Intex pool

[rick2012]

I needed a first post, so I'll say I'm in the process of starting an Intek 16x32 ultra frame pool. Wish me luck and any tips on this are greatly appreciated.
This is an awesome site and the people involved are top shelf :)

rick

[aylad]

Hi, and welcome to the forum!!

The best three tips I can give you are 1)get a good test kit, NOW, before you need it (we like the K-2006--see the testkit link in my sig), 2) Read everything on the forum you can, especially the Intex parts of the forum (you may have to log out to be able to read them until your registration is upgraded, but that will eventually change), and 3) Don't fill it with well water if at all possible!!

[Watermom]

Don't fill it with well water if at all possible!!

PLEASE! She's not kidding -----if at all possible, do NOT use well water. So many pools we are helping with right now that have used metal-contaminated well water. What a pain in the 'you-know-what' to clear them up!

But ...... if you have no other options but well water, there is another stickied thread in the Intex section of the forum that Janet was telling you about that gives advice on filling from a well. Please read it before you fill the pool.

[rick2012]

Thanks everyone. I was about to order the test kit today by going through the link on this site, the K-2006C, but a reviewer on amazon said that the picture was the A kit with less in it for the $98. The picture does show the smaller kit so I emailed them and all they said was to be sure and order the right one.

As far as well water goes I don't have any choice. Fortunately I had my well tested by a lab recently and I was very surprised at the quality of the water.

Here's a few of the test results; Calcium 25.3, Copper 0.005, Iron 0.146, Lead ND, Alkalinity (Total) 250, Hardness 77, pH 7.7, Turbidity 2.3

I'm headed over to the forum on well water, thanks

[PoolDoc]

Thanks everyone. I was about to order the test kit today by going through the link on this site, the K-2006C, but a reviewer on amazon said that the picture was the A kit with less in it for the $98. The picture does show the smaller kit so I emailed them and all they said was to be sure and order the right one.

Those kits are sold by a variety of sellers. Normally, that link will take you to Amato Ind page, but if they are out, it will take you to another one. Amato should be fine. I think VM Innovations has been OK. Others, I don't know about.

[rick2012]

Thanks Ben, I looked again after reading your reply and it did take me to the Amato one, so all should be well. I finished taking down a tree today so that I could place the pool closer to where we wanted it. (Whew, I know now why I'm not a lumber jack, those guys work hard!)
So probably tomorrow night I'll be ordering the kits I need along with the CuLator bags for my well water. Question on the bags, are they required to stay in or are they just on the initial fill and then possibly on adding water too.

[PoolDoc]

Use the CuLator permanently. If you use it UNDER a skimmer sock, it shouldn't get gummed up. And, it can help with the small amounts of metal you add each time you add water. Probably the best thing would be to add a small amount of HEDP (NOT, a regular dose) simultaneously with any fill up -- to keep the metal in solution, and then to put the CuLator back in. The CuLators should be able to 'grab' the iron away from the HEDP, so it never becomes a problem.

Marie (mbar) who's been the stain guru around here for a long time, reported she was no longer getting iron stain build up over the season, once she started using the CuLator.

[rick2012]

Thanks again.
I'll be finished with the tractor work of leveling the yard and will be spreading sand and laying down plastic in preparation for the pool.

[rick2012]

Finished leveling, should've found a transit somewhere :(

So far i've got about 4 inches of water in the pool and it seems to be about 1 3/4" off level. Hope this isn't going to cause problems, maybe it'll settle some?
The fire dept in the city doesn't fill pools anymore so I'm held to my well which looks as if it will take about 4 days to get the 14500 gals I need. I also bought the 'aqua chem filter plus' from lowe's thinking it was sand and put in and wet 25# before I realized it, I haven't put in anymore. Any new info or thoughts on the 'filter plus' stuff? It's very course and in the morning I'll be going to get some sand.

I thought about using 75# of sand with 25# of the filter plus on top, any thoughts from anybody on this?

[PoolDoc]

Aqua Chem is the BioLab / BioGuard low-rent brand. BioGuard chemicals are (in my opinion) a "Rambler" (or maybe, a "Suziki" or "Edsel") product at Rolls Royce prices: expensive, but not so good. AquaChem has "Rambler" products at "Rambler" prices . . . cheap, but not so good.

I don't know ANYTHING about there filter goo. But based on what I know about their OTHER products, I'd get out the shop vac!

In general, we've seen NO benefits from any of the sand alternatives, and some have created definite problems.

[rick2012]

It's going to take about 7 days to fill my pool with my well pump. Is there anything else besides bleach addition that I need to do during this waiting period?

[PoolDoc]

Use dichlor, if possible. It will add BOTH chlorine AND stabilizer:

24 lbs PoolBrand bagged shock (http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=108822) @ Sams Club
Kem-Tek Dichlor 22 lbs (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0030BEHZA/poolbooks) @ Amazon


But, use those links -- most dichlor sold retail today (Costco, Walmart, Kmart, Lowes, pool stores) is a blended MESS. Until you are an expert label inspector . . . you need to try to get it either from Sams or using the Amazon link.