Brand New AG Pool Owner

Hello and thanks everyone for such a nice forum with a lot of helpful people. I do have a few questions and will be very greatfull with advice and opinions.

Pool - 24' Diameter x 52" Deep - somewhere in the 13000-13500 gallon range

Bought Power Ionizer and had installed with the pool. Filled the pool with county water that is treated and what we drink.

Today I found the Intek start up guide and did a few steps that it suggested.
1 - Checked 3-5 gallons of water with 1/4 cup of bleach to see a tinted water or cloudiness - Checked none
2 - Checked with a basic red/yellow kit. (I do plan to purchase a better test kit) Showed around a 7.0-7.2 PH and no yellow tint at all.

I added 1.5 gallons of bleach and will check again tomorrow.

My questions are:
1 - Am I doing this correctly? PH seems descent and now I should work with chlorination?
2 - Do I introduce my ionizer after I get my pool at descent levels?
3 - Ive read that after you start an ionizer that you should only need to test and also Shock once a week, Correct?

I also plan to do the BBB method. It seems to make perfect sense to me.

Sorry for the newbie approach and questions but trying to avoid the pool super stores and getting talked into something that I don't need. (Kinda like the power ionizer. Im hopeful though)

Wayne

1. Take the Ionizer back, if you can. Copper can control algae, but at the cost of green hair and pool stains. We do NOT recommend ionizers.

2. For now, add 1/2 gallon of plain 8% bleach each EVENING. Do this every evening, till you have a complete pool plan, and are on track with it. You can add 1 box of borax, to raise your pH a bit.

3. It's possible to treat your pool 1x weekly, once you get some experience and 'get all your ducks in a row'. But that won't happen for at least a couple of months for most new pool owners.

4. Good on you for doing a metals bucket test -- are you filling with well water?

5. You need a K2006 testkit. Pool dealers engage in predatory chemical sales, aided by inaccurate testing and untrustworthy computer dosing (= sales) programs. See http://pool9.net/testkits/

6. Dichlor offers an easy way to add BOTH chlorine AND stabilizer, which you need after a fresh fill. It's also a super-cheap way, if you have access to a Sams Club. You have to be wary of most other local sources of dichlor, since it's become common to sell 'diluted dichlor' at 1/2 strength but full price. Links below.

Good luck!

PoolBrand granular dichlor 50lbs @ Sams Club => ~$2.20/lb (May 2014 in Chattanooga)
PoolBrand dichlor bagged shock 24lbs @ Sams Club => ~$2.50/lb (May 2014 in Chattanooga)

Kem-Tek dichlor 22 lbs @ Amazon => ~$3.50/lb (May 2014)
Kem-Tek dichlor 12 lbs @ Amazon => ~$4.10/lb (May 2014)
Kem-Tek dichlor 5 lbs @ Amazon => ~$5.00/lb (May 2014)
Kem-Tek dichlor 2 lbs @ Amazon => ~$9.00/lb (May 2014)

Keep in mind that Amazon products normally ship free; and that in many parts of the country, you will not have to pay sales tax. Shipping + tax can increase the cost from other suppliers by 15 - 40%, so compare delivered cost, not nominal price.

What kind of filter do you have? If it is a cartridge, order new ones now, or invest in a sand filter (Intex models are available on Amazon and you can order through PoolDoc's link).

You REALLY NEED to read this NOW!
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthr...p-routine-care.

This is our 3rd summer with our Intex. it was a PAIN last year because we couldn't drain and refill due to water restrictions and it was looking like this year was about to go down the same road. Then I found this site. The pool looks better right now than it did much of last year, 3 days ago it looked like Louisiana swamp water. We upgraded to a sand filter this year because we didn't want to fool with changing and cleaning cartridges. Intex SF80110 would need to run about 8 hrs a day on your pool according to the owners manual that came with mine. (Intex part #56673) It is a .5hp pump with a 14" filter that holds 55 lbs of silica sand. If you're interested in a sand filter I'll be happy to share my experience with the changeout.

PoolDoc - First off thanks for the help and forum support

1 - Unfortunately I cannot return it but I might be able to sale it on ebay
2 - I did a lot of research back and forth and decided to take a huge step and see what happened. I added 5 gallons of bleach over 2 days, 120lbs of salt and also added 1 lb of Shock treatment that came in the start up kit last night. I checked this morning and the PH and chlorine were very high, with a red yellow test. My wife took a sample to the pool store and they showed levels were high and gave a shopping list with advice but she didnt buy anything.
FC-15.96
TC-16.58
CC-.62
PH-8.6
Alk-14
CYA-4
Iron-.1
I checked when I got home and the PH was around 7.4 and the chlorine was around 5-6 with the red yellow test.
I added 17lbs of Baking Soda and then will adjust the PH tomorrow with Acid if it goes high.
Am I on the right track?
3 - Its going to be a learning curve and Im hoping I catch on quickly
4 - Will the .1 Iron be bad? We filled with treated county drinking water
5 - Ordered a K2006 last night and will have it by Friday
6 - Should I add the Dichlor or should I stick with bleach and add stabilizer quantity from the pool calculator?


Pappy:
I have a sand filter with a 1.5hp high flo pump

How big is your filter? I'm certainly no expert, but based on what I think I've learned here, you have way more pump than you need, and probably not enough filter to handle the pump.

Good luck and ENJOY!!!

Morning Pappy,

The sand filter is a 19" with 100lbs of sand. It was sold as a package and I felt confident with what they were selling.
Does this with a 1.5hp pump sound right for a 24' X 52" = 13600 gallons?

I think I've read that a 1/2 hp Hayward pump, with a 200 lb filter will work on almost any AG pool, no mater how big. I KNOW Ive read that a pump that is too strong for the filter will blow stuff THROUGH the filter sand, and 1-1/2 horses sounds to me like an awful lot for a 100 lb filter. Again I'm no expert.

http://www.poolsolutions.com/gd/abov...-problems.html
Read the "Mismatched pumps and filters" section.