Newbie - Salt Water Pool

I am a bit confused about the instructions for first time post, so please forgive me if this is the wrong forum and for some reason, I can't search the threads to see if this question has already been asked and answered...so here goes:

I bought a house over the winter with a ~25K vinyl liner salt water pool. This is my first pool - I know nothing about them other than what I've read in books. The cover was off until December (it was being repaired) so there are some dirt and leaves and a greenish hue in the pool. We had it professionally opened this week and all of the equipment is good. They dropped in some shock and told us to have the water tested for further instructions.

The first thing that we did was scoop out the leaves, worms, etc and vacuum the inside of the pool to get rid of the leaves and dirt. We took a sample in to the local shop, they tested it and sold us some of BioGuard chemicals (I can't remember them all). Now, we want to put in the chemicals based on the BioGuard instructions, but before I do, I need some help with the order of things.

The 2 tasks that I see are:
1) Put in chemicals based on BioGuard instructions.
2) Put in salt.

Should I put in the salt at the same time as the chemicals or do I need to wait? How do I know when it's safe to swim?

Thanks for your help.

I am a pool newbie too, and I was in the same situation as you recently.

What I did is first, balance the water. Then add the salt, let it get mixed into the water thoroghly for 24 hours by putting the pump on high. Then once the salt is well circulated, make sure the water is abouve 65 degrees, and turn on the chlorinator.

That is what I did and 23 hours after, I tested the water, and the chemical balance was right on, pH was on the mark, and chlorine was getting to the right level. Ready for swimming.

Hi Gilbert;

Don't use all the chemicals you bought -- if your BioGuard store is like most of them, you don't need at least 1/2 of those chemicals.

Regarding balancing -- get the pH between 7.0 and 7.8, and otherwise leave it alone for now. Don't add unnecessary alkalinity or calcium increaser products.

Clean up the pool with bleach BEFORE you try to turn the salt system on. You can add salt if you aren't going to need to drain some, or do a bunch of backwashing. A reasonable nightly bleach does is 5 gallons of 6% household bleach. Bag, vacuum or otherwise remove all the leaves. Get the pool CLEAR before you turn on the salt system.

You'll need a testkit -- you do NOT want to depend on dealer or service guy testing. We recommend the Taylor K2006 or K2006C; link below. (Only order from Amazon seller Amato Ind -- others may be delivering the K2005 instead of the K2006.)

Report results here.

Good luck!

Ben

Thanks, Ben. I've been reading a lot of the tips that you have on pools solutions and they're very helpful. Because this is my first pool and it's open, I'm a bit nervous that I'll break something. I'm also not sure of the urgency that I need to have right now with the pool.

If I'm understanding your post, I need to balance the pH (which according to the pool shop is at 7.0 right now). The pool is at the correct water level right now. This is a silly question and I may not be understanding the science of it all, but if the salt system creates chlorine, why not dump in some salt and turn on the salt system instead of adding household bleach?

For the future, I'll order the test kit that you suggest.

Hi gilbertpsk, and welcome to the forum!!

You do need to balance the pH, as Pooldoc said. One of the main reasons you don't want to dump in salt and turn on the salt system (may or may not be what Ben has in mind, but is still a valid point) is that the SWCG is great for creating and maintaining ideal chlorine levels in your pool, but the "greenish hue" you referred to in your first post is an indicator of algae. I know the SWCG has a "shock" setting, but it is not equipped to generate and sustain the chlorine levels that you need to kill off the algae. So...Ben wants you to add bleach to get your chlorine levels up to kill off any nasties in your water, and give you time to get the water clear and clean and chems balanced before starting up your salt system.

Janet

Thanks for the help. Everything is good to go now. I need to get my test kit mailed (I ordered it but no word on when it will be delivered). Will the 2006 come with a salt tester?

No. That is not part of the K-2006 kit. It is something you'll have to order separately.