New pool, new guy, new questions.

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R

recoil

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Aug 10, 2007
16
Hey guys,

I have tons of questions, being a pool noob. Here's the background:

Bought a Kafko 20x40 setup; steel. One wide mouth skimmer, two main drains [going to one 1.5" pipe], two returns [1.5" each]. The kit came with a Pentaire SD80 [1.5" setup]. I upgraded the pump to an Intelliflow [2"]. I have an autopilot for the salt system.

We filled the pool with water Wednesday night. We got the filter working Thursday morning. The water came from the fire hydrant. Even after letting the hydrant run for a bit, we have sediment in the pool and murky water. I'm not sure if the murkiness is from the sediment or something else. On a new pool, how long should it be before the water is clear? Should I be doing anything besides waiting? I am backwashing 2-3x per day.

The guys who helped me install the pool said to wait two weeks before adding salt and starting up the Autopilot. Does that sound correct?

I'm running the Intelliflow at 50GPM right now. It's about 25PSI on the filter guage. I was running at 75 but was pushing 31PSI [understand the filter's max is 35]. Is this sand filter any good? Should I upgrade to one that supports 2" and more PSI? Should I be trying to go with a higher GPM to get the water filtered faster? Am I being too impatient? :)

The family is looking at me to solve this so they can jump into the pool!

Also, is there a desired number for turning the water over in the pool? I'm guessing I have around 30,000 gallons.

Back to reading more on this site!

Steve
 
Hi Steve,

As another newbie (on this site), welcome. You say you've filled the pool and have been filtering the water. Your SWG is not on at this time. What chemicals, if any, have you added to your pool? Do you have any results from water testing as yet? All this info will help us help you. :-D
 
Welcome to TFP!

It is not uncommon for a sand filter to take up to a week to filter murkiness out of the water. That is assuming nothing is growing in the water. Run the pump 24/7. You probably only need to backwash once a day or once every other day, particuarly if you are not seeing significant pressure increases between backwashes. I would turn the pump down to 40 GPM, filters generally filter better at lower flow rates, though nothing is likely to go wrong at 50 GPM and the difference won't be very large.

With a vinyl liner there is no reason to not go ahead and add salt and get the SWG going. You need to wait several weeks on new plaster before adding salt, but there are no limitations if you don't have plaster.

It is important to get the chemical balance going as quickly as possible. You need chlorine in the water right away. This is critical. Add bleach if you don't have the SWG running. Get the PH balanced. And start working on CYA all right away. Without chlorine you will have algae soon, if you don't already, and that will make the murkiness worse regardless of the filter.

If the water is green then you probably have algae and will need to shock the pool. Shocking is probably a good idea with new water in any case.

Do you have a good test kit? A good test kit is the best investment in your pool you can make. Check out the TF Test Kit, see the link in my signature.

Pools require patience, it comes with the teritory.
 
Just an update -- much better now. I still have alot of sediment that likes to sink to the bottom. I have been brushing it toward the two drains at the deep end. It clouds up the pool for a little bit and the filter does its thing.

I've been "brush" my liner for a week this way. Would a DE filter have been a better choice? I'm guessing this is pretty fine sediment.

I'll never fill a pool from a fire hydrant again.
 
Recoil,

Have you got any chlorine in that pool yet? You're gonna' have a big issue if you're not chlorinating. The sediment is inconvenient but not much problem. If you get an algae you bloom, your problems will multiply tenfold.
 
Dont worry recoil, I have a similiar setup to you, mind you, mine is only a 16x34. The sand filter will work, just be patient. Yes you can upgrade to a DE filter which will filter out finer particles but a lot of people run sand with excellent results. Did you get a manual vacumn with your pool. That is much faster in picking up sediment than trying to brush it to your drains. A lot of time brushing will just cause a cloud of sediment, and only 40% ends up in the drain and the rest settles elsewhere. If you don't have a manual vacumn get one... or get a automatic cleaner or get both! :)

The most important thing is to get your chemicals going. As others stated, you can start your SWG right away. Add your salt, and add some bleach to get your chlorine up. It is going to take a little time for your SWG to generate the proper amount of chlorine so the bleach will give it help. Make sure you get a test kit or take your pool water to the pool store every other day for the first couple of weeks until you get a good test kit. Some important numbers you will be looking for are your
CYA aka stabilizer, this should be somewhere between 30-70 depending on what your SWG recommends. Without it, your chlorine will be eaten up by the sun... very quickly!! Too much... and well thats a whole nother story. Just don't add too much at one time, a good rule of thumb is to add it in thirds and keep retesting until you reach your target. Other numbers are you pH which should be around 7.6... anywhere between 7.2-7.8 is normal. and of course your chlorine which should be anywhere between 3-6ppm depending on how much CYA is in your system.

If you can post these three numbers

CYA
pH
Chlorine

there are lots of people here that can give you good directions based on those numbers.

The next important numbers are your calcium or hardness and alk (alkaline)

Good luck and remember to get those numbers... without it, we're all just guessing.
 
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