First let me say this is a great site and the one I have joined and bookmarked for all the help and info I will need to fix the flub-ups and mistakes I make during the first year of my first pool! Thanks in advance!
Thanks from all of us!
I feel silly posting questions about my bitty blow-up beginner pool, but then I guess everyone has to start somewhere and it's the first time of anything that brings the most questions, right?
Silly questions? We do see them but not from newbies. People who ask the same questions again and again don't listen to the answers are silly. But not newbies asking for the first time! NEVER be ashamed to say "Hey, what's that?"
I know it is late in the season to get going with a pool, but here I am......We brought home an 18' 42" Intex and neither DH nor I have ever been around a pool that required us to to know anything about its care. I have been lurking and reading quite a bit, especially here since I found this site and believe I have come to a basic understanding of what needs to happen. Silly thing is, I don't know what to do to get started.
The FIRST and hardest thing to do is establish a smooth and level site for your donut pool. Once you do THAT, the rest is pretty easy. My first pool was a 15'x3' Intex and we used it for 3 years--and loved it! And you get just as wet as you do in a big pool.
But after the mechanical part is done and your pool is filled, you need a good test kit first. You can splurge and order Ben's PS234 from PoolSolutions, or the Taylor 2006, or the Leslie's Chlorine FAS-DPD Service Test Kit. All can be gotten on line and while they seem expensive (in the $70- $100 range) you will THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS you bought it before the season is over! Barring that, the best cheapie kit is the WalMart HTH 5-way drop kit. Some WalMarts have them--here in NJ I don't see them anymore. I don't know about Raleigh--I haven't lived in NC in 23 years.
I want to use the BBB method.
What is the best (read: cost effective!) way to get the initial amount of CYA I will need in my pool? I think a bucket of the "puck" things is usually really big, is there any way of knowing how many pucks I would need?
No, no, just buy the SMALLEST container of CYA you can at a pool store, or, better yet, at K-Mart or WalMart where it's likely to be cheaper. It may be called Stabilizer, Conditioner or Cyanuric or IsoCyanuric Acid. There's a wonderfully funny thread showing a funny but effective method for adding it to an Intex Donut. Start with 1/3 to 1/2 of what you estimate you'll need--it's always easy to add more, but you need to drain off water to reduce it. Do not use pucks in a donut--you are just asking for trouble. You are MUCH better off with bleach or dissolving Di-Chlor powder in a 5-gallon bucket in such a pool.
Would anyone be kind enough to explain to me (or point me in the direction of another thread) a timeline of what I should do/add: as my pool is filling up, through the first couple days?
Thanks so much for your patience and what I know will be excellent advice!
Amy
Re: Another newbie with an intex......
Originally Posted by amyinraleigh
First let me say this is a great site and the one I have joined and bookmarked for all the help and info I will need to fix the flub-ups and mistakes I make during the first year of my first pool! Thanks in advance!Don't laugh! Ok, Laugh, but it's IDEAL!
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