Newbie with a 21' AG pool, wondering about copper

[Watermom]

Sounds like you are learning how to take care of your pool the BBB way! Good decision to order the good kit. That will make things easier for you. As far as storing your chemicals ---- you want to store them in a cool dry place so the truck box in the sun is not a good choice.

Hope you enjoy being a part of our forum!

[BigDave]

I'd like to add that storing Muriatic Acid in the aluminum box may be a pretty poor choice as the HCL fumes are corrosive. Take a look at Using Muriatic Acid to Safely Lower Your Pool's pH. It has good advice for handling and storing MA. I put the bottle in a bag and close it, put the bag in a 5 gallon bucket with a lid that seals and then I put the bucket in a 20 gallon garbage can with a lid that shuts tight.

[The Frant]

BigDave, I will take your advice about storing my chemicals. The only indoor place I have store it would be in my garage, but my son's room is right above it. I've always been careful about what work I do in the garage, cleaning products, paint, stains, etc. I do have a 20x20 wooden shed with 16 ft roof. It one of those barn type sheds with the asphalt shingle roof. It does get rather warm in there. Would that be better or am I being too cautious?
He's my oldest but i've got two others just like him.

Also while cleaning out the pool, i noticed that I have small white grit on the sides of the pool. I have not had a chance to pick some off and vinegar test it. I'm adding that to my list of problems to resolve.

[PoolDoc]

Use a plastic 'lawn box', with a light colored lid. Something like this would be ideal:
Rubbermaid 5F21-00-OLVSS Deck Storage Box

[The Frant]

Ok I have the information about my filter. Its from Waterways and labeled "Millenium Ultimate Filtration" and has a sticker with FC125 on it. The pump is a Model SD-20-2N11CD and has a part number of PM2200-6P.

[PoolDoc]

Looks like it's a WaterWay Clearwater II FC125 filter -- check their catalog, and verify that, before you purchase the cartridge below:

http://www.waterwayplastics.com/wp-c...0.0510_web.pdf

The Unicel cartridge guide IDs the correct replacement as a either Unicel C8412 or an C8413 (pg 59). You'll have to measure the cartridge: the C8412 is 23 5/16 inches; the C8413 is 28 3/16 inches. The Filbur FC-1293 (23 5/16") or FC-2575 (28 3/16") are options as well.

23 5/16" long

Unicel C-8412
FIlbur FC-1293

28 3/16" long

Unicel C-8413
Filbur FC-2575

Be very careful if you purchase without using the links below; Asian made cartridges are sold deceptively online, at Amazon and elsewhere, with descriptions like "replaces Unicel C8412"! If you want further info, here are the links to the Unicel and Filbur cartridge guides:

http://www.filburmfg.com/uploads/res...%20Catalog.pdf
http://www.unicelfilters.com/pdf/replacement_guide.pdf

[The Frant]

That looks exactly like my filter. And it's the 28" one too. Is there a difference between those two filters?

And I've not been able to find plain liquid CYA. I've found a granular one, but the guy at the store says that it will just clog up my filter before it actually dissolves (2-3 Days). So he steered me to a liquid "CYA" that turns out to be monosodium cyanurate monohydrate. I'm assumed that the guy was full of it and left. So, are the granules OK? should I dissolve them in water first then add? My searches here did not find anything positive about monosodium cyanurate monohydrate, so i might be skipping liquid and going granular.

My test kit should be here soon, so I can get some more accurate numbers.

And thanks for all the help.