Hello

[Dont155]

Hi everyone,

I just got an Intex pop-up pool for my kids this summer. Lucky me I stumbled onto this forum before spending a lot of unnessary $$ on stuff I don't need. I live in Phx AZ and our city water is very hard. I don't have an accurate read on the TA yet, but I have the kit I need to test it thanks to this forum. How do I get the hardness down if I need to?

Thanks,
Don

[Watermom]

There is no way that I know of other than doing a partial drain, but if you are going to refill from the same source, then that doesn't help. Post a set of numbers for us to look at. Also, what is the volume of the pool?

Welcome to the Pool Forum!

[PoolDoc]

H How do I get the hardness down if I need to?

Hi Don;

The place to start, is to stop worrying about it till you're sure you need to do so. Odds are you don't, but we won't know till you have a test kit. The only kit that may be available locally that's accurate enough, and tests the right things, is the HTH 6-way drops kit, available at some Walmarts. But, while you're there checking for that kit, you should get several gallons of PLAIN 6% household bleach, at least 1 box of borax, and -- if they don't have an HTH kit -- a cheap OTO (yellow drops kit) kit (NO 'guess-strips'!)

Actually, in Phoenix, the water is pretty messed up, but not necessarily high in calcium hardness. It will probably only be an issue if you get an Intex SWCG (salt) system.

If you cannot get the HTH kit, you WILL need the K-2006. Actually, you'll need it eventually in any case, but without the HTH kit, you need it right away. Check the test kit info page in my signature for more info.

[Dont155]

Thanks guys,

I did get the HTH 6 way drops kit. My TA = 160ppm and TH = 320ppm. My PH has always been high, I know that because I keep fish too and had the get a high PH test kit to get a reading. It comes in at about 8.4. What really concerns me is what my FC and CYA levels should be given that I don't like to "fight" the water... I admit I have a smallish pool at 650 gallons, but this is a prelude to going to bigger pools as my kids get older. I want them to be strong swimmers.


Edit: I did pick up a few big jugs of wal-mart brand 6% bleach because I read this forum. I've been trying to keep the pool at 1-4ppm so far. I also have some HTH stabilizer dissolving in the pool. I was aiming for 40 ppm dose. But when I measured it the other day it was still below the 30ppm level. Are the HTH 1" dissolving chlorine tabs worth it for this sized pool?. Also what is the typical "shock" chlorine ppm level? I've been looking for that last bit of info, but all I get is the info for bigger pols in lbs of shock to use. I need the PPM level so I can get the correct dose level for my pool.


Thanks for all the help.

[aylad]

The "best guess chlorine chart" linked in Pooldoc and Watermom's sigs will give you both a good explanation of the whole CYA/chlorine relationship and the chart that tells you what chlorine levels are required for shocking given your CYA levels.

[Dont155]

Oh, Cool I hadn't picked up on that, Thanks... Anyway I did all ofthe tests i the HTH kit this morning. Here are the results:

TC = 3 ppm (Interesting that this isn't a "Free Chlorine" test)
pH = 7.5 ??? (Tested the tap water and it said the same... city must have done something to change the pH since the last check of the fish tank water)
CYA = 35ppm (Looks like I aimed the dose correctly... still a bit of Stab left to dissolve, but not much)
TA = 160ppm
TH = 320ppm

I like the way they say its a "6-way kit" when they're combining Chlorine and Bromine tests so you only get to do 5 tests...

[PoolDoc]

I like the way they say its a "6-way kit" when they're combining Chlorine and Bromine tests so you only get to do 5 tests...

"Marketing" -- the American way of lying professionally, outside the court room.

By the way, your PF is 184 . . . so 1# of stabilizer will give you a CYA level of 184, AND 1 gallon of plain 6% household bleach will add about 90 ppm of chlorine to your pool.

So, 1/2 cup of bleach (4 fl oz) will give you a chlorine dose of about 3 ppm.