They opened my brand new pool a week ago. Water is crystal clear. SWG has just started getting warm enough to run. Test strip says high alkalinity and 0 free chlorine. Should I wait longer to let pool settle? Or should I do the backwash, add DE and then add stabilizer? Can I pour the DE in and then the stabilizer or should I give time in between? Thank you! I have never owned a pool, this is new to me.
New Pool. Advice on adding chemicals
- Thread starter Bsmith77
- Start date
Pour in gallon and a half of regular 8.25% bleach to help that SWG get up to speed. Has salt been added and circulated? Has any CYA been added at all? Why would you need to backwash? Doesn't your filter already have DE in it? You're gonna need to keep some muriatic acid on hand to combat high PH and help lower your TA. Ditch those guess strips and get one of our recommended test kits pronto so we can speak the same language with accuracy. Spend some time in Pool School to get familiar with the basics. Welcome to the forum.
And as per the standard mantra on this site, get a good test kit to test the water yourself.
Thank you for replying. They added everything when they opened my pool. However, it was a little too full and they said I could empty some out at some point (why they didn't put the water at a correct level before adding everything, I don't know) I didn't want to waste everything they just put in so the pool is still a little full (just above top of skimmer). My SWG has all green lights so I think it is doing it's job. The reason I'm thinking to backwash was to 1. Empty some water and 2, it says to backwash before adding stabilizer so I thought I had to do that. I definitely need to get my own testing kit it sounds like!
Skimming action is most effective with water level at mid point of skimmer face. Does your filter have an option of "Waste" on it?
It does have a waste option. If I use that setting to empty some water, it does not backwash the filter and I do not need to add DE, correct? As far as the bleach, they never even mentioned having to add bleach to the water. Would I pour that directly into the pool or in skimmer?
Welcome!
We do not recommend pouring the CYA into the skimmer, or really adding anything to the skimmer. Check out ABCs article in pool school.
You are correct that waste just bypasses the filter completely.
We do not recommend pouring the CYA into the skimmer, or really adding anything to the skimmer. Check out ABCs article in pool school.
You are correct that waste just bypasses the filter completely.
SLOWLY pour a pencil sized stream of bleach directly in front of a running return jet to your pool. Let it circulate for half an hour. Will keep your SWG from having to work over time to get up to 4-6 ppm of chlorine initially.
Great, thank you so much.. I have been reading up all day on this site, very helpful.
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