.5ppm. Water is also clear. I guess I'll let FC go down and maintain it at ~ 8 for now.

I'm a bit conflicted about pool maintenance/use. I was originally hoping to just have my solar cover on at all times except when using the pool. This would help retain warmth and also reduce the number of bugs, etc getting into the pool. However, someone mentioned in another forum thread that it would be better to keep the cover off during the daytime to have the sun heat the pool and also to let the pool "breathe" and have the UV rays help with breaking down CC. I don't have a skimmer installed, so bugs on the surface and sinking to the bottom are a big issue for me and with 18 month old twins, I don't think we'd be able to keep on top of vacuuming/manually skimming all the bugs out every day.

So what are my options? Can I still leave the solar cover on as I intended to and do a good skimming/vacuuming once a week? Or should I really be getting the cover off periodically during daytime? In the case of the latter, I guess I'll have to invest in a through the wall skimmer which I'm not to keen on doing at the moment.

 

[PAGirl]

Sometimes I pull my cover half off so the pool can "breathe" while the pump is running. Even just a few hours seems to help. Easier to get back on that way, too.

 

[orion2001]

That's a good idea PAGirl. I guess I'll just have to plan on taking the cover off partially/fully on days that I know I will be getting in the pool later or will have time to clean/skim all the dead bugs out.

 

[krazykrames]

Wrong or right I don't know, but I have mine covered all the time except days when we swim. It might go a week being covered and since the pool is an easy-set the water is essentially sealed in because the cover wraps around the blow up ring. Never had any issues with stong chlorine odor when the cover is taken off or CC levels above 0.5.

The pool came with a solar cover but I soon scrapped that for a black plastic tarp. The black seems to really attract the sun and warm the pool nicely.

 

[orion2001]

That's very interesting krazykrames. I'm probably leaning to a similar approach. The only challenge is that I will be using a SWG, and FC consumption during daytime will depend a lot on if the cover is off or not. I had it on yesterday and FC barely seemed to drop 0.5ppm over the entire day (and it was a warm, sunny day). So I'll have to figure out the best setting for the SWG so that I don't end up accumulating too much FC in the pool. Less worried about the CC issue to be honest. Without an in-wall skimmer, I'll have far more organic load entering the pool with the cover off than on.

 

[orion2001]

Thought I'd update this thread with a few more recent pictures of the filled up pool.

1. Finished installing the 2150gph Intex Sand Filter + SWG, and it is really really strong! Seems to be working great though the SWG is turned off for now. I got stingy (am allergic to leveling after the pool install!) and managed to squeeze it all on 16" x 12" of leveled pavers . Can someone help me figure out which of the 2 electrodes is the Cu electrode that I should disconnect?

2. Picked up a Hayward Aquabug for $50 on Craigslist and set it up today with the upgraded pump. Worked like a charm and wasn't as hard to setup and get going as I had thought it would be.

3. And here is a full shot of the pool. Water temp is ~ 80F. We might just take our first dip in the pool today if the FC levels have come down from ~ 16 from yesterday.

 

[dakhath]

If that is truly the 28679EG Sand and Salt system model then you do not have a copper ion electrode. That was discontinued and replaced with the E.C.O. (electrocatalytic oxidation) system. No need to do anything to it. Just leave everything plugged in. If you read the manual you'll probably see E.C.O. and not find copper mentioned anywhere.

 

[orion2001]

If that is truly the 28679EG Sand and Salt system model then you do not have a copper ion electrode. That was discontinued and replaced with the E.C.O. (electrocatalytic oxidation) system. No need to do anything to it. Just leave everything plugged in. If you read the manual you'll probably see E.C.O. and not find copper mentioned anywhere.

Thanks! I always thought ECO was just new marketing speak for the same stuff. Looking at the literature, it appears that the ECO unit is supposed to dissociate water into hydroxyl ions that act as an oxidizer for various nasties. I'm assuming that one of the cells is for this, while hopefully the other one is still producing FC? Any idea if this means I can target slightly lower FC values with SWG or would that be too risky?