1st time startup help?

[badutahboy]

Hey guys, I've been reading the threads and I think I have a decent handle on the BBB system... however, I just finished setting my pool up and I'm getting ready to put chemicals in, and I can't find info on this...

My pool is an 18x33x52 above ground pool (15000 gallons)..

Can someone give me a walkthrough of how to go about adding chemicals? Should I test the water and try to adjust PH before putting chlorine in, or should I add chlorine first, then bring the rest into balance? Anything else I need to add on startup? etc..

I appreciate the help

[CarlD]

Test your water first and get readings on your
FC (free chlorine)
CC (combined chloramines)
TC (Total Chlorine--if you have an OTO kit that's all you'll get but that's enough for now)
pH
T/A (total alkalinity)
CYA (stabilizer/Cyanuric Acid)

You don't need a test for calcium or anything else.

My first goal is to adjust pH. As long as it's 7.1-7.8 you are OK.

If it's low, add Borax. If it's high, add muriatic acid.

Then you want to shock the pool, getting your
chlorine level to at least 10ppm, assuming you have no stabilizer. If you do, then you want to raise it to the shock level indicated in the "best guess table".

Then you'll want to add stabilizer, if you need it. My initial target is 30ppm--it's easy to add more, hard to lower.

Finally, you'll want your Total Alkalinity adjusted--for a vinyl pool anything from 80 to 180ppm is actually OK, unless you have a salt-water chlorinator, then 80-125 is best. Use baking soda to raise it. If it's higher than 180, find the thread on lowering T/A.

So....

Borax/muriatic acid: pH
Bleach :Chlorine
Stabilizer: CYA
Baking soda: T/A.

And that's it.

Testing is the key.

[badutahboy]

Test your water first and get readings on your
FC (free chlorine)
CC (combined chloramines)
TC (Total Chlorine--if you have an OTO kit that's all you'll get but that's enough for now)
pH
T/A (total alkalinity)
CYA (stabilizer/Cyanuric Acid)

You don't need a test for calcium or anything else.

My first goal is to adjust pH. As long as it's 7.1-7.8 you are OK.

If it's low, add Borax. If it's high, add muriatic acid.

Then you want to shock the pool, getting your
chlorine level to at least 10ppm, assuming you have no stabilizer. If you do, then you want to raise it to the shock level indicated in the "best guess table".

Then you'll want to add stabilizer, if you need it. My initial target is 30ppm--it's easy to add more, hard to lower.

Finally, you'll want your Total Alkalinity adjusted--for a vinyl pool anything from 80 to 180ppm is actually OK, unless you have a salt-water chlorinator, then 80-125 is best. Use baking soda to raise it. If it's higher than 180, find the thread on lowering T/A.

So....

Borax/muriatic acid: pH
Bleach :Chlorine
Stabilizer: CYA
Baking soda: T/A.

And that's it.

Testing is the key.

Thanks for the info! The order of your steps is truly beneficial to me..

Over what timeframe do you do this? I'm assuming you test, adjust, wait x amount of time, then test and adjust again, correct? How long do you wait for the pump to dissipate your chemicals?

Is there a guesstimate as to how much borax/muriatic acid/baking soda to use to move your measurements incrementally? I just don't want to pour a box of borax in, only to have to track down muriatic acid because i put way too much in.

Again, thanks for the help!

[aylad]

I usually wait a couple of hours between acid additions to my IG pool, just to give things time to circulate well--and that's after I've added it into the return stream, which helps circulate it a little faster. Baking soda and borax go slowly into my skimmer, and I usually jut wait the 2 hours as a rule of thumb.

As far as amounts go, in my 29K gallon pool, each cup of muriatic acid decreases my pH by about .1, and my TA stays around 100.(The higher the TA, the more acid required to move the pH by the same amount, so if your TA is high, it will take more). In a 15K gallon pool, I'd start with 1/2 cup increments and adjust as necessary. It won't take but a couple of additions before you get a feel for the amounts needed for your pool. I'd also start with a cup or so at a time of the borax/baking soda until you get an idea of how high you're wanting to raise it and what amount it's going to take for your pool. Just remember it's always better to "sneak up" on your target number instead of adding a bunch at once and overshooting it!

Janet