Pool Newbie

[warren_tax]

We are installing a 30' round semi buried sharkline pool, and I am freaking out.....it has water running in it now, but then what? I am a bit overwhelmed at the thought of the chemicals, and am wondering if I can start out with the BBB or do I need to shock it, then start chlorine? If you are doing BBB do you still keep chlorine tablets in the inline chlorinator?

[Watermom]

You have lots of options. I would suggest that as your pool is filling, that you add some bleach so that there is some chlorine in there from the get-go and you don't risk an algae bloom while it is filling. You can start right in with BBB. And, you can also use your chlorinator with trichlor tabs in it as well. They add CYA which a newly filled pool needs but they add it slowly. You may decide to buy some CYA separately and add a loading dose (maybe 20-25 ppm) so that you get some in there quickly and then use your trichlor until your CYA level gets up to around 50ppm later in the summer. At that point, you'll want to switch over to an unstabilized form of chlorine like bleach.

Do you have a good test kit? Go ahead and test the pH of your fill water and the alkalinity, too, if your kit has that test and report those numbers here.

Hope this answers a few of your questions. Come on back with the requested numbers and also tell us what kind of filter you have and what size the pump is. Also, any additional questions -- and with a new pool, I'm sure there will be many!

Welcome to the Pool Forum!

[PoolDoc]

Just to extend a bit:

+ "BBB" got its name from "bleach, borax, & baking soda" . . . but the core idea is to treat your pool with chlorine in the most efficient, simplest and most economical manner possible. We often do recommend bleach, and borax (baking soda, not so much), but also trichlor, dichlor, cal hypo and other chemicals. In other words, BBB is an approach to pool care, not a group of 3 chemicals!

+ "Good testkit" = Taylor K-2006 most of the time. There are some exotic exceptions. But there's no other readily available test kit we consider 'good', and good test kits are almost NEVER available locally. There is ONE exception: some Walmarts carry the "HTH 6-way" test kit, made by Taylor, and that is a GREAT starter kit. But, read the test kit page in Watermom's and my sigs for more info.