First time adding chemicals to 18x48 intex ultra frame pool..HELP!

[babyblueiz77]

We have a 18x48 ultra frame intex pool. It was completely filled up by Monday night and we covered it Tuesday. Wednesday and today we left the cover off to prevent algae. We have not added any chemicals yet. It holds 6400 gallons. What do I need to do first. I have never owned a pool before. Please give me step by step idiot proof instructions. The local pool store won't help bc their chemicals are too strong for latex and walmart only sales a dang book. I don't want my kids to get sick and they are dying to swim.
Thanks
Aleshia

[Watermom]

There is a new guide just posted yesterday that would probably be helpful. It is a sticky at the top of the Pool Chemistry for Intex-type Pools. (Until your registration is complete, you'll have to log out to be able to see it though.)

Hope this helps.

Welcome to the Pool Forum!

[PoolDoc]

The local pool store won't help bc their chemicals are too strong for latex

Total BS! But thanks for a new example of pool store BS! (membership upgraded! - ben)

[aylad]

How are you doing with the pool?

Janet

[PoolDoc]

And, now I moved your thread, so you can post into it. (Sorry)

[babyblueiz77]

My ph and stabilizer is low. I bought an Intex krystal-clear salt water system to avoid this headache. I hope to install it tonight. I'm worried now because my friend came to swim while I was at work and her toddler played with the floater and the chlorine sticks sat on the bottom of the vinyl liner for 24 hours and it has 2 white areas. I'm just praying the liner doesn't form a hole. Ugh. Any suggestions? It feels ok to the touch but its white.

[PoolDoc]

Usually, it just bleaches with color without doing too much damage to the liner itself.

However, floaters and toddlers aren't a good mix.

[SafetyBob]

Welcome to the forum and I was were you were a couple of years ago....be thankful you found this forum so quickly, it is going to save you alot of hair pulling....believe me...

First, if you have installed the salt water thing, read the manual to find out EXACTLY how much pool salt to add. If you have not installed it, find your reciept and keep reading this sight about BBB. With the saltwater system you still need to keep an eye on chrorine levels and actually, I add just a bit of bleach every now and then to adjust my levels and yes, I have the saltwater system. So what I am trying to say is that using the saltwater system may reduce some pool work, but it does NOT eliminate it.

Since you are new to pools you absolutely must get one of the Taylor test kits so you know exactly what to do to your pool with the chemicals. Follow PoolDocs links underneath his posts for the link to amazon and get it. It has made all the difference for me keeping my pool in tip top shape. I was essentially guessing for the past two years......now I am not guessing and everyone is enjoying the pool like they never have before.

If you keep with the Intex cartridge filter, then while you are at it, find PoolDocs links for the Unicell brand Intex filters. They are of much better construction and you can wash them and reuse them. Search for the post on them......I got three of them and rotate them through my filter as needed. They last much, much longer than the crappy Intex ones. Worth the money for them.

Please read as many of the posts in this forum and the other Intex sub-forum and you should have 99% of the info you need.

One last thing, if I had the all info that this forum has presented to me two years ago, I would not have purchased the Intex saltwater system.......since I have it and it still works, I continue to use it. Once it dies.......BBB.

Get the Taylor 2006C kit today!!

Bob E.

[Watermom]

Those Intex SWCGs add copper to your water, which you don't want. It is copper and not chlorine that turns blonde hair green. Unhook the copper electrode so it won't add copper to your pool.

[babyblueiz77]

Question? We have the SW intex system and after the rain yesterday, the phis neon pink. Off the charts! I am researching and all I can find to lower it is muratic acid. My youngest son has sensitive skin and my husband got the SW sytem to prevent from using chemicals as much as possible. Is there any way to lower ph naturally? What is the baking soda for? If not, how in the heck do I use muratic acid. Also, after I tested my pool, alkalinity and chlorine are ok. Chlorine is on the minimum side, but the CYA test requires me to multiply 5 drops by 50 equaling needing 50 parts CYA to be added. What is CYA? I thought it was just the release of the chlorine from the floater in the pool. We got a LOT of rain last night so now my levels are slightly messed up. PLEASE HELP! Plus, I am trying to figure out how to post a new question on here but everything I click on says I am not authorized. How do I start a new post or am I even aloud?

[PoolDoc]

Is there any way to lower ph naturally?

Had to laugh at this -- it's not your fault, but the main-stream media has successfully promoted a brain-dead paranoia about anything with a 'chemical-sounding' name, based on the fact that the average MSM journalist (a) knows less than the average 5th grader about science, and (b) knee-jerks agreement with anything Greenpeace does and says, no matter how stupid and uninformed. The reason your question is so funny, is that muriatic acid *is* natural: your stomach is full of it, though it's usually called "hydrochloric acid" in biology texts!

Along the same line, Penn Jillette, of Penn and Teller, did a hilarious piece (www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi3erdgVVTw) a few years ago getting college students at an eco-conference to sigh a petition banning "dihydrogen monoxide", AKA "water". Just about everybody they approached, signed. (Caution: not all the language is family safe!)

Now, the muriatic acid you'll buy at Lowes is more concentrated than what's in your stomach . . . but it's the same stuff. There's a link to a page about handling it safely in my signature.

[Watermom]

You have to use acid to lower the pH. Read the guide in my signature below about using muriatic acid. Baking soda is used to raise alk.

I do not understand what you are saying about the CYA test. What kind of kit are you using. Is your CYA test the "disappearing black dot test?" Please explain the procedure you are doing to run that test.

CYA is kind of like sunscreen for your chlorine. Without it, your chlorine is quickly lost to the sun.

You should probably go ahead and post a complete set of current water testing results and tell us what kind of kit you used to obtain them.

I also would like for you to put your pool's information in our pool chart. It will make it easier for us to help you.


Pool Chart Entry Form (http://goo.gl/cNPUO)
Pool Chart Results (http://goo.gl/PXaLu)

Regarding posting a new question ------- is it a different topic than this current thread? If so, you must first be logged in. Then, once you are in the correct sub-forum where you want to create a new thread, in the upper left section is a place to click to start a new thread. Try again. (BTW -- There is a practice section of the forum near the bottom of the forum homepage if you want to give it a practice try first.)

[babyblueiz77]

I used the Taylor 6000 test kit my father gave me to test my pool yesterday. The only instructions that i have are the one's in the lid of the test kit box. My levels for chlorine, pH and alkalinity were on in the normal range. I started to do the "TA" drops and I was unsure of how to determine when to stop adding additional drops of the solution. The test for the "CYA" explained when to stop adding drops when the solution turns from green to red. I added 5 drops to the Alkalinity solution and that requires 50 parts of CYA to be added.My solution was more of a hot pink rather than red. I added up to 7 drops and they color never changed so I calculated from 5 when it first changed from green to this color. I am unsure where to purchase CYA besides a pool store. Do they sell it at Lowe's along with the muriatic acid?

I then used the saltwater test strips that came with my SWCG. The chlorine levels were a little lighter(almost low), but the pH was hot pink, which I'm assuming is off the charts since the highest color on the color chart for the strips is orange. I then read on here that using the strips is not reliable. I will do another test tonight and record all of my numbers for review. We purchased the SWCG in hopes that adding additional chemicals for the most part would be eliminated. So much for that.

Thanks for all of your help.

[PoolDoc]

You've gotten some parts of the test kit mixed up. Watch ALL the videos on this page: http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?17157-Taylor-K2006, and it will get you up to speed.

I hope you mean a "Taylor K2006" and not a "Taylor 6000".

Also, some of your typing is not clear; I have no idea what it means when you write "I was book.g when I" or "I also used a sw test strip and that is what said my ph was high", or even "All the rain aol probably make the chlorine low". I could make a guess at two of those -- but we try to avoid guessing too much where chemicals are involved.

[babyblueiz77]

Ok. On my Taylor K2006 test kit, my results were as follows:
FC .5ppm
Br 1ppm
TC .5ppm
ph 7.2
TA-5 drops til red was 5, so that is 50 ppm's if i multiply 5x10.
My Dad gave me this kit and I do not have a little clear bottle to complete the CYA test. Does the sample usually change colors? The video from Taylor looked cloudy but clear. If anyone has suggestions on another way to perform this test please let me know tips. If not, I will purchase a bottle this weekend. I am missing the instruction manual to my kit along with that little bottle. My kit does not have the cylindar that you fill up with sample water attached. It is seperate. When getting my samples, I filled the pool water up to the 25ml mark on all tests. The cl and br looked light pink in the cylindar, but when i poured it into the actual chart to compare next to the colors, it looked clear. Again, in the cylindar, it was at the .5 color level when placed next to the chart.
I did not use the test strips this time since they apparently give false readings. Based on this, I am thinking my Br , TC and FC levels are low. When I subracted the TC .5 from the FC .5 it equals 0. Please let me know what needs to be done next. Thanks for your help.

[PoolDoc]

You have no bromine readings, unless you've added bromine. If you have a new K2006, you should have everything shown in the video. And, you wouldn't be getting a TC result; you'd be getting a CC result, and have to determine TC by addition.

I assume you are matching colors, to determine chlorine? That's K2005, not a K2006. But, even a K2005 should have EVERYTHING shown in the CYA video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8whkC5WtS8g

I'm not quite sure what's going on with you, or your pool. I think we both need to step back, and reconsider.

I'd suggest that you add 1/2 gallon of 6% bleach to your pool and cover it. That will keep it for a few days.

Then, let's figure out what sort of test kit you have, what you are measuring, whether you want to follow BBB approach to pool chemistry . . . and then whether you have the stuff on hand needed. I think we are both just spinning our wheels at present.