What chemicals do I start with for my new pool??
Question:I have the pool set up, filter running, but don't know where to start with the chemicals...I've read so much about the chemicals that it's confusing...it tells me about them but doesn't say what I should add first...I have some stabalizer...does it go in before I put the chlorine in? HELP!! I don't want to have to go to a pool supply store and have them charge me to tell me what I have to do...I bought all the chemicals I should need.
Answers:
You bought all the chemicals you need? Which chemicals did you purchase?
What kind of pool is it, above ground vinyl or in ground concrete/gunite?
If you drop me a line at robandliz1992@yahoo.com I can put together a perfect schedule for you. Please include pool size (gallons), material made of, filtration system, chemicals on hand, pool water test analysis (hopefully you bought a good test kit). With these I can get you up and going in no time at all.
But for general information, not personalized like I can do in an email, you will want to add chlorine first. Add liquid chlorine household bleach (non scented) at .5 gallons per 10,000 gallons of pool water. This will give you a reading of 5ppm in the water. Sanitization is the first thing you should consider since your water is "raw" and is just waiting for things to grow in it. Now is also the time to add that floater basket with the chlorine pucks in it (Trichlor since it's stabilized will be your best bet) or you can go ahead and put the chlorine stabilizer in the pool now (cyanuric acid) if you have any. This will keep the chlorine in your pool without the sun burning it off... which will happen in a half day of sunshine if it is unstabilized.
Secondly you will want to adjust your pH. Do this 24 hours after putting the bleach in the pool. Put 1 cup of 20 Mule Team Borax (found in the detergent isle of your local grocery store) in per 10,000 gallons of pool water. This will boost the pH up quite a bit and will help stabilize it. It will probably drop down in 24 hours time so do it again if this is the case. You are wanting to get your pH to stabilize out at 7.2-7.6. You can keep chlorinating your pool when you are adjusting the pH with borax, but be aware that liquid chlorine bleach has a high pH and you should do a water test prior to adding any borax to see what your pH is.
Once your pH is adjusting and is somewhere around 7.2-7.6 you can adjust your total alkalinity. Adjust this with 2.5lbs of baking soda (Arm and Hammer 10lb boxes for $5 at Costco/Sam's Club) to raise it 10ppm per 10,000 gallons of pool water. You will want to maintain a TA reading of 120-150ppm in your pool.
Do not attempt to adjust the pH and total alkalinity within 4 hours on the same day or you will end up with carbonate precipitation in the water which will cause it to go milky white and will take quite some time to filter. Adjusting the pH can be by adding borax or by adding liquid chlorine bleach, so make sure you don't put any baking soda in the water within 4 hours of doing either of the prior.
Make sure your filter is running at all times during this, and it's best to leave it running continuously anyway.
If you want to be environmentally conscience you won't use all those chemicals and chlorine. There is a natural mineral based tablet system you can use that works better then chlorine and is safer for the environment.
most pool stores will do a chemical annalysis for free. They will tell you what to add. So you can then go back and add the chemcials you need.
Start with chlorine. The pool store won't charge you for information. I go all the time and they test my water and give info for free. You usually can get in the pool about 15 minutes after you "shock" it.
Hello there not really an answer but i would advise that you use a good dose of alge deterant when you first set up the pool or you will be swimming in green water very soon. Ask your local pool supply store for the correct amount of chemicals to amount of water to make sure you dont over dose your pool and yourself. Always check and adjust your pools water every morning then by the time its nice and warm your chemicals would have settled down. But get really good advice as this can be dangerous.
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