Please dont let my pool turn funky

[poolvirgin]

OK, so i have this new 15 x 48" intex pool. I have literally been reading for HOURS trying to understand all this. COMPLETELY NEW TO POOLS.

Here is what I did before reading:
1. Bought a HTH maintenance kit containing Stabilizer & Condition, Chlorinating granules, and a SHOCK treatment stuff and some test strips (which i have read many times that they suck)

Here is what I did AFTER reading:
1. Bought a Taylor Test Kit
2. Bought a PoolBuster vaccuum

Here is where I am confused......

Nothing tells me how MUCH of this stuff to put in. I read about ppm and stuff but it makes no sense to me. I just want to be told exactly what to do before my pools goes funky on me.

I have done one thing to the pool.

I poured 5.2oz of SHOCK N SWIM treatment in my water about 10 minutes ago. I have the filter set up so I poured the granules near the part of the filter that PUSHES the water into the pool. I read that I should dissolved in a bucket first but the container said not to do that.

I am not ready to go buy BORAX, BLEACH and BAKING SODA but don't know where to go from here!!

Please help before my pool turns green or i kill a neighbor that comes over to swim.

[PoolDoc]

Very quickly: you have about 4,500 gallons in your pool, and a PF of 26. That means a gallon of 6% bleach will add 13 ppm of chlorine to your pool.

So . . . add 1/4 gallon (1/3 of a 96oz jug) PLAIN 6% bleach EACH evening. That will keep your pool from turning green while you figure things out.

Here are some of the basics that apply to you:

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+ When we say "Walmart", we don't necessarily mean Walmart. You can find most of these products elsewhere. But, WalMart is a known quantity, and other stores are not so much. For example, other stores have been selling store brand bleach at concentrations other than 6%, mostly lower. And, the HTH 6-way DROPS test kit -- an excellent starter kit -- is (AFAIK) available ONLY at Walmart, and not all of those.


+ Get a cheap OTO (yellow drops) / phenol test kit, or if available at YOUR Walmart (check availability), get the HTH 6-way DROPS test kit, which is compatible with the Taylor K2006. Test the pool as soon and you can, and post the results. If you get the 6-way kit, ALSO test the water you FILL the pool with, especially if it's a well, and post THOSE results as well. (The HTH is the best available kit you're likely to find locally, but it's not the K-2006. It can only provide rough measurements chlorine levels above 5 ppm, and it measures "TOTAL" hardness, rather than "CALCIUM" hardness, which is not ideal.)


+ Having a good test kit makes pool care easier for EVERYONE. A good test kit means a kit that can test chlorine from 0 - 25 ppm, pH, alkalinity, calcium hardness, and stabilizer with reasonable accuracy. Test strips (AKA 'guess-strips' ) do NOT meet this standard. Some pool store testing is accurate; most is not. The ONLY way you'll know whether your pool store is accurate or bogus, is by testing accurately your own self. On the other hand, pool store 'computer' dosing recommendations are NEVER trustworthy -- ignore them. They are designed to sell more chemicals than you need, and WILL cause many pool problems.


+ We recommend the Taylor K-2006 test kit, which meets the requirements above, for many reasons. The HTH 6-way drops kit is a great starter kit, and is compatible with the K2006 (it's made by Taylor). There are a few alternatives; for example Lamotte makes an FAS-DPD kit that's OK -- but it costs 3x as much. But, we're not aware of any test that is better, and since we are all familiar with the K-2006 (and can help you with it) we recommend it exclusively ( Test kit info page )


+ If you have a freshly filled vinyl pool, you can generally get by for awhile without the K2006, as long as you have an OTO kit (not: 'guess-strips'!!). However, there are three cases where you need a K2006 ASAP:

• You have a concrete pool, with scaling OR corrosion.
• You have a problem with metals or staining.
• You have a SWCG (Salt water chlorine generator) and possible scale build up.

In most cases, until you have a K-2006, all we can do is help you keep it from getting worse.


+ Pool stores often tell you MUST do this or that, right away. But, with few exceptions, there are only 3 chemical "MUST-FIX-NOW!" situations:

• Low chlorine, and
• pH above 8.0 or below 7.0
• Pool freshly filled with metal containing well water

Otherwise, ignore their "you must do X, or your pool will become a nuclear hazard site!" type warnings.


+ Pool stores, test kits, pool books, online pool guides, iPad apps, The PoolCalculator, and even Taylor's K-2006 instruction booklet ALL have 'recommended' pool chemical levels. Some of these recommendations are usually wrong; some are mostly wrong; a few are ALWAYS wrong. If you do not have one of the "MUST-FIX-NOW" conditions, do NOT follow recommendations to 'fix it', until you've talked to us. If you do, you will almost always waste money, and frequently, you will make the problems harder to fix!


+ There are 3 critical pool chemical levels: chlorine, pH, and stabilizer. If you don't know your stabilizer level, we won't be able to help much till you do. Read the Best Guess page ( poolsolutions.com/gd/best-guess-swimming-pool-chlorine-chart.html ) for more information.


+ Buy some plain 6% household bleach, about 10 gallons per 10,000 gallons in your pool. You can switch to other products, later. But bleach will work, in almost any sort of pool mess, without complicating side-effects.

+ Do NOT add pool store goop -- phosphate removers, clarifiers, flocculents, metal 'removers' & sequestrants, and especially, algaecides -- without instruction from us, or at least, a VERY specific reason for doing so. All of those products have side effects that you probably don't understand yet. Most are sold to pool owners who do NOT need them. Many will make things worse if over-used. Some (algaecides, phosphate removers) usually make things worse if used at all. Rarely, you may actually NEED one of those products.


+ It's much easier to answer your questions, when we know something about your pool. We often 'waste' the first few posts back and forth collecting information. So, please complete our new Pool Chart form -- it takes about 30 seconds, but will save much more than that.

Pool Chart Entry Form
Pool Chart Results

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[poolvirgin]

OK, so i already had put 5.2oz of SHOCK in my pool tonight. I will wait for tomorrow and add 1/4 gallon of bleach until I recieve my Taylor k2006. I should recieve it Wednesday.

For now, i used the cheap test strips that came with my hth kit...

it only measures 3 things....

FC: 1/2
PH 7.8
TA: 80

Hopefully we are doing ok for now.

More to come when i get my tester.

SHould i use anything in my HTH kit or was that just a waste of money? It has Stabilizer in it and chlorinating granules.

[PoolDoc]

SHould i use anything in my HTH kit or was that just a waste of money? It has Stabilizer in it and chlorinating granules.

If you'll give me the EXACT product name of the items you have left, I'll tell you what you can use. Until recently, all the stabilizer I'd heard of, was just stabilizer, but apparently they've now begun monkeying around with that, too.

[SafetyBob]

Welcome to the forum and you are so very lucky to have found this forum so early in your pool experience. Let's get down to business.....

First, follow that link in PoolDocs signature that says "Get the testkits you need". I recommend since you are new at this you get the big Taylor 2006C kit which has lots and lots of extra chemicals so you can make lots of tests. You will need to do that, or shall I say, you will be wanting to do this the first couple of weeks you have the test kit so you can get everything settled down. It was the best investment I ever made for my pool. With it, the smart folks here can help you with precise instructions. That will be the key for you in the beginning......for instance, look again at the above post by PoolDoc. He gave you exactly how much one gallon of bleach with raise your chlorine level. Once you get your test kit and you see if how much more chlorine you need, you can figure that proportion to the 13ppm that one gallon will raise your chlorine level. Want to raise your level by 6ppm, that's roughly half of 13, so pour half a gallon in the pool and your done. Got it?

I want to address stabilizer......search here in the forum for positive recommendations for a stabilizer. There can be alot of junk put into a package sold as stabilizer. I believe if memory serves me right that following the link to "Get the pool chemicals you need" link of PoolDocs above will give you the fool proof stabilizer through Amazon. I got my test kit this way and will continue to use those links....it supports this forum AND in know it's the right product I need.

Get the Taylor kit and start measuring all your levels, post results back here and you will have all the help you need to get your pool up and running as painlessly as possible. There is alot of expertise here......and they are all ready and willing to help and teach you what you need to know. Believe me, it took me a couple of very hard weeks to get it figured out.

Bob E.