New liner and city water - vacation soon! -updated w 1st TF-100 results

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snmobley

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Dec 10, 2018
39
Birmingham, AL
Hi all! I'm a new pool owner and have been scouring the forums absorbing as much knowledge as possible over the past few months. We finally got the liner installed and the pool is filling with city water as we speak. I have a few questions about the process of getting the water balanced and we are going on week long vacation beginning June 8th so that may or may not complicate things. This is my plan but please let me know if I am way out of line...

- Circulate water as soon as it hits skimmer level and then start adding bleach to bring FC up
- Add stabilizer (what's the best brand?) in skimmer using sock until I reach 30-40ppm
- Start dissolving salt to achieve approximately 3200ppm
- Once salt is dissolved and FC is at appropriate levels raise CYA to 70ppm and let my SWG start to do its thing
- Adjust SWG levels and pump run time to accommodate for daily FC loss

One question I have is will I be able to get all of this done and SWG dialed in before I leave in 8-9 days? If not, should I just leave the CYA around 30-40 and ask my neighbor to drop some bleach in every night and then worry about the SWG when I get back? Thanks!
 
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I like to use Clorox brand stabilizer just simply because it's easily accessible to me at Walmart/Home Depot....., any brand is fine though as long as it's 100% CYA. Dont waste your money on the liquid . Are you filling with city water that is already chlorinated? Assumiing your water doesn't have major problems already I see no reason that you couldn't be ready enough to go on vacation by then without issues.
 
snmobley said:
Hi all! I'm a new pool owner and have been scouring the forums absorbing as much knowledge as possible over the past few months. We finally got the liner installed and the pool is filling with city water as we speak. I have a few questions about the process of getting the water balanced and we are going on week long vacation beginning June 8th so that may or may not complicate things. This is my plan but please let me know if I am way out of line...

- Circulate water as soon as it hits skimmer level and then start adding bleach to bring FC up
- Add stabilizer (what's the best brand?) in skimmer using sock until I reach 30-40ppm
- Start dissolving salt to achieve approximately 3200ppm
- Once salt is dissolved and FC is at appropriate levels raise CYA to 70ppm and let my SWG start to do its thing
- Adjust SWG levels and pump run time to accommodate for daily FC loss

One question I have is will I be able to get all of this done and SWG dialed in before I leave in 8-9 days? If not, should I just leave the CYA around 30-40 and ask my neighbor to drop some bleach in every night and then worry about the SWG when I get back? Thanks!
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Hello! Where did you find the information regarding the steps in opening a new pool with new water? I'm in your exact position and need some guidance!
 
Those steps are what I have deciphered from reading post after post on here. I was hoping to get confirmation that I was right or wrong!

I just got the pool full so I fired up the pump and tested out my reworked plumbing. Couple drips on my multiport connections, which was a little surprising, but now I’m moving on to liquid chlorine and stabilizer. Anyone confirm that they can be added at the same time? Stabilizer in a sock and chlorine slowly poured in front of returns?
 
Here are my first test results. The only additions have been about 5 lbs of stabilizer and a couple gallons of liquid chlorine. I added one gallon yesterday morning and then one overnight. I’ve got salt ready to add but haven’t started that process yet.

FC 5
CYA 25
CH 100
PH 7.2
TA 80
Salt 200-400
Temp 80*

Kids want to swim today so I’ll keep adding stabilizer overnight till I get closer to the 70 needed for my SWG. Any other suggestions?
 
Add the salt today so the kids can help mix it in!! They will do a great job. We call it 'diamond day'!
 

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Just be sure you test with your K1766 salinity kit after adding 2/3rds or so to narrow down exactly how much you need. Otherwise, add them now.
 
Looks great. How much FC loss have you seen each day? Target that plus a little with your SWCG for while you are gone.
 
mknauss said:
Looks great. How much FC loss have you seen each day? Target that plus a little with your SWCG for while you are gone.
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Around 2, maybe 3 PPM. I've been adding a half gallon to a gallon of liquid chlorine every night depending on if the pool was used that day. We used it heavily over the weekend but nothing the past two days. Pool math suggests 50% output with 12 hours pump run time will give me 1.8 PPM so that's probably where I'll start.

I don't really understand the CSI number but mine appears low compared to some other targets I've seen in the +/- 0.3 range. Should I address this by adjusting anything else or will it balance out over time?
 
Following....I'm freaking out - My pool is "supposedly" finishing next week (We started in February and have already fired and hired a second pool builder) and we are leaving for vacation on the 13th...Part of me wants to tell them not to fill it until after I get back and the other part of me being terrified of more delays just says screw it - let them finish and deal with the water consequence.....I better order all my test kits now.....I can't wait and at the same time so overwhelmed! I'm really just saying all this as a thank you for posting this so hopefully I can learn from you!
 
I would start with a 3 ppm add per day. So adjust up the % setting or pump run time.

CSI, with a SWCG, is best kept below 0. With a vinyl pool, it is not a concern on the low side.
 
JessB412 said:
Following....I'm freaking out - My pool is "supposedly" finishing next week (We started in February and have already fired and hired a second pool builder) and we are leaving for vacation on the 13th...Part of me wants to tell them not to fill it until after I get back and the other part of me being terrified of more delays just says screw it - let them finish and deal with the water consequence.....I better order all my test kits now.....I can't wait and at the same time so overwhelmed! I'm really just saying all this as a thank you for posting this so hopefully I can learn from you!
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No problem but we are definitely learning together because I'm learning from the rest of the great folks on here! I'm glad I found this site and the support it offers because as soon as I bought our house and knew I would be taking care of a pool for the first time I went in to a few pool stores to pick their brain and was immediately skeptical that I was getting good/honest advice.
 
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