Hello, and welcome to the forum!!
The best thing to do is get your test kit and run a set of tests on your fill water and post them here, and then we can help you go from there regarding which chems you'll need. It will also help us know if you can use the trichlor pucks (the chlorine pucks with stabilizer in them) or not. If WalMart has the 6-way drop test, get that one. If not, then at least get the cheapie OTO test that just tests for chlorine and pH. Drop testing is WAY more reliable than strips. The best kit to get is actually the K2006, which you can order through Amazon in the link in my sig and the forum gets a donation from the sale. That kit contains most everything you'll need throughout your pool season, with accurate results.
So...get a test kit, test your fill water, and post results here. You'll first need to add bleach (gotta get some chlorine in to keep it from going green), and you'll want to target 3-6 ppm, since right now you don't have any stabilizer. In a 5900 gallon pool, each 2 cups of 6% bleach you add will raise your chlorine level by approximately 1 ppm, so you can use that as a guide. Add it either into your skimmer, or in front of the return. You have no stabilizer in the water for now, so the sun will consume your chlorine pretty quickly, so plan on adding more at least once a day until the stabilizer (also called CYA) is in the pool.
You can either add your chlorine via bleach, and buy the CYA (stabilizer) seperately at WalMart, Lowe's, Home depot, etc. or you can use the trichlor tablets which are chlorine with stabilizer. The downside to trichlor is that it will significantly lower your pH, which is why I want to know the pH of your fill water before recommending them. Also, once your stabilizer gets to the level it needs to stay, you'll need to switch to a non-stabilized form of chlorine. The pH issue can be addressed by adding Borax to raise it, if need be--but again, we need to know a starting point.
If you use the stabilized tablets, they are normally put in a floater--but you don't want them to float next to your liner, or you'll probably end up with fading. Many people recommend to anchor it from both sides with string or rope to keep it in the middle. If you use the floater, I would recommend that you take it out while the pool is in use. With the high chlorine content and low pH, it could be damaging to little eyes if they get into a pocket of the trichlor, and the floater may appear to be a toy. If you remove the floater, and stir the water up well, you can swim immediately.
If using tabs and bleach, you'll keep the tabs in the floater, test your water daily, and add whatever bleach is needed to maintain that 3-6 ppm level, at least until you have some stabilizer in the water. The higher the CYA level gets, the higher you'll need to keep your chlorine. See the "Best Guess" chart link in my sig for a guideline to use. I live in Louisiana and tend to run my CYA higher than most, but I find that I use less chlorine in the long run than those who keep theirs at 40 or so. Just depends on the pool, but you can always decide that later. If you decide to buy CYA seperately, you'll want to target about 30 ppm or so, and add it via sock tied in front of your return. It will take a few days to dissolve and register, though, so you'll need to be diligent about adding chlorine daily until then. You never want it to get to zero.
This is a start--hope it helps. I know this method seems very overwhelming at first, but hang in there-- it's really very easy, and way, way less expensive than the pool store method!!
Edit: Also, if you do decide to use the trichlor pucks, don't get them from WalMart without checking the label. If one of the ingredients is copper, stay away from them, and get them from somewhere else. Our WalMart pucks contain copper, which you don't want. I get mine from the pool store when they go on sale....
Janet
Bookmarks