Hi everyone!
A few weeks ago I finally found a “used” 8ft HW stock tank near us. The near part was necessary because my husband didn’t want to drive anywhere with that thing strapped to our 6ft wide ’86 Jeep truck, blocking absolutely all visibility. Made it home with me following fine - only one close call with a garbage truck’s mirror
We’ve been out of town but now we’re back and I’m determined to get this thing up and running this weekend. I bought a Intex Krystal Clear Sand Filter Pump 1050 gph from someone off of Craigslist (new in box, came with a new pool but they still had their old one). And I ran around town and browsed Amazon to get what I thought would be necessary after reading the pool school articles here. Thank god those chlorine tablets aren’t the best solution - they seem completely sold out and way more expensive than I was expecting.
I also added ~4in of water to see if there’s any leaks, and there’s definitely a slow one on a seam. I’m going to empty it and caulk the whole seam again with Kitchen and bath caulk just to be sure about leaks. I would say there’s about a 1” difference in water height from one side to the other. It’s within the level’s bubble tolerance so I’m hoping that little amount will be fine. I set it on an old kind of broken concrete pad that someone had definitely poured themselves. It’s pretty rough and a little uneven but I’m hoping it’ll be fine. The pool hangs off the edges a few inches on two sides but otherwise it’s really stable.
Here’s my parts list so far:
8ft Stock tank: $350 (bought off of Facebook marketplace from a lady who wanted to set up a stock tank pool last year, but never got around to it)
Intex Sand pump filter 1050gph: $165 (craigslist)
8ft round cover: $14 (amazon)
Pole pool skimmer & vacuum set up: $29 (ACE)
Taylor test kit k-2006: $65 (amazon)
Kitchen and bath caulk: $7 (Home Depot)
Pool filter sand: $14 (ACE)
Chemicals:
Bleach 121oz 7.13%: $5 (HD)
Muriatic acid (liquid): $4 (HD) *I was very surprised at this - I got 2 gallons for $3.23?? Was that just their system messing up? lol
Borax: $5 (HD)
Cyanuric acid (HTH stabilizer): $20 (ACE)
Baking soda: already had a bunch
I’ve got two main questions
1. Am I missing anything? I’m not sure what the calcium situation will be so I was going to take a pause on that until I tested. The water softness deal I was also curious about - I’m using city water in Denver and we don’t soften our water inside either.
2. The test kit won’t come until Monday. Can I set up the pool in the meantime still? I was thinking about using the Pool math calculator and adding that amount of CYA and bleach and then just waiting a few days to actually test it. Is that a terrible idea?
It’s going to be hot here pretty much until the end of the summer (highs in mid 90s right now) and Denver is an arid semi-desert so I am pumped about this pool. Husband not so much lol.
Thanks!
Alex
A few weeks ago I finally found a “used” 8ft HW stock tank near us. The near part was necessary because my husband didn’t want to drive anywhere with that thing strapped to our 6ft wide ’86 Jeep truck, blocking absolutely all visibility. Made it home with me following fine - only one close call with a garbage truck’s mirror
We’ve been out of town but now we’re back and I’m determined to get this thing up and running this weekend. I bought a Intex Krystal Clear Sand Filter Pump 1050 gph from someone off of Craigslist (new in box, came with a new pool but they still had their old one). And I ran around town and browsed Amazon to get what I thought would be necessary after reading the pool school articles here. Thank god those chlorine tablets aren’t the best solution - they seem completely sold out and way more expensive than I was expecting.
I also added ~4in of water to see if there’s any leaks, and there’s definitely a slow one on a seam. I’m going to empty it and caulk the whole seam again with Kitchen and bath caulk just to be sure about leaks. I would say there’s about a 1” difference in water height from one side to the other. It’s within the level’s bubble tolerance so I’m hoping that little amount will be fine. I set it on an old kind of broken concrete pad that someone had definitely poured themselves. It’s pretty rough and a little uneven but I’m hoping it’ll be fine. The pool hangs off the edges a few inches on two sides but otherwise it’s really stable.
Here’s my parts list so far:
8ft Stock tank: $350 (bought off of Facebook marketplace from a lady who wanted to set up a stock tank pool last year, but never got around to it)
Intex Sand pump filter 1050gph: $165 (craigslist)
8ft round cover: $14 (amazon)
Pole pool skimmer & vacuum set up: $29 (ACE)
Taylor test kit k-2006: $65 (amazon)
Kitchen and bath caulk: $7 (Home Depot)
Pool filter sand: $14 (ACE)
Chemicals:
Bleach 121oz 7.13%: $5 (HD)
Muriatic acid (liquid): $4 (HD) *I was very surprised at this - I got 2 gallons for $3.23?? Was that just their system messing up? lol
Borax: $5 (HD)
Cyanuric acid (HTH stabilizer): $20 (ACE)
Baking soda: already had a bunch
I’ve got two main questions
1. Am I missing anything? I’m not sure what the calcium situation will be so I was going to take a pause on that until I tested. The water softness deal I was also curious about - I’m using city water in Denver and we don’t soften our water inside either.
2. The test kit won’t come until Monday. Can I set up the pool in the meantime still? I was thinking about using the Pool math calculator and adding that amount of CYA and bleach and then just waiting a few days to actually test it. Is that a terrible idea?
It’s going to be hot here pretty much until the end of the summer (highs in mid 90s right now) and Denver is an arid semi-desert so I am pumped about this pool. Husband not so much lol.
Thanks!
Alex