Hello from Belgium

[KiloKilo]

Hi all,
Due to the lockdown last year we decided to buy a on-the-ground pool to see if we would like it. Although the climate in Belgium might not be ideal, it is ideal to keep 5 kids happy while unable to leave the country.
It is a pool of 10x5 m with a capacity of 50.000 liters. Yet as it does not sit 100% level I estimate it to be 49.000 liters.
Getting to grips with all the things needed to maintain the pool...

 

[cowboycasey]

Welcome to TFP

You found a great place.. I am not sure you can get the test kit that we use here but I think you have others that are close..

 

[KiloKilo]

Cheers Casey,
Lovely car by the way. We are using a digital tester Pool Lab 1.0 which uses DPD N'1 tablets to test for fCl. The values I get are in ppm. And not these magical FC levels. So just curious about the conversion.

 

[cowboycasey]

Hey there,

Could you please post what your levels are now..
FC
CC
PH
TA
CH
CYA

nothing magical about the levels just most people have never heard it because the pool companies continue to use methods from the 1970's.. We now have another 50 years of knowledge but they refuse to look at it and change because they would lose money...

So you would go off the levels for your vinyl pool.. You would want at least 30 CYA and that would have your FC always above 2FC and you want to target 4 to 6FC everyday.. You never want to get below 2FC as you can have algae start to grow...
Recommended Levels
FC/CYA Levels

So the Pool lab 1.0 can check FC up to 8 ppm or 8 mg/l so you can do the daily checks no problem.. If you needed to SLAM to get rid of an algae bloom (green pool) see below...

Just found this, you can dilute your FC to get a higher amount.. PoolLab.org - official website | Water-i.d. GmbH This would allow you to test up to 50 mg/l so you would be able to do a SLAM with the Pool Lab 1.0

How do I dilute correctly?

If the result is "OR" or water values outside the measuring range of the parameter on the PoolLab are expected, the water sample must be diluted (does not work with pH!)
Dilution is usually done with distilled water. For chlorine measurement, it can also be diluted with (German) tap water.

Procedure​

1. dilute the water to be measured with distilled water in the ratio given in the table and mix it thoroughly (for chlorine: do not stir/shake strongly, otherwise the chlorine will outgas)

2. Add 10 ml of this mixture to the cuvette for measurement

3. the measurement result must be multiplied by the factor from the table below The rule of thumb is: quantity of sample water multiplied by "x" = 10. "x" is the factor to be used.



Example:

2ml sample water plus 8ml distilled water = 10ml

factor calculation: 2ml times "x" = 10 "x" = 5 = factor

Extended measuring range according to factor	...ml of sample water	...deionized water / distilled water	Conversion factor	Example: Measuring range (25 mg/l) x factor = extended measuring range
2	5ml	5ml	x 2	25 mg/l (ppm) x 2 = 50 mg/l (ppm)

 

[KiloKilo]

Hi Casey,
I really appreciate your post! Hope to have the CyA tablets tomorrow and then will do a full range test.
For the moment I am starting up the pool after the winter.

Was kind of green. So after taking all the leaves out and vacuuming to waste quite a bit the worst is gone.
Although the temperatures are far from swimming weather wanted to be ahead of the issues this time.
Just got the new pump (as the old one had a slight deformation after the winter period in such a way that it is leaking slightly) and will put it into use tomorrow as well.
Just to be sure, although the old Aqualoon balls are still ok, I bought new ones for the new pump.

Thank you for showing me how to be able to measure the SLAM method with the PoolLab. I like to read as well that it can be diluted with German tap water. Wonder if the Belgian water would work as well

Yet as I posted somewhere else it seems that legally I am not allowed to go over 5 mg/l as a private pool....
Going back to the charts that would put me in a corner, only allowing me to have CyA of 30 (ok maybe 40)

It is just remarkable how many sources of data you can find on the internet and all with different values.
We were always told to have fCl between 0.5 - 2.5 ppm and CCl < 1 ppm

So learning completely new things now.

 

[cowboycasey]

It is your pool so not sure how it would be illegal.. CYA of 30 is a great starting point and where you should start out at...

You can test your tap water and see if you have any chlorine in it.. if it does not have any chlorine then you can use it, if it does you have to use distilled water from a bottle..

 

[KiloKilo]

Just got the tablets. Will test the pool and tap water tomorrow

 

[KiloKilo]

So the results:

Temp	12 degrees Celsius	54 F
TA	113 ppm
pH	7.25
FC (fCl)	3.60 ppm
CC	5.25 ppm
CyA	88 ppm

Some work ahead...