eric

[ericorlisa]

hi my name is eric and my wife's is lisa. we have two boys and one girl. ages 6, 12 and 19. this is our first year with a 24ft agp. we bought this pool used . it's a muskin tradewinds i think at least that's what ive determined from our research on google. it has a sand filter with a 1.5hp pump motor. so far the water is clear and the chlorine levels are good. we have a cheap 3in1 tester. checks clorine bromine and ph. the ph has been fluctuating daily and we have been staying on top of keeping plenty of chlorine in it. we have read a lot on poolsolutions.com so we know a little about what to do but we still need a lot of help. we've had smaller intex pools in the past and attempted to keep them clean. can you tell us how to administer the right chemicals and accurately measure the important number for safe swimming and fun with the least amount of effort.

thanks,
eric, lisa & kids

[Watermom]

First, welcome to the Pool Forum! Secondly, I would suggest that you get a good kit. Take a look at the kits on the Amazon link in my signature below. The Taylor-K-2006 or 2006C is the one we recommend. If you order through those links, the forum makes a little money, too. That kit will make your pool maintenance much easier.

Can you post any numbers for us? Also, tell us exactly what you have added --- meaning ingredients, and not just "shock." Do alot of reading here on the forum as welll as on Pool Solutions.

BTW -- That is a mighty big pump for a 24ft AG! I have the same size pool and I have a full-rated 1/2 hp inground pump on it and that is plenty big. My first pump for the pool was a 1hp and I downsized when it was time to replace it. The problem with big pumps is that they are so powerful that they sometimes will just push debris right through the sandbed and back into your pool. I hope you don't have that problem with yours.

[ericorlisa]

we have been using the walmart chemicals aqua chem 1 inch tablets in the skimmer and chlorine tablets in the chlorinator float. we put a pack of walmart shock in thursday evening and half a box of borax in pool yesterday according to our 3in1 walmart test kit this morning chlorine is 2-3ppm , bromine 3.4-6.5 , and ph is between 7.6-7.8 we are almost out of the chlorine tablets and plan to use 6% bleach instead. we need help to know how much bleach, borax and baking soda to use. not sure of anything right now. still learning.

[Watermom]

In your pool, each quart of 6% bleach should add around 1.2ppm of chlorine. How long have you been been using the pucks and what kind of shock did you use, meaning ingredients? Pucks and some types of shock add cya (stabilizer) so that is something you will need to test for at some point in the near future to find out your CYA level. For now, test chlorine morning and evening and each time, add enough bleach to get back to around 6ppm. When we find out your CYA level, we will adjust our advice. If you find in the evening that your chlorine level has gone to zero before the evening dose of bleach, you may want to try and add a little in the afternoon if you can. After you get enough stabilizer in there, you'll be able to go to testing and dosing in the evenings only. Your pH is ok. Don't add any Borax right now or any baking soda until you find out what your alk reading is. BTW -- you have a chlorine pool, not bromine. Ignore that reading. Consider getting a better kit. it will make things easier for you.

[ericorlisa]

we've been using the pucks for 2-3 weeks and have shocked twice when clorine was below .6ppm.what is a stabilizer? what kind should i get. i ordered the cheaper test kit you recommended i think it was $53. it will probably be next week sometime b4 i get to use it and i will post my readings at that time.

[Watermom]

Stabilizer is kind of like 'sunscreen for your chlorine.' Without it, your chlorine will disappear fast especially on a hot, sunny day. Sometimes it is called conditioner. The real name is cyanuric (or isocyanuric) acid. You may have to buy it from a pool store (don't let them talk you into anything else!) or sometimes you can find it at Walmart, Lowe's or Home Depot. Buy a 5 lb. container. Don't add any until you get your CYA level tested. The pucks and possibly the shock you've added may have already added some stabilizer so we need to know the cya level before advising you how much additional to add. This is something you don't want more of than you need in your pool! What was the ingredient on the bag of shock that you added? Good decision to get the good kit. Hopefully you'll get it quick!

[ericorlisa]

hi Watermom, its been a while but the reason i've not poste anything is i've been wating for my CYA to get to 40-50ppm. i had to add doses two different times gradually increasing it. my latest readings are: FC-4-6ppm, CYA-45ppm(it's in between 40 and 50ppm), TA-100ppm and PH-8.0(Real Red and this is as high as my Taylor kit will Read). i thought the PH should be brought down so i added about 32-40 oz. of muratic acid. the water looked fine yesterday but today when i got home there was some debris on the pool floor. it was sort of brown like dirt but was lighter or fluffier. i vacuumed it today and backwashed my sand filter which btw it really needed since the return pressure had decreased in force considerably over the past few weeks and i notice my guage was reading less pressure about 10psi all the time that's when i concluded the gauge is faulty. i need a new gauge not sure where to get one yet. any way i vacuumed the debris and 45 minutes later i was finished and i checked the return pressure with my hand and it was little to non existent. i back flushed twice until water coming out was clear. i then switched back to filter and turned my pump on and what do you know my pressure was back to normal somewhat since im using a calibrated hand right now until i can get another gauge. is it normal to see debris on the pool floor after adding muriatic acid? oh btw we had 7-8 people in the pool saturday and most of them were kids from boy scouts and their siblings. not sure if the people count had anything to do with it but the kids got in and out several times tracking grass into the pool. the good new is that i've been checking FC levels before and after the pool party and the next day. never got below 4ppm and before the kids got in the pool i added some extra cl to the pool to compensate for usage guessing about 6-8 ppm. i have one more question for you before i go to bed. when should any member start a new thread?

[Watermom]

Hi ericorlisa. Glad things have been going well for you.

I have not heard of muriatic acid causing brown stuff to accumulate on the pool floor. I would suggest however, smaller doses of acid at a time when you need to lower pH. What is the pH now?

You definitely need to buy a new gauge, Pool stores carry them of course and maybe Home Depot of Lowe's? Not sure about that.

Regarding when to start a new thread, there is no hard and fast rule, but usually just whenever the problem or question is something different. Actually, I think I will move this post into a new thread and retitle it as "Dose of Muriatic Acid Caused Brown Debris on pool floor?" It will be in the "Pool Water Problems" section of the forum. Look for it there. So, we'll let the discussion be continued there for anybody that would like to reply.

[ericorlisa]

ericorlisa ----- I removed this post since you also had put it in the new thread. Let's continue over there instead of here. OK?