Hello

[carsport]

Hey all - new to pools from Texas.

Purchased a cheap 10' pool from wally-world to determine how much we like taking care of one and if we were into pools for the long haul. Perhaps in the near future we will add a permanent pool to our backyard.

Currently learning about pools, what does and doesn't work, and how great they are in these Texas summers!

We recently went out of town from Fri-Sun and forgot to add chlorine before we left (oops). Unsurprisingly came home to a greenish pool. Since it is only around 1100 gallons I decided to drain and refill instead of battle the nasty for a week.

Last night I refilled and added around 1/2 gallon of bleach (the bleach I had was from the dollar store and I can't find the actual percentage, plus it is several months old so it likely is even less than when fresh).

Today I removed the rest of the leaves and vacuumed/scrubbed the bottom of the pool. (Did I forget to mention our pool gets very little full sunlight because of our massive pecan tree? This is one of the reasons putting in a permanent pool is so hard for us, we'll have to lose our tree). I am planning on trimming some tomorrow, but it will probably only add about 1-2 full hours of sun per day.

Tonight I am sitting with a clean pool, that just may be slightly cloudy. After testing everything this evening with my K-2006 ordered through the links here on Amazon:

FC: 5.0
CC: 1.0
pH: 8.0+ (stupidly added a lot of borax when I added a lot of chlorine...)
TA: 100
CYA: 0

I have since tossed 2 - 1" tabs of dichlor, and probably stupidly 1/3 cup of HTH stabilizer.

Ran out of bleach over the last couple of weeks so I am about to go buy about 3 gallons. Planning on adding about 1/3 of a gallon to bring it up to shock level then testing it in the morning and holding it there for a couple of days since I have a CC reading.

Looking forward to reading and learning more here, figured it was time to register and be a part of your great community.

[aylad]

Hi,

It certainly looks like you've done your homework, and that's going to make pool care so much easier for you...

How sure are you of your volume? How deep is your pool from floor to water level?

Your plan to increase the chlorine levels for the next couple of days is right on the money. Having the dichlor (and the stabilizer) in the pool is not a bad idea, either--just make sure that the bleach doesn't come into direct contact with the tabs before it's mixed in the water (are you sure that's dichlor and not trichlor?).

Welcome to the forum!

[carsport]

Hi Janet,

Not real sure of the volume, I confess I've just relied on what the box said--and it even said approximate. I will do some calculations tomorrow and come up with a better number.

You're actually correct, the tablets are trichlor 1" tablets. I am also using a 5lb. jug of Kemtek dichlor that I purchased through the link to Amazon from here. Unfortunately, early last week I grew complacent and didn't check chemicals for several days, culminating in the weekend getaway. I knew full well I had no CYAs before I left (I had not used much of the trichlor or dichlor). Live and learn, some things even y'alls warnings can't prevent...

Instead of running to the store this evening I just used more dichlor to bring the FC up to 18.5 (just tested) which I will presume is about right even though I haven't tested for CYA since adding my stabilizer a few hours ago.

I intend to test a full suite in the morning to find out how the CYA I added actually took and where my FC stands after the evening. I have terrible squirrels in the trees that use the pool as a basketball hoop so the cover stays on unless we're in the pool.

FWIW, the trichlor is probably a no-no, but I purchased it in a pinch while waiting on my Kemtek dichlor to arrive.

Oh, one more thing...my little micro-pool is setup to add the tabs in the type-D filter, and I add chemicals in the other end of the pool.

[Watermom]

Make sure your trichlor tabs do NOT have copper in them! If they are 99% trichlor, that's the good stuff and fine to use for awhile to help build up CYA. However, if you are using trichlor and dichlor, both of which add CYA, be careful not to get too much CYA in there. A level of 40-50ppm is what we usually recommend for most pools.

[carsport]

I knew the trichlor was a no-no, it does have about 5% copper such and such. I really only got it in order to add CYA while I was waiting on the dichlor to arrive so I don't really use it.

After the additions of dichlor and stuff last night I finally got my first CYA reading this morning.

This morning I am at:

FC: 16.0 (down from 18.5)
pH: 7.5
CYA: 60 (oops--in my desire to finally show some it looks like I overshot the target a little)

From the 'best-guess' chart I guess I will hold my chlorine at 20 for another day or two until I quit losing more than 1ppm. My only fear is that since I now have CYA at a decent level and I don't get much sunlight that I won't be able to get my chlorine down within about a week...

[aylad]

That won't be a problem, if you can leave it uncovered. I am near Shreveport, and have to keep my stabilizer around 90- 100 ppm to slow my chlorine loss to a reasonable amount. If you can leave it uncovered for a day or so, it'll come down.

Janet

[PoolDoc]

I'm impressed. You've jumped right in and pretty much worked it all out!

By the way, post 1 or 2 more times, and you'll automatically move to the no-longer-moderated category. I can do it manually, but it screws up some things, so I'd rather not.

Welcome!

[carsport]

Thanks.

For some reason it wasn't letting me reply in this thread but I figured it was a 5 post limit.

I wasn't home all day Tuesday so I wasn't able to test or anything.

After about 36 hours with no interaction my FC was at 17.5, down by about 4ppm. CC was less than 0.5, I didn't really want to use up all my chemicals by using the 0.2 steps.

Today, after about 18 hours I was down 1ppm FC from the 17.5 and still less than 0.5ppm CC so I decided to pull the cover and let it come down to normal. I swapped the filter to a brand new one to get a fresh start.

I may still have a slight thing going on but I wanted to float a little this weekend so I'll just watch it really closely and make sure the FC stays around 5 at the minimum.

I will probably shock it back to 20 or so next week when I know nobody will be in the pool.

Thanks for the plethora of good information all across this board. I read a lot before actually joining, but at some point I had to stop and start trying some of it out.

Hopefully one day I can talk the wife into a permanent pool.

[PoolDoc]

Dunno about your budget, but Walmart and other big box stores have Intex pools on clearance currently. You might want to look at something a little bigger. A 10' is actually harder than a larger one, because the dilution factor (diluting people goo) is NOT in your favor.

But, I can say a LOT of people here have started with, and enjoyed an Intex pool for several years before moving up.

Good luck!

[carsport]

Thanks, I'll have to look into that. I suspected a smaller pool would be more difficult to keep stable but already talked the wife up to the 10'. Now that we have had it for several weeks I could probably talk her into a larger one.

For some reason my nearest Walmart doesn't have a selection of more than the most basic of pool gear even though it's a brand new super center.

I'll start checking the other stores and sam's club.

[PoolDoc]

Walmart's clear out pool gear ASAP after July 4th.

Check Kmart, Target, other big box stores for clearance deals on Intex pools. But you may have to purchase bits and pieces from Amazon.

[carsport]

Quick question or two or three, (should I start a new thread somewhere?)

I'm pretty stable now and have come down to chlorine levels more appropriate for swimming/floating.

(1) What do I do when I go out of town? I have the filters that allow for me to stick a 1" tab in there to disperse, but the only tabs that I have are trichlor+copper-such-and-such...Should I just "shock" the pool up to around 20Cl and then cover it?

(2) When I test for CCs, which isn't every time I test the water since I've become fairly stable IMO, I get a very slight pink hue which always takes 1 drop of reagent to clear up. I have been calling this CC <0.5 but is that in any way accurate? To be more clear, it is not dark pink, but very VERY light pink.

(3) If the above really does indicate I have a small amount of CCs then should I shock to 20 and wait until there is absolutely no presence of CC? I feel like there will always be a very tiny bit of CCs in a pool.

(4) Thanks for the heads-up on the Intex deals, but my wife shot the idea down. Possibly next summer for a bigger pool. Is there a "best" size for Intex? I guess by that I mean is there a pool that provides the best mix of included pump/filter/volume. I think the most yard we're willing to sacrifice would be for a 16' pool at the most.

I've attached two screenshots of my excel spreadsheet so far: 890891

[PoolDoc]

1. I'd recommend a floater . . . EXCEPT that fumes from it may kill the cover, at that point. 20 ppm + cover should be OK. Just take it up to 20ppm a day BEFORE you cover (top it off if necessary) and then try to stay out of the pool for 24 hours. Gases can form from that 20 ppm + people goo. Uncovered these gases escape and cause no problem; covered they could attack your cover.

2. Do NOT worry about a minimum CC reading (0.5 if using 10ml; 0.2 if using 25 mil). I'm not quite sure what that is, but I've quite sure it's not a real problem.

[carsport]

Great, thanks. That was what I figured about the CC reading.

And FWIW, the cover does have the holes to prevent rain water from accumulating. But I will do as you suggest.

I am going to try and avoid the floater for now, I only foresee a couple of short 2-3 day trips in my future.

[Watermom]

2 or 3 day trips are no problem. It's the week or longer trips that take some planning.

[SafetyBob]

Just up the road from you and I can tell you that for the most part, as long as you have the chemistry good enough, I have found with the cover on, I can leave the pool alone for a week and feel confident that nothing will grow. That said, if someone uses it during the week, before it get's closed up for the night it ALWAYS gets it's levels tested. If you haven't got that good Taylor kit from PoolDoc's links yet, do. I know you have a small pool (like me), but it ensures absolute clarity on chemistry levels......which is the key to keeping that little pool good for the kids.

My two cents worth on pool size. I am very much in the same place as you. Every year for the past three years, I have grown in pool size. We are looking at the 15' metal frame pool or the 16' metal sided pool. We simply don't want to take any more of the back yard up with a pool and/or don't want to spend thousands of dollars on an inground either. Nice to have the option of......well, kids done with the pool, let's wrap it up and throw it out. Alot better than around 1/2 my neighbors who have filled in their pools after the kids leave.

OK, one more comment. For me, the pool cover has made all the difference THIS year over past years when I did not cover my pool(s). Chemistry does not change fast (or I can keep ahead of it now) and much less filter changing.

Hope your kiddies enjoy the pool like ours do!!

Bob E.

[CarlD]

As one who started with an Intex donut and moved to a full-sized pool it was for me an excellent training experience. When I got my FantaSea I was already pretty good at keeping my Intex pristine. That was a 15' round. Since now the 15' donuts are SO cheap (even Toy'r'Us sells them) I don't see why you don't upgrade.

BTW, when your pH was 8 and your CYA=0, that's a GREAT time to use Tri-chlor tabs, albeit without copper, as they add CYA and lower pH, while maintaining fairly consistent FC levels.

The hardest part about small pools is getting the right amounts of stuff in without over-doing it. If your pool is about 1000 gallons, then you can use the Rule of Thumb calculation of chlorine--and increase or divide by 10 as needed:
1 Gallon of 6% Bleach adds 6ppm of FC to 10,000 gallons.
5.25% adds 5.25 ppm, 12% adds 12ppm.
Now with your 1,000 gallon pool, you use 1/10 of a gallon to get the same effect.

Or...1 quart of 6% would add about 15ppm (roughly) to your 1000 gallons. (15= 1/4 of 6*10 )