New pool installed and filled with water - Now what?

We set up the new pool this past weekend. We filled with water and it looks a little greenish. We have not hooked up the pump or anything yet as we are having some nights in the low 30's this week (crazy weather)
I want to make sure I do the right things here so I am checking for advise before acting on it. I know the first thing I want to do is shock but I really need some advise on performing this.
Right now ONLY water went in. Nothing else. I have good quality well water. PH should be around 7.6-7.8

Important note: This is a pool that was used for one season (by someone else) so who knows what may be leftover on the liner that is making my water green. I stored it over winter in my garage and it was dry

Should I shock with bleach?
Should I just add my 160lbs of salt and turn on the saltwater generator and filter pump?
I am leaning toward the second option and of course running the generator longer than needed to produce the higher level of chlorine.
What level of chlorine should I shoot for to make sure nothing is alive?

Also note: I have a Taylor kit orderd but do not have it yet.

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18' Round Framed intex (about 6400gal)
2500gph intex pump
intex saltwater generator system

Thanks very much!

If you don't get chlorine in it, it will grow algea. It will be very hard to clean up the water with an Intex pump.

Put in a gallon of 6% bleach. Right away. - Today. Buy a few gallons to be ready. mix it with a paddle, brush or skimmer.
Do you have a drops based test kit? Get an OTO based test kit right away - Today, pool store, walmart, home depot wherever.
Hook up the pump and filter.
You will have to add bleach often as the sun will consume the unstabilized chlorine very quickly.
Test and dose chlorine a few times daily as the sun is shining.

Order a K-2006 - it you order through the links in Ben's or some of the other mods sigs, Pool Forum wil get a few scheckels.

Greenish? As you filled it looked greensish or it became greenish in the couple days since you filled?
I believe the Intex salt water chlorine generators have a copper ionizer component - copper will stain the pool, blonde hair and fingernails green. you may want to reconsider using this device.


Others will chime in with more advise.

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Originally Posted by BigDave

If you don't get chlorine in it, it will grow algea. It will be very hard to clean up the water with an Intex pump.
My intex pump is a .5hp 2500gph pump with a large filter. Why would this make it difficult to clean up the water? (note that my pump is the same size as yours and my pool is smaller)

Put in a gallon of 6% bleach. Right away. - Today. Buy a few gallons to be ready. mix it with a paddle, brush or skimmer.
Okay. Will do.
Do you have a drops based test kit? Get an OTO based test kit right away - Today, pool store, walmart, home depot wherever.
Taylor on order - dont have it yet.

Hook up the pump and filter.

You will have to add bleach often as the sun will consume the unstabilized chlorine very quickly.
The saltwater system takes care of this so its a non issue.
Test and dose chlorine a few times daily as the sun is shining.
Okay. Will do
Order a K-2006 - it you order through the links in Ben's or some of the other mods sigs, Pool Forum wil get a few scheckels.
Covered

Greenish? As you filled it looked greensish or it became greenish in the couple days since you filled?
It has only been filled 48 hours. Looked a little green as filling.

I believe the Intex salt water chlorine generators have a copper ionizer component - copper will stain the pool, blonde hair and fingernails green. you may want to reconsider using this device.
I got it from my Parents who used it for 3 seasons. It works tremendously well and has no side effects that I am aware of. Def no green staining. We were in their pool a LOT

Others will chime in with more advise.

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Thanks for the response. I will do my best to address your comments.
Please see bold above.

Pretty sure BigDave meant your intex filter would have a hard time cleaning it up. :) I just noticed he has a 350 lb sand filter with his 40gpm pump, wow! The filter is what makes the difference *as I have found out myself this spring!*

Anyway best of luck, bleach is your friend for now :)

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Originally Posted by sunlove

Pretty sure BigDave meant your intex filter would have a hard time cleaning it up. :) I just noticed he has a 350 lb sand filter with his 40gpm pump, wow! The filter is what makes the difference *as I have found out myself this spring!*

Anyway best of luck, bleach is your friend for now :)

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Ahh. I see. Makes sense. Thank you.
On way to store for bleach now. No kidding.

If you're OK with that SWCG then great! Just a warning about copper. Maybe it was from before Intex added the copper ionizer feature.
Perhaps the green is from the fill water. Was the pool fill water treated the same way as the household water? Is the inside of your toilet tank discolored?
You'll need stabilizer in your pool, you can add it as CYA granules (in an old sock in front of the return) or you can manually dose with dichlor for a while - your choice.
Sorry I didn't notice that you'd already ordered the K-2006. Good choice, I love mine.
Pick up an OTO kit so you can measure chlorine and pH while waiting for your K-2006.

Yeah I don't know. I have heard other reports about the green tinting from the system. It always puzzled me. I'm just really glad I don't have the problem. I really like the system.

Yup at store now. I have an drop based hth kit here for $22. Looks okay. Will try it. Got the bleach. I will look for something to use as a stabilizer.
Thanks!

What store are you at? Be careful, some dichlor and trichlor are being mixed with copper and such - I'd stay away.

Really! Thanks!
At Walmart. Any thoughts on what to look for?

Wall Mart is one of the stores that's been selling copper added stabilized chlorine. If you can find CYA granules also called stabilizer or conditioner. Somtimes stabilizer is available pre-dissolved as liquid conditioner or stabilizer. The cemical you want is Cyanuric Acid or Isocyanuric acid.

No luck here. Not seeing anything. :(

Pool store then, we'll figure it out. No Problem.

Found something.
Hgh stabilizer and conditioner.
Ingrediants:
Cyanuric acid - 96%
Inert ingrediants - 4%

Thoughts?

That'll do.

Thanks.
Adding it to cart.
I think I'm good to go home and get started.

Will hook up and start pump first and then add bleach and my160 lbs of salt. Will run pump for 48hrs.
Add stabilizer tomorrow?

It'll take a week for stabilizer to dissolve. How much CYA did you buy?

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Originally Posted by BigDave

It'll take a week for stabilizer to dissolve. How much CYA did you buy?

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I got 4 lbs.

Thanks for your help today. I have 1 gal of bleach, and all my salt in it and now I just let the pump run and wait. I will test chemistry tomorrow and see what it needs.

That's plenty of CYA.
Give the pool a good brushing to mix everything.
Start with about a pound - pound and a half of stabilizer, put it in an old sock or nylon and hang it in front of the return. Give the sack a squeeze now and again to help it dissolve. Wait till early next week (sock should be empty and K-2006 should be in your hands) and test CYA.
Keep chlorine around 5 in the meatime. Run your SWCG when it's ready but test every day and add bleach as necessary.
The amount of CYA you'll need depends mostly on how much sun your pool gets and how warm it is. This forum usually reccommends 40-50PPM CYA for manually dosed pools. Often, SWCG manufacturers recommend a CYA level (check your manual), it's usually best to run your CYA at the top of the manufaturer's range. Be sure to adjust your FC goal for your CYA level based on Ben's Best Guess Chart.
Let us know how it's going.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BigDave

That's plenty of CYA.
Give the pool a good brushing to mix everything.
Start with about a pound - pound and a half of stabilizer, put it in an old sock or nylon and hang it in front of the return. Give the sack a squeeze now and again to help it dissolve. Wait till early next week (sock should be empty and K-2006 should be in your hands) and test CYA.
Keep chlorine around 5 in the meatime. Run your SWCG when it's ready but test every day and add bleach as necessary.
The amount of CYA you'll need depends mostly on how much sun your pool gets and how warm it is. This forum usually reccommends 40-50PPM CYA for manually dosed pools. Often, SWCG manufacturers recommend a CYA level (check your manual), it's usually best to run your CYA at the top of the manufaturer's range. Be sure to adjust your FC goal for your CYA level based on Ben's Best Guess Chart.
Let us know how it's going.

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Sounds good. Thank you.

Tested chlorine this morning before leaving for work.
IT immed turned bright orange! Ooops. Am I correct in thinking that the orange color means the chlorine is really high? (prob 10-15?)
All I have in it is a gallon of bleach and 160lbs of salt so far. Nothing else. The SW generator has not been turned on yet at all.
If I leave the stabilizer out I assume the chlorine level will drop without to much delay. We'll see.

Is it possible that it is so high it could be hurting my liner?

Oh btw... I tested the pool twice (same result - both turned orange) and tested my tap water once just to be sure so I am pretty sure the test was not inaccurate.

Orange on OTO indicates high chlorine.
By dead reconing, 1 gallon of 6% bleach should have brought you to about 10ppm chlorine, shock value for 0 CYA. Should be OK for your liner. I wanted to get on top of any possible algea and leave you with enough chlorine to get through the day without CYA. Let's see where you are after work. Is the pool in sun? Hows the weather?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BigDave

Orange on OTO indicates high chlorine.
By dead reconing, 1 gallon of 6% bleach should have brought you to about 10ppm chlorine, shock value for 0 CYA. Should be OK for your liner. I wanted to get on top of any possible algea and leave you with enough chlorine to get through the day without CYA. Let's see where you are after work. Is the pool in sun? Hows the weather?

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Great news! Thanks. I am totally comfortable with that.
The pool will get morning and mid day sun. Shade will cover it around 2pm. Weather today is partly cloudy and 65 with 10-15mph breeze.
Yup I will test it this evening when I get home and let you know. We can then decide if I should put the CYA in.
Also... Should I have it covered now or uncovered? Currently uncovered as I do not have a winter cover yet. I only have a "solar" cover.
Thank you.

The CYA will take a long time to disolve so go ahead and put in a pound and a half ( should provide a little less that 30 ppm ). Put it in an old sock or stocking and hang it in front of the return. How's the water look? Still greenish?

Oh. I see. I misunderstood. I was thinking I was supposed to put it in when my FC hits about 5.
Okay I will put it in when I get home. I understand now.

What are your thoughts on the cover question?

The water looks pretty good. Not clear but def not AS greenish. BTW... I used new hoses with my new pump - but last night I went to the garage and looked inside the hoses I got with the pool and guess what... green and grose. Now I know why my water in my "new" pool looks green.
Dissapointing.

If the green is algea then you'll need to keep the water at 10+ ppm chlorine until it's dead. This will be much eaiser to measure when the K-2006 arrives. If the green is copper, then I'd check that SWCG for the copper feature.

Yeah it is algea inside the old hoses. They are gross. The insides are covered with brown greenish tinted dead stuff that flakes off when I pull it with my fingernail.
I can only imagine what the pool looked like when that guy had it set up.
That being said when I set it up the liner looked perfectly clean to me. No red flags went up at all. He must have tried to clean the liner and overlooked the hoses. I'm glad I didn't hook up those hoses to my new pump and shoot all that stuff into my pool!

The previous owner didn't have the SWCG and mine isn't hooked up yet so that is safely ruled out. I would like to check my SWCG though out of curiosity, even though it never presented any issues in 3 seasons. I will have to look up how to do that.

Oh! I get it. The pool came from one place and the pump / filter / swcg came from another!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BigDave

Oh! I get it. The pool came from one place and the pump / filter / swcg came from another!

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Yes. Sorry I wasn't clear.
Pool - craigslist for $100. Listed as only used for 1 season and the owner hated having a pool. (explains the algea)
Pump/filter/hoses - Brand new
SWCG - From Parents who used it for 3 seasons with an intex pool they are not going to put up anymore since we have ours.

research on my SWCG.
Looks like intex added the copper garbage in fall of 2009. I called my wife who says mine shows a manf date of august 08. I looked at pics of the new one and mine does look different.
Looks like I am safe from the copper!! Great news!

That being said... I did read that the section with the copper ionizer on the new ones can just be disconnected.

I tested FC when I got home tonight.
It basically showed none at all. The water in the tube stayed clear. Tested again and got same thing.

I put in a gallon of bleach, stabilizer, and put the debri cover on the pool.
The pump is still running. The water is still improving. Looks almost clean now.

I think you're going the right way. A gallon of bleach every night until you can start seeing a residual the next afternoon. Cloudy days will use less chlorine than sunny days. When you get the K-2006, we'll start looking for how much chlorine you lose over night and how much combined chlorine you have. In the mean time, try to keep the chlorine at shock value as often as you can. (orange OTO)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BigDave

I think you're going the right way. A gallon of bleach every night until you can start seeing a residual the next afternoon. Cloudy days will use less chlorine than sunny days. When you get the K-2006, we'll start looking for how much chlorine you lose over night and how much combined chlorine you have. In the mean time, try to keep the chlorine at shock value as often as you can. (orange OTO)

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Thank you. That's what I will do. I appreciate all your help.
I will update here and there.

Quick update:
Since last post I have not added any more bleach and have not run the saltwater system at all. The FC level remains somwhere around 10.
I still have the 1.5lbs of stabilizer in it. It is mostly disolved but not completely.
I am running the pump 2 hours every am and 4 hours every evening.
This past Sunday I removed the dark debri cover and put on the solar cover. The water looked very clear.

So for now all seems well.
I am not sure when I want to start looking at the remaining water chemistry and making sure that is under control. I might wait a little while yet until it is closer to when we will start to use the pool.

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The water looked very clear.

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Clear, not greenish - hooray!

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The FC level remains somwhere around 10.

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This is with OTO? Has the K-2006 arrived?

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I am not sure when I want to start looking at the remaining water chemistry and making sure that is under control. I might wait a little while yet until it is closer to when we will start to use the pool.

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With the dark cover off , sunlight will start consuming chlorine. You'll need to, at least, pay attention to chlorine level and pH. A pound and a half of stabilizer should put your CYA about 30; at this level, maintain 3-6ppm FC.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BigDave

Clear, not greenish - hooray!
Yes! good stuff!

This is with OTO? Has the K-2006 arrived?
No. In fact UPS says a shipping label was created but they have not recieved anything yet. :( I think I need to cancel and get it somewhere else.

With the dark cover off , sunlight will start consuming chlorine. You'll need to, at least, pay attention to chlorine level and pH. A pound and a half of stabilizer should put your CYA about 30; at this level, maintain 3-6ppm FC.
Yup. Been checking it every morning and evening. Still maintaining. Okay Thanks for the info. I will keep on top of it.

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Please see bold above

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No. In fact UPS says a shipping label was created but they have not recieved anything yet. I think I need to cancel and get it somewhere else.

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Did you order it from Amato? If yes, call them up, they are people and helpful.

No. Ebay.
I think I am going to cancel if possible and get it from one of the sig's here. Do you know who I can look up?

Check out this page: http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthr...ight=test+page The K-2006 is $47 at Amato right now which is less than I paid.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BigDave

Check out this page: http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthr...ight=test+page The K-2006 is $47 at Amato right now which is less than I paid.

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Thanks. Canceled the ebay order and ordered from that link.