new here and to pool ownership!

[mrsjwood27]

Hi!
Yesterday we bought an intex ultra frame 16' x 48". We put it all together and it is filling now. I have a ton of questions because I don't even know where to start with Taking care of this behemoth! I haven't bought any chemicals or anything and I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction please! I am not the world's greatest researcher but I can follow directions!

[Watermom]

Yours is an easy one to answer. You should use our Super Simple Startup Recipe that you can read about here:> http://pool9.net/ssr/

Also, go ahead and order a good test kit (Taylor K2006 or 2006C):> http://pool9.net/tk/

Please tell me that you are filling from city water and not a well!

Come back if you have further questions and we will try and help you get this started up. You will love having a pool!

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[mrsjwood27]

I KNEW WE SHOULD HAVE WAITED TO START FILLING IT! Yes, we are using city water, and it is about halfway full with nothing added. I did the bucket and bleach test, no change in the water. I was afraid that maybe I didn't do it right (seems asking a little much seeing as everything so far has gone so smoothly, we put it together in under an hour and it is filling at a much faster rate than we expected), but when I bleach clothes in the washer I do basically the same thing and nothing ever happens so I'm guessing it is good to go-ish...

Going to have to go the bleach route until I can get regular supplies hopefully this evening or tomorrow. What should I do to catch up from filling it half way with no bleach yet? It has been filling for I would say a total of 8-10 hours, we ran it for about 5 last night and about 5 this morning. I turned it off (it being the hose) this morning until I can sort out what to do now. I'm going to estimate it to be just over half, so maybe 2700-3200 gallons currently in the pool. I have some regular old laundry bleach on hand right now, but hope to get out later today.

Oh, and the little people want to know can they get in yet? I said no, but will happily toss their whiney little hineys in as soon as possible- it is hot out and they have been watching the preparations for the pool for 3 days now...

I can't tell you how happy I am to have found yall, I was mid panic attack this morning, ready to pull the plug and take this thing back to target! Thank you so much!

[PoolDoc]

If you add 1/4 gallon of bleach tonight, and another 1/4 gallon tomorrow, you'll be fine. Pick up a cheapo OTO/phenol red drops testkit while you are buying bleach. Buy a box of borax (http://pool9.net/borax/) too.

You can let the kids in so long as the pH is between 7 and 8 and the chlorine is in the definitely yellow or darker so long as it's not orange. If they want to get in, split your doses (1/8 gallon at a time) to keep it from spiking so high. High chlorine won't hurt them (other than possible red eyes) but it's hard on swimwear.

Once you have stabilizer in the pool the effect of high chlorine will be GREATLY reduced AND you won't lose the chlorine every hour to sunlight.