Re: New Build in Phoenix *UPDATED 7/10/13*
HudsonViews said:
I just wanted to say gumby has best blog I have seen for pool! You really took a great deal of time to share even while dealing with the subcontractors!! I wish you the best with your pool and thx again!
Thanks Hudson, I'm glad it is finally wrapping up. Still got the landscaping to do, but im going to wait until it cools down. Already have the irrigation set up, just need to tie it all in to the water source and do some leveling with the ground. Im still trying to decide what kind of trees to plant, im thinking pigmy palms in the planters around the kitchen and either shrubs/lantana or queen palms on the planter behind the spa. Ive also considered doing some cat's claw vine or something similar on the back side of the grotto and behind the seat bench next to the fire pit, but that stuff grows like a weed and gets hard to maintain when it gets well established. Jury is still out on that, any ideas? I am open to anything that doesn't shed or drop pods/seeds.
Added the salt a couple of days ago on my own, I used my TF-100 test kit to check the chemistry before doing anything so I didn't screw it up...Funny thing is, my moron of a start-up guy thought it was a bit overkill of a kit since I could easily take a sample down to the Leslie's and have it tested there for free. LOL, this guy came in and did the initial start-up/programming but got scared when he saw my set-up and I ended up having to fork out more money to have a Pentair Pro come in to do the bulk of the programming. Then he tells me as part of my start-up fee, he will come by and make sure I have adequate chemicals to go 30 days while the pebble cures, before the salt is added...Anyway, I was running out of chlorine tabs a couple weeks ago, so I called...and called...and called.
Finally, he calls back and I explain to him that I am now completely out of tablets and the pool is getting a light green tint. "Oh gosh Mr Gumby, that's not good. Are you going to be home later? I will come by and drop some off." :blah: Yeah, come on by, and while you are here can you please do the startup on the heater because I had the new gas meter installed yesterday....waited....waited...waited...
I ended up having to go to Leslies and get enough to get by, four days later he texts me asking if I still needed the tablets because he forgot them...He got silence from me...Haven't heard from him in 11 days now, LOL. Did my own heater start-up and did my own salt startup. Anyways, for those of you PM'ing me for my sub list, he wont be on it for obvious reasons... :lol: Plus, I could have swore I smelled fresh burnt pot on him one day...
Guy reminds me of Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn) from Fast Times at Ridgemont High (For those of you that can remember the 80's!!) SURF'S UP BRAH!!! Ok, Ok, off the soap box now. I could easily rant about my gas sub too, but i'll save it for another time.
OK so for those of you doing saltwater, here's my experience with it so far: I decided to go salt because my daughter seems to get irritations on her body easily from chlorine (probably from an improperly balanced pool) and everyone in the family likes the feeling of saltwater anyways, so It was an easy decision for me. I am just wondering how my equipment and natural rock on the spillway and grotto will handle it. I will have to do a follow-up post in a year with those results. It is very important to give 30 days cure time for your pebble or plaster before adding salt, anything earlier will void your warranty with whatever company applied it. It is equally important to keep the pool chemically balanced during this time because the salt cell requires certain conditions before it is activated, otherwise you drastically cut the life expectancy of the cell and voids the warranty if the manufacturer determines your pool was chemically out of balance.
I am running a Pentair IC-40 and the norms for operation are:
Free Chlorine: 2.0-4.0ppm Anything above 4.0 can cause corrosion
Combined Chlorine (Chloramines): None, they advise to super-chlorinate to remove all chloramines
pH: Between 7.2-7.8
Cyanuric Acid: 30-50ppm
Total Alkalinity: 80-120ppm
Calcium Hardness: 200-400ppm
Total Dissolved Solids: 3000-6000ppm
Salt content: 3000-4500ppm with 3400ppm being ideal
Metals: none
Nitrates: none
Phosphates: less than 125ppb
Saturation Index: -.3-.3 with zero being best
After using my TF-100 kit
(Thanks TFP!!!!)
I recorded:
Free Chlorine: Between 3.5-4.0 (we were divided on the color indicator, it was a cross between 3.0-4.0)
Combined Chloramines: none
pH: 7.5
Cyanuric Acid: 40
Total Alkalinity: 100
Calcium Hardness: Between 330-350 (again, we were divided on how many drops it took to make the black dot disappear)
Salt Content: 600ppm
No metals or nitrates present
Phosphates: none
Saturation Index: .35 (using the Langelier Saturation Index formula on Pentair's Website)
Near perfect!!!
So using the chart in the startup instructions, I determined I needed about 450 lbs of salt. I used 11-40lb bags of Morton's pool salt (440lbs to err on the low side) and allowed it to dissolve and go through an overnight cycle through the pool equipment. 24 hours later, I tested the salt content in two different locations. By the pool return, I got a reading of 3600ppm and the 2nd sample was by the skimmer with a 3400ppm reading. Darn near perfect!!!
I am going to take another read in a couple days to see where im at, that will give a weeks time to be fully dissolved and run through the equipment. The water feels great and the kids have been swimming all day without any irritation.
TFP has a forum section dedicated to maintaining chemical balance and educating newbies on taking care of pools, check it out!!!
I will have a final video up as soon as I can showing everything running. PM me with questions or post here if you like.
) Is your spa elevated 2 feet?
