Newbie

[Gunner02]

I've technically already started a thread and got some useful information, but figured that I should be a good user and actually introduce myself in the appropriate place first!

We are finishing up our first pool and are very excited about it! It will be my first pool ever and my wife's second (but first in many years...we won't say how many though!). I'm trying to learn as much as I can about caring for the pool as in general I like to do things myself, but I've learned that there is definitely a lot to learn. I initially assumed that the builder we chose would be our primary source of education, but as the process drug on and intermittent problems arose, I slowly began to realize that I should look around for my own source of teaching and this is how I came upon this site. I can only say that I wish I had found it at the beginning of the building process and not the end! I think this site will be a great source of information for me as I learn how to take care of our pool.

Our pool is gunite/plaster, a sport pool with 3.5' ends and 5.5' middle, about 20-22k gallons, and has a tanning/sitting ledge on one end. We opted for chlorine/bleach, have a sand filter, and a 2.7 hp variable speed pump. The pool is finally finished (started in March) and just filled and the builders are struggling to get the initial balance worked out (currently very high pH, slightly too low FC and CC, high CYA, high TA, and high CH all based on strips that were provided). After initial worries about my difficulties with seeing shades of color were quelled, I am ordering one of the Taylor K-2206C kits with the hope that I will be able to use it accurately with the backup plan of either my family helping or getting a less accurate digital testing kit.

I'm hoping to get the pool balanced by the end of next week so my family can do a couple of very cold (for my area of the country) plunges into the pool before it becomes impossible as the temperatures continue to drop! Can't wait for next summer though and thanks in advance for what I'm sure will be a ton of help!!

 

[HermanTX]

Welcome to TFP. You have found the right place to get solutions to all of your pool questions.
Suggest you test your fill water once you get your proper test kit as that will set a baseline for additions to your pool water when summer rolls around. Also, test your pool water throughout the winter if you do not put a cover on it. It is good practice to gain confidence with the new test kit and you be ready for the summer.
Also, Create Your Signature to help us understand what your current setup is with regard to pool volume, equipment, test kit, etc. That way it is always there when you ask a question.

 

[Arizonarob]

 

[setsailsoon]

 

[setsailsoon]

Gun,

You're way ahead by being here. A couple recommendations are in order:

• Get your kit asap- looks like you're good on this.
• Stay out of pool stores at least until you understand Pool School. They sell a lot of stuff that's not needed. This and some general ignorance on their part often leads newbies down a nasty road. We sell nothing so we're never conflicted. Just good sound science based recommendations.
• Your contract often includes obligations you have agreed to by signing for the first month or two. Make sure you can demonstrate you've done this to protect your warranty.

Congrats on your new pool - enjoy it! Pool care is not complicated with TFP and experts here always have your back!

Chris

 

[gregsfc]

Welcome!

I find that LC/bleach chlorine dosers to be a minority of users on this forum nowadays and becoming a smaller percentage all the time, which is a shame, because it truly is still a trouble free way and inexpensive way of caring for pools; but the knowledge about how to easily manage dosing with LC and maintaining steady pH via finding the sweet spot TA level and other chemistry answers will always be available on here with the help of forum expert members and all the archived articles as well to learn all you'd ever care to know about pool chemistry.

I'd also add, as popular as SWCGs are becoming due to the ease of care, and controlling one's own supply chain, LC daily dosing is not hard or obtrusive or time consuming (really no more time or hassle as dealing with floating pucks other than finding and keeping fresh product on hand) once you learn your pool, especially with a pool your size or smaller.

What you'll figure out over time is that you'll learn the amount of LC fluid ounces you'll need daily to replinish the chlorine lost to the sun without having to test each day, or going to the calculator each day, and you'll learn how this varies depending on the time of year. Once you get your TA to the level that best keeps your pH in range using LC (not the same level as the best TA level using trichlor pucks; see the tfp recommendations for TA versus the industry); it mostly becomes testing a couple times per week; daily dosing with LC using a large measuring container; and testing/adjusting CYA once per month or even less. In other words, just as the water chemistry becomes an art for setting up SWCG run time, LC managers develop an art for knowing how much LC to manually add daily, and they learn the per-ppm number of ounces to make adjustments; and there really isn't an easier way for smaller pools at least.

But getting to the point of knowing how much chlorine to add; getting ph steady where you're not constantly adjusting pH; and testing ocassionally is not how you start out as a newbie at the start of your first season or the start of any season for that matter. You learn this art of "easy care" by starting out testing each day and calculating chemical amounts and by doing this over time conscientiously, you start to get a knack; you start to see a trend; you learn your pool, and then it becomes easy. It's at that point, where using the science can be done with art; at least to some extent.

So I'm at the end of year six the tfp way. I learned a little this year to make things even easier than last year. I'm sure I'll learn some more next year. But basically, I'm to the point now that in mid summer I just add 2.5 ppm of 10% LC daily to stay in target range (28 fluid ounces), because I know that's what my pool uses; test pH and FC weekly; adjust FC up or down a tad as neccessary after testing to stay on track, and just keep trucking along. I don't test TA more than once per year unless I start getting pH drift, because buffering pH is the sole purpose of TA. I've averaged one pH adjustment per year the last four seasons. I do have to test more often in the late Spring and early Fall because chlorine demand is constanly changing as the angle of the sun and the amount of daylight is changing during these times, and so it's easier to get off track; and I test and adjust cya maybe three times per year including pool opening. I know that SWCGs can make things easy too; maybe a tad easier, but putting in the time to get things set up just right in an LC dosed pool and learning your pool following tfpc makes it where it can't possibly be much easier than just pouring in a few punces of LC in a pool each day; and less often during off season. The hardest part for me using LC is finding and keeping a fresh supply early and late season. Until this year, I simply bought regular bleach for early and late dosing when my pool is using far less chlorine; but this year, bleach is outrageously high priced and LC is not available locally. And so right now I'm using 4 ounces of cal hypo every two days; and that's a little bit of a hassle; plus I now have to keep an eye on CH. In retrospect, I should have purchased 2 pounds of cal hypo and 2 pounds of dichlor for this late season. That way, I could have split the rise of CH with CYA.