Brand new and overwhelmed above ground pool owner...

[JoeJet]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for welcoming me into your community.

So I purchased and had installed a 21 round (52 deep) resin above ground pool.

I have a Hayward filter which was installed and have a salt generator that is going to be plumbed and installed on Wednesday.

The pool was filled yesterday and the electrician (subbed out by installer) told us that we could use the pool just fine before Wednesday's install. He said to just shock it (with monopersulphate) and wait 30 min before going in.

The seller I bought the pool from said that before I run the salt system I should wait a week and let the Hayward run alone. Then bring him a water sample and he'll tell me how much salt to add, etc.

Does all of this sound right?

Thanks!

Joe

[Watermom]

Did you put the monopersulphate in yet?? I hope not! Let us know before we give you advice.

Welcome to the Pool Forum!

[PoolDoc]

1. It only takes 2 -3 days to get a nice crop of algae going. On typical AG pools (over-sized pump; undersized filter) it can take weeks and $100's to clean up. Follow the instructions below, if you'd prefer to avoid that.

2. If it's on, turn your SWCG off (salt water chlorine generator). Don't turn it on, till you've added salt. Read the manual, while your waiting.

3. Return the monopersulfate if you can. It's essentially useless. It is NOT a sanitizer, and will do NOTHING to kill algae.

4. Go to Walmart and get a cheap OTO/phenol red testkit, and 8 gallons of PLAIN 8% household bleach.

4. Add 1 gallon the first EVENING you have the bleach.

5. Add 1/2 gallon every subsequent evening, AFTER you test pH and chlorine. If your chlorine test result is DARK yellow, skip the bleach dose.

6. If your pH is below 7.0 or above 8.0, report that result here.

7. Read about the Super Simple recipe -- it may not be the method you choose to follow, but it will inform you about some options.
http://pool9.net/ssr/

8. Let me say it a bit differently than I did in #1 above: it's much, MUCH easier to avoid pool problems, than to fix them!

9. Pool chemistry is intimidating at first. There's no way to avoid that, that doesn't involve wasting $$'s and time. We can make it much easier - but not completely easy. It will be easy later.

10. Any pool dealer or contractor that tries to start up your pool with monopersulfate is not to be trusted. They are either ignorant, or malicious.

11. Order a K2006. You'll need one to take care of your pool: http://pool9.net/test/


Good luck!

[JoeJet]

Thanks!

Well my wife tossed the bag of monopersulphate in.

Here are my specs:

The SWCG has NOT been installed yet.

Hayward Power-Flo Matrix
Hayward XStream

21' Round Resin 52" high

Am I screwed now that the monopersulphate is in there?

Do I follow the plan in the post above?

Thanks in advance!

Joe

[PoolDoc]

A single bag of MPS won't be a problem.

DO follow the plan outlined above.

[JoeJet]

Thanks PoolDoc,

I went ahead and ordered the K2006 and the K1766 from Amazon.

I'll be picking up the following tomorrow:

8 Gallons of Bleach
4 Boxes of Borax
Plastic Measuring Cups
HTH 6 Way Test Kit

Should I go ahead and buy my salt while I'm there?

The SWCG will be installed Wednesday. I'll assume I leave it off until you tell me otherwise.

Thanks,
Joe

[PoolDoc]

Salt keeps indefinitely, so if you've got room to store it, by all means go ahead.

[JoeJet]

Thanks again. I updated my signature with all of my equipment, at least now I'll know if my money was well spent.

I'll dump the first gallon of bleach tonight and report back my PH and Chlorine tomorrow morning.

Again thank you for your time and courtesy,

Joe

[JoeJet]

Chlorine: .5-1
PH: 7.2

Thanks,

Joe

[Watermom]

Add some bleach. Your pH is ok but if it gets any lower, you'll need to add some Borax.

Are you using the Super Simple Startup Recipe? Have you bought any Dichlor? You have to introduce CYA into the water via either dichlor or adding it separately.

[JoeJet]

Today's Reading:

Chlorine: 5-10
PH: 7.2

I received my K2006 this afternoon!

Dichlor will be ordered tonight.

What's my next step?

Joe

[Watermom]

I assume, since you reported your chlorine in such a wide range (5-10) that you did not use your new kit to get your readings. Continue to follow the SS recipe but using bleach until you get your Dichlor.

Practice with your kit. Run all of the tests except the CYA test. Obviously, you have none in there yet and there is no reason to waste that reagent.

These testing demos may be helpful:
http://pool9.net/tk-guide/

[JoeJet]

Wow. What a difference 8 hours of 70 degree sunlight makes!

PH: 7.5
ALK: 100PPM Total Alk as CC
Free Chlorine : 0
Total Chlorine: 0
Calcium Hardness: 150PPM Calcium Hardness as CC
CYA: 0

Did the sun really burn all my Chlorine up in 8 hours?

Thanks,

Joe

[Watermom]

Did the sun really burn all my Chlorine up in 8 hours?


Yep! In a pool with no CYA, chlorine doesn't stick around long. That's why you need the Dichlor. It adds CYA as well as chlorine. After using it for a bit, your CYA will be built up enough that you can keep some chlorine in there.

I'm confused about your reported readings.
What does "ALK: 100PPM Total Alk as CC" mean? And, how about Calcium Hardness as CC?

[JoeJet]

That's what the YouTube video told me to record it as:

"Parts Per Million Total Akalinity as Calcium Carbonate"

"Parts Per Million Calcium Hardness as Calcium Carbonate"

Joe

[Watermom]

Ok. Gotcha. On the forum, CC typically refers to combined chloromine.

How do you like your new kit? ;)

[JoeJet]

It's amazing.

Speaking of which:

Is my Alkalinity and Hardness fine?

Thanks,

Joe

[Watermom]

Yes, both are fine. And, by the way, don't let any pool store tell you that your pool needs calcium. We hear of that all the time but the fact is that vinyl pools do NOT need added calcium.

[JoeJet]

Hi again everyone!

So I've been keeping up with the pool and have maintained the following for a few days now.

Free Chlorine 1
Total Chlorine 6

PH 7.5

Alkalinity 100

CYA 30

My salt generator has been installed but I didn't want to start it until I had your blessing.

Where do I go from here?

Thanks as always,

Joe

[PoolDoc]

You probably need to raise your CYA level further, before you start the SWCG. Check your manual, but most units recommend (or 'require') levels above 60 ppm.

[Watermom]

Free Chlorine 1
Total Chlorine 6

I certainly hope this is testing error. It would NOT be good if you really did have a CC reading of 5ppm! :eek:

FC+CC=TC.

[JoeJet]

Hmmmm

3 x 0.2 = 0.6

Not 6

My Bad.

[PoolDoc]

3 x 0.2 = 0.6 Not 6

:o :o :o

[JoeJet]

I'm back! Lots of rain this past week so basically I've been maintaining.

Here are this mornings readings:


2.8 Free Chlorine; 0.4 Combined Chlorine; 3.2 Total Chlorine
7.4 PH
90 Total Alkalinity
35ish CYA

So do I just keep throwing in Dichlor?

Thanks,

Joe
.

[Watermom]

Yes, you have some room to let your CYA rise a bit so you can continue to use dichlor. Look at your manual for your SWCG. It will tell you how high the CYA needs to be for your unit. Once you get it at that point, then just use your SWCG.

Just use a 10mL sample when you test chlorine instead of a 25mL one. It will make your testing reagents last longer. You can multiply the number of drops by 0.5 instead of 0.2.

[JoeJet]

So we screwed up last night...

After an amazing day in the pool with family and friends I shocked the pool hoping to finally get the CYA to the right spot. Sadly my wife shocked it this morning too.

Here are the readings:

Free Chlorine: 10.4; Combined Chlorine: .8
PH: 7.2
Alkalinity: 90
Calcium: 100
CYA 40
Sodium: 600
I measured Sodium in anticipation of starting the generator but I'm not doing anything until I hear from you kind folks.

I hope we didn't mess things up!

Thanks,
Joe
.

[PoolDoc]

No problem; you can even continue swimming!

(You may want to use the 10ml sample to test chlorine (1 drop = 0.5 ppm), so your reagents will last longer.)

[JoeJet]

Wow! I really thought the Chlorine was too high!

Off to the store to buy about 300 more pounds of salt!

The salt generator says the chlorine needs to be around 3 to turn it on though.

Thanks as always,
Joe