Intex 16ft x 42" metal frame 4400gal - first time pool owner, help getting started

[azrabx]

Hello!
I am SO happy I found this forum! A lot of great information!!

I was thrilled when I found the Intex 7 day start up plan....HOWEVER.....I found it 2 days AFTER I had already filled my pool with hose water (I have city water, not well water).

I purchased the HTH 6-way Drops, bleach and some borax at WalMart today.

After completing the HTH test here are my results

Chlorine/Bromine - .5-1ppm
pH - 7.2
Alkalinity - 60ppm
Hardness - 70ppm
CYA - 30ppm

I have no idea what this all means!!! Other than that I need chlorine since nothing has been put in the pool since filling.

Per the 7 day plan post, I added 1 cup of bleach to help the chlorine and 3/4 cup of borax to up the pH.

Do I now just follow the daily care..... testing Chlorine and pH in the morning and adding bleach and/or borax as needed per the levels as well as nightly dose of bleach? Can I continue using bleach as chlorine since I cannot seem to find any of the dichlor you recommend, and if so, what stabilizer would you recommend to help prevent the bleach from getting sunned out? Are the other levels of my water acceptable - alkalinity, hardness, CYA? If not, what additives would I use to get them at the proper levels, as I don't see that mentioned in the 7 day plan?

I appreciate all of your help in answering my questions! I'm new to pool ownership and we love the pool so much I want to make sure I am taking care of it properly!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

[Watermom]

Hi and welcome to the Pool Forum!

First of all, ignore the bromine column on your test kit. You have a chlorine pool. Secondly, CYA has to be added to pools, tap water doesn't have it in it so there is no way your CYA level is at 30ppm yet.

Glad you found the 'recipe.' You can order the dichlor through the links on the recipe page. (It will take you to Amazon.) I'm assuming you don't have a Sam's Club near by. Using dichlor is the easiest way to start up a freshly filled pool as it adds 9ppm of CYA for every 10ppm of chlorine.

If you do want to only use bleach and not dichlor, you'll have to buy some CYA as a separate ingredient. Your pool store will sell this. It is sometimes called stabilizer and comes in granular and liquid forms. The liquid is way more expensive, though. You'll need about 1-1/2 lbs. You can put it in an old sock and hang it in front of the return jet. Give it a squeeze once in awhile to help it dissolve faster. Don't let the kids play with the sock, though. For about a week or so, you'll have trouble keeping chlorine in the pool and will probably find it necessary to add bleach a couple times per day. After the CYA starts registering on your test, you should be able to go to only adding bleach in the evenings and having the chlorine last through the next day.

Honestly, using dichlor for awhile is easier, though. (Once your CYA builds up to around 50ppm, then you would switch to bleach instead.)

Your other levels are fine. Your TA is a little low but unless your pH bounces around, I wouldn't worry about it. Your pH is ok but if it drops any lower, you'll want to bump it up a little with some borax -- probably a half a cup doses at a time.

Your calcium level is fine. In fact, you don't need to test the calcium anymore. No matter what any pool store will tell you, vinyl pools do NOT need calcium. Calcium levels are only a problem in a soft-sided pool if they are too high. Yours is not.

Let us know if you have further questions. We'll be glad to help!