A small pool, 12' x 3.25' .. 2150 gallons

[Bearsbee]

I have upgrade from the kiddy pool I am totally green hoping to be royal blue. What is the basic chemicals do I need to use, just got it filled today and want it to warm up so I need to know when and how much to use in such a pool. Do I just add chlorine or bleach? Any help would be so awesome.. No chlorine in water at all...

[Watermom]

Hi Bearsbee and welcome to the Pool Forum! Go ahead and add a quart of plain 6% household bleach slowly to the skimmer while the pump is running. Then, in the evening, repeat the dose. Until you get some CYA (stabilizer) in there, you'll need to add chlorine morning and evening as it will quickly disappear.

After you get the CYA dissolved, you should be able to just add chlorine in the evenings only. When you get to that point, you can test in the evenings only and add enough bleach to get back up to around 6 or so. Each cup of bleach will give your pool about 1.75ppm of chlorine. Use that as a reference to help you determine how much to add each evening. You want to keep your chlorine between 3-6 all the time or you'll risk an algae bloom.

Add a half a pound of stabilizer to an old sock and hang it in front of a return jet. Give it a squeeze every once in awhile to help it dissolve faster. This should take your CYA up to about 35-40. Sometimes it is called conditioner. Check the label ingredients. If it says cyanuric or isocyanuric acid, it is the right stuff. You may be able to find some at Walmart or Lowe's but if not you'll have to get it from a pool store. Just don't let them sell you a bunch of other stuff. (Don't buy HTH brand.)

Do you have a test kit? If not, the one we recommend is the Taylor K-2006 or 2006C (same kit with larger bottles of reagents.) You can click on the Amazon link in my signature. If the seller is not Amato Industries, wait a day or two until they restock. Other sellers are sometime sending the K-2005 instead which you don't want. In the meantime, just pick up a cheap OTO/Phenol Red (yellow and red drops) kit at Walmart. While you are at Walmart buying the OTO kit and also several bottles of bleach (generic is fine), you might also pick up a box of 20 Mule Team Borax (laundry aisle) to have on hand. Don't add any yet until you test the ph and report it here.

Hope this will help you get started. Repost with pH reading and any further questions you might have.

I would also suggest reading a bunch of posts here on the forum and also at our sister website www.poolsolutions.com.

[CarlD]

Little pools are easy to fix but also easy to let get out of control. Regular maintenance is crucial to having a great summer with it. You don't need to spend a lot of time. But you need to be consistent. I started with a 15' Intex donut that held about 3700 gallons. I made a lot of mistakes and learned a lot in the three years I had it.

Carl

[Bearsbee]

Thank you Watermom, after reading @ www.poolsolutions.com my pool is still a kiddies' pool..lol But big time for us I am going to the city tomorrow and will pick up everything you suggested. Put bleach in this AM... How long do I run the pump after adding the things in it? I thought I had the pool all figured out just setting it up..lol Clueless like I said, manuals don't have much in them on how to care for it will using it.... I will post my test results on Wednesday.. Love this site

[Watermom]

I typically run the pump about an hour after I add bleach but on this small pool, probably half an hour should be fine.

[Bearsbee]

here are my reading (TH) 100 (FC)3/6 (PH) 6/8 (TA) 80 (CYA) 0
Could not find any 20 Mule Team Borax look at Home Depot, Walmart so I purchased a container from walmart with Stabilizer-Conditioner..written on it. HTH I know you said not to but that was all they had
Have only used Bleach as you said.

[aylad]

Look at the ingredient list on the Stabilizer-Conditioner you bought from WalMart. If the active ingredient is just cyanuric or isocyanuric acid, then that's what Watermom wanted you to get. If there is any other active ingredient, list it here before you put it into your pool.

[Bearsbee]

Active ingredients is Cyanuric Acid 96% Inert ingredients 4% That is all that is on it. Balance

[Watermom]

That's the stuff.

[aylad]

Go ahead and put it in the sock and hang it in front of your return like Watermom instructed in her above post, so you can start getting some CYA in your water as soon as possible.