Pool is filled, now what do I do?

[CrazyKittyLady]

I am a brand new pool owner in Southwest Ohio. I purchased the pool in February and it sat in boxes on my front porch until last Wednesday when they finally installed it. The workers left, the pool filled while I was at camp with my daughters and now I don't know what the next step is. The electrician is coming out (hopefully) this week to run a line out to the pump. In the mean time, I was told I could run it with an extension cord. I am heading to Lowe's today to purchase a 12/3 extension cord with a weird looking (marine/camper???) 20amp receptacle on one end (or purchasing an adapter) so I can start moving the water. What is next? Chemicals, conditioner??? The only test kit I have is the AquaCheck "goofy strips". I will swing by WalMart for the recommended yellow/red drop kit until the Tayler-2006 kit arrives. Here is what I have and the chemicals that came with the package I purchased:

Aqua Leader Influence oval 18'x33'x54" above ground pool with an ecco cartridge filter system and Aqua Smarte Plus System
4 lbs Swimway conditioner (balancer) (active ingredient cyanuric acid)
1 lb Swimway Blast (oxidizer) (active ingredient potassium peroxymonosulfate)
1 lb Swimway pH Plus (balancer) (100% sodium carbonate)
1lb Swimway pH minus (balancer) (Sodium Bisulfate)
1 litre of pool magic spring & fall + phosfree (by a company called Natural Chemistry) (no ingredients listed. says it reduces phosphates & prevents waterline ring
3 Aqua Smarte Plus MizerMax Pacs

The installers did not leave me any manuals, so I'm not even sure where the Aqua Smarte Pac goes. I have read several posts here on the forum and gotten some answers, but since I am brand new to all this, I am hoping someone can take my hand and guide me step by step on what to do next.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[Watermom]

I cannot help you with your filter system as I am not familiar with it. Hopefully someone else can.

Do NOT put the Blast in the pool ever. Or the pool magic spring and fall stuff.

Test your chlorine and pH when you get the OTO/Phenol Red kit and post those numbers. Depending on those numbers, you may or may not need the pH Plus or Minus.

What are the ingredients in the MizerMax Pacs?

What are you planning to use for your source of chlorine? If I were you, I'd just use bleach and just add the CYA separately. I think you are going to need more like 6 lbs. of CYA but start with the 4 lbs. that you have. Once your pump is running, pour the CYA into an old sock and hang it in front of a return jet. Give it a squeeze every now and then to help it dissolve faster. When your K-2006 kit arrives, test your CYA level and report it, but don't test it until at least a week has passed since you have added it.

So that your pool doesn't turn green, go ahead and start adding some bleach. It is amazing how fast an un-chlorinated pool can turn into a swamp! Go ahead a pour a bottle of generic Walmart bleach (8.25% sodium hypochlorite) into your pool. Slowly pour it as far away from the sides of the pool as you can as you walk around the perimeter and stir it up as best you can with a clean broom, oar, submersible pump, etc. You will probably need to do this morning and evening until you get that CYA dissolved. Without CYA, chlorine is quickly lost to the sun. Once your pump is up and running, you can slowly pour the bleach into the skimmer or in front of the return jet but move the sock of CYA away first.

Hope that helps you get started. Repost when you get some numbers or if you have more questions.

Welcome to the Pool Forum!

[CrazyKittyLady]

Thank you, Watermom. I didn't actually make it out to Lowe's today but will go first thing in the morning. I will also pick up bleach. The ingredients in the MizerMax Pac are trichloro-s-triazinetrione 99% and other ingredients 1%. It says available chlorine 90%. I guess this is my source of chlorine. I just don't know where it goes in the system. I will try to look that up. The one page of semi-instructions I DO have says "step 5) when chlorine reading is down to 1.0 ppm insert Aqua Smarte Plus MizerMax Pac." So it sounds like I need to turn on the pump add the bleach and the cyanuric acid (like you stated above) and check it daily until the chlorine reading is down to 1.0 ppm then insert the pac (after I figure out where to put it).

I will post numbers as soon as I have them. Thank you for getting me started!

[Watermom]

Does it say copper anywhere on those trichlor tabs? If so, don't use them. Contrary to popular belief, it is copper that turns blonde hair green and not chlorine like people think. If you are going to use those tabs (once you make sure they definitely don't have copper in them), then they will add CYA as they add chlorine. But, after awhile when your CYA builds up to 45 or 50, you'll want to discontinue using them and only use bleach. If you do decide that you are going to use them, you won't want to put all that CYA in separately, though.

Your other option is to not use them and just use bleach from the get go and add the CYA separately like I mentioned above. That is what I do. Your choice. Either way will work.

[CrazyKittyLady]

I do not see copper anywhere on the container. It doesn't say what the other 1% ingredients are.

[CrazyKittyLady]

Hi again!

Tested with oto/red phenol this evening. Chlorine is less than .5 and pH is 7.8. Electrician coming this morning. What is the next step.

Thank you!