First time pool owner with lots of questions

[Watermom]

Having one that is "too big" is not a problem. A bigger sand filter is always better!

Welcome to the Pool Forum!

[joseatmc]

Thanks Watermom!

do you have any recommendations for a great sand filter. I've been told that it will run me about $1K. I've also been told to wait til the fall or winter so they will have better deals since it's their slow time.

[Watermom]

Though I still stand by the advice that you can't go too big with a sand filter ------ I was just talking with Poconos, a former forum moderator who is more of a pool equipment guru than I am, and mentioned this thread. He agreed that you could use the bigger filter but also thought that the 24 inch one (300 lbs of sand) would actually do just fine on your size pool and would save you money. I have a Hayward filter but can't tell you specifics about their various models.

[joseatmc]

any recommendation on chemical brands? or just chemicals in general... so far i've only been using the chemicals that homedepot sells since... I know i'll probably get yelled at for doing that but it is just so convenient, that is until i buy the chemicals off of amazon.

[CarlD]

For chemicals, go to our sister site, Poolsolutions.com and see the following!

http://www.poolsolutions.com/tips/po...ery-store.html

Yes, it's really, really true. Ordinary chemicals you can get at your supermarket are packaged and marketed as super-de-duper magic (and expensive) miracle fixes!

So...for Chlorine: Bleach or Liquid chlorine.
For raising pH: Borax or Washing Soda.
For increasing Alkalinity: Baking Soda.
For decreasing pH: Muriatic Acid or generic Dry Acid

For stabilizer: CYA powder.

And that's really ALL you need to maintain a sweet, sanitary, safe pool!

[joseatmc]

OK... I had a friend of mine take my water in to get tested while I wait for my testing kit.. here are the results.

Free available chlorine = 4ppm
total available chlorine = 4 ppm
calcium hardness = 100 ppm (low)
CYA = 55ppm
total Alkalinity = 160ppm (high)
ph 7.8
copper 0
iron 0
phosphates 0

my water is still cloudy it's much less green today...

1) i was told to pu in 4lbs of green to clean, wait 5 min and shock it with 5lbs of shock wait 12 hrs and shock it with 5 lbs of shock and the if it is still cloudy use clarifier. should i do this? I'm thinking maybe...

I back washed my sand filter yesterday and it was pretty dirty so i'm hoping the water will clear up...

2) They also recommended me to put in Muratic Acid or Dry acid to lower alkalinity .. should i do this? I'm thinking yes...

3) They also said to add 48lbs of hardness plus to raise calcium hardness... should i do this? I'm thinking no way... What good is calcium hardness for in a vinyl pool?

[Watermom]

Answers to your pool store recommendations:

1) No. No to "green to clean" and no to unknown ingredients in bags of shock that may raise your CYA higher if they happen to be dichlor. Better to just use bleach to shock with. No to the clarifier at this point.

2) No. Don't worry about the alk right now. Just concentrate on cleaning up the algae first and then if you want, we can help you tweak your pH and alk. But, honestly, it is ok where it is.

3) A big NO. You are right. Vinyl pools do NOT need calcium.

In a 19K gallon pool (assuming that Carl's estimate is correct), each of the 121-oz jugs of Walmart's generic 8.25% bleach will add about 4ppm of chlorine. Use that as a reference to help you determine how much bleach to add each time you test. With a CYA of 55, you'll want to shock the pool up to about 15-20ppm.

Have you ordered a Taylor K2006 kit? If so, when do you expect it to arrive?