1st time pool owner

[hamiltonmike]

hello everyone

last august i purchased a house which came with this pool. my intentions were to tear it down as the tarp had fallen in,the water was greener than any pool i had ever saw, and it was stated that no pool equiptment was included. well once i moved in i realized that the pump and filter were left behind . the pump is a jacuzzi 3/4hp(not positive) and a jacuzzi sand filter.

i decided to hook it up and if all was running well i would attempt to get it swimmable. well i probably spent close to $300 in chemicals and just as i was closing it, i could see the bottom!!!!! well i pulled off the tarp last week and to my amazement the pool was crystal clear, but the bottow and sides were quite dirty so i brushed the sidewalls and bottom. BIG MISTAKE i think, as it stirred up alot of dirt and the pool went green almost over night.

so i took a sample to the pool shoppe and this is what i got

chlorine 0.15
p.h 7.3
alkalinity 80
stabalizer 2015

pool adjustments

broadcast 2.2 kg of buffer
add 5l of chlorine(i added 10)

add 750 gm stabalizer once clear

sound about right??

buffer is ph stabalizer and stabalizer is oxy out....correct?



i also have a very very basic question(dont laugh haha)

i cannot for the life of me figure out how to properly hook up the vaccum :|
last year i got it to work once(properly? not sure), and within a minute i had to tear down the pump to get all the debris out of it.


hoping someone can put their 2 cents in

much appreciated

mike

[CarlD]

There's a lot here but hopefully others will kick in.

Your Stabilizer level cannot be right--it might be 20.15, but not 2015.

Brushing your pool was ABSOLUTELY the right thing to do, but if it costs you $300 in chemicals you were possibly "POOLSTORED!"

You didn't say how big the pool is.

I'm not sure I know what "buffer" is.

Seriously, I suggest you go tonight to our various topics and read the stickied sections, especially those authored by Pooldoc, Watermom, aylad, Poconos, or myself, CarlD. We cover algae, chemicals, testing, spring opening and just about everything you raised questions about.

As for the vacuum: Do you make sure it's full of water first? Do you plug it into the skimmer or a low drain, and shut off the other when you do? Do you set the filter to "Waste" so the stuff goes down the drain and not into your sand? Air bubbles are the bane of vacuums. The EASIEST way to fill the hose is to hold it to the return with the pump running. That pushes water in and air out.--keep both ends under water!

[Watermom]

To add to what Carl said, also go and buy yourself a drops-based test kit (no test strips) so you can test your own water. You can probably find something at a Walmart. They usually have a 5-way kit that will suffice for now. You need to be able to test AT LEAST 2 of the following: FC- free chlorine, CC- combined chlorine, TC - total chlorine. Also, PH and TA (alkalinity). If your pool is not a liner pool, you'll also need to be able to test calcium hardness. Not sure if any of the cheap kits will let you test CYA (cyanuric acid, also called stabilizer) or not. Cant remember. It has been awhile since I looked at some of those cheaper kits.

After you do some reading as Carl suggested, test your own water and re-post with your numbers and we'll help you get this thing going!

BTW -- Welcome to the forum!

[hamiltonmike]

thank you carld for your reply.


my pool is an older oval above ground measuring roughly 18'x36'
the book says it is roughly 75,800 litres


as far as the vacuum goes, i have been searching high and low for instructions and came up empty handed. what i did learn is that the hoses has to be filled so i have been manually filling it with a hose, then plugging it into my skimmer. what i havent been doing is changing the setting on the filter DOH

my options are winterize,test,drain,backwash,filter and whirlpool so ill assume it i should set it to drain? i will also assume i should have the hose filling the pool as i am going to lose alot of water...correct?


the chemicals they sold me were: PH^ ,Buffer(ph stabalizer written below), some chlorine pucks, and a small bottle of oxy out.


yes it is possible that it reads 20.15. it is not a computer printout(its written)


beleive it or not i have been doing a ton of reading. most information i find is vague, and they assume i have a basic knowledge which i don't


so far the only thing i have added to the pool is 10litres of liquid chloring(3 days ago)
the pump has been running 24/7 and as of today the water is now aqua(not koolaid green) and i can see the bottom somewhat(well i can see huge dark spots which must be debris)


should i wait til it clears to try and vacuum it again?

[hamiltonmike]

thank you watermom for your reply as well


i do have a test kit which is not strips. it only tests ph and chlorine however.

so i should go and buy one that allows me to do 5 tests? i would of bought the bigger testers from the beginning but was told i wouldnt need it..grrrrr
i will go and find one tonight.

my pool does have a vinyl liner


i will test the water and give the results

the test results above were done 3 days ago at the pool shoppe


and thank you for the welcome!

[Watermom]

Can you take a net and try and get most of the debris out? Usually, you vacuum to filter and then backwash when your pressure rises 8-10 psi over clean filter pressure. But, if you are vacuuming up a lot of debris, you can vac to drain. (I assume that setting is the same as the 'waste' setting on most filters.) Yes, you will lose a lot of water. You might try vacuuming to filter first and see how fast your filter pressure rises.

Also, right now, don't add any chemicals to your water except chlorine. Liquid chlorine or bleach will be best right now. You need to tackle the algae problem first before you try to make a lot of other adjustments. Run your pump 24/7 while you are trying to clear your pool and keep an eye on the pressure gauge. You may need to backwash frequently if there is a lot of gunk in the pool.

Typically, when you are dealing with algae, you need to be adding chlorine more often than every three days. We are gonna need to know current chlorine readings. Most of the cheap test kits will only register to 5ppm. But, we can teach you a way to make it read a little higher. Not as accurately as a better test kit, but a ballpark figure. After you get your kit, will explain the "shot glass method." Ultimately, you'll want to invest in a better testkit, but this will work to get you started ---- unless your pool store sells a good test kit. If that is the case, you might just want to go ahead and buy a good test kit now. I can't recall the Taylor model we usually suggest, but somebody will most likely be along shortly that can fill that info in. Hope this helps.

BTW - I wouldn't even open up the stuff you bought at the pool store. After the algae is cleared up, we'll help you get your water balanced. You man not even need some of that stuff and may be able to take some of it back.

[hamiltonmike]

well i have been netting the bottom every day since i opened it and for the most part it seems to be just particulate dirt that the net wont grab. i will try to vacuum it again on the filter setting and see what happens. unfortunately the guage on the filter is broken so i cannot see what pressure it is reading.


the pool shoppe told me that i can add as much liquid chlorine as i like. is this true? will it help clear it any faster? i have 2 more 10litre jugs and was wondering if it would be wise to just add them in now. the liner is already pretty bleached so im not concerned about that.


i am backwashing at least twice a day right now

[Watermom]

I just looked it up and the Taylor K-2006 is the kit we usually suggest. Take a look at the following thread.

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=9326

You can buy a new filter pressure gauge really cheap. Pick one up somewhere. You need to know your pressure readings. I wouldn't suggest adding "as much bleach as you like." Get us some current readings and we can suggest proper amounts. But, I will say, that if it has been 3 days since you added chlorine to a green pool with a very low cya (stabilizer) reading, it isn't likely that you have any chlorine left in there. Go ahead and add one more bottle of chlorine. Keep the pump running 24/7.

[CarlD]

If it's still green, then a 10L jug of liquid chlorine is a good idea. What is its concentration--6%, 10% or 12%?

I estimate your pool volume at closer to 65,000 liters, assuming a 4' depth. Even if the water if 5' deep your volume is 81-82000 liters.

Still the chlorine rule of thumb works for liters just as well as gallons:

1 liter of chlorine at 5.25% will add 5.25ppm to 10,000 liters of water. If you have 65,000 liters, you need 6.5 liters of chlorine to get the same level.

If your chlorine is 12%, 6.5 liters of chlorine will give you 12 ppm and 3 liters will give you 5.5ppm.

I suggest you do your main reading here and not at commercial sites. The chemical and pool store sites will give you erroneous information.

You really need to learn about the B-B-B method of pool maintenance, which stands for Bleach, Borax and Baking Soda--3 chemicals you do NOT need to buy in a pool store. Combined with Muriatic Acid (from hardware stores) the only chemicals you buy from a pool store are stabilizer and PolyQuat-type algaecide (never use any other algaecide).

It's actually all very simple. You are going to aim to keep your chlorine levels as a sanitary level, and your pH in the 7.2-7.8 range. Every other chemical is to help do that.

As for filling your vacuum hose: Hold it to the return opening from the pump that's in the pool rather than a garden hose. It has a much higher pressure and volume and will blow the air out of the hose--and will already be in the pool and under water. You'll SEE the air come out and the hose will sink!

[hamiltonmike]

ok, so i went and got a pressure guage for the filter and it is running at 10psi pretty consistantly

i took a water sample to be tested and the results were as follows

chlorine 3

ph 6.8

alkalinity 100

stabalizer 20

she said that because my water is pretty cold(55) that the reading may be a little off

she said i would be ok adding another jug of chlorine


this girl told me not to add anything other chemicals other than the chlorine until it is clear.


i looked at their testing kits and they are either really cheap (10-20$) or really expensive(100-200$) so i didnt pick one up. i will go to a few different shops tomorrow and see what they have .