Aprillh - my finish is DiamondBrite in french gray.
So, anyway, the two guys here the other day installed the lights and 'cleaned up'. Then someone came on Friday and installed the control cables for the pump and heater to the easy touch. Apparently they weren't happy with the back pressure in the plumbing and my spillover wasn't working unless they had the spa valves and pump almost wide open, so they installed smaller returns in the pool. My bubblers are now much higher too. I can also play with my pump settings on the screen logic.
There is an issue with my cleaner pump though. Not sure what. It kicked on - because the PB set a program to make it turn on daily, but we heard it attempting to run and it sounded like it was trying to run dry and it was HOT. So we popped the breaker on it - I don't think the guy who came the other day fixed it because the breaker is still popped.
We weren't there when the guy came because we went off on a plant buying trip! My PB gave us a tip on a place in central LA where all the wholesale nurseries are - so we headed out and got a bunch of plants and some Italian cypress trees to dress up the pool area and an area by the pathway. Today we rented a tiller, tilled the whole yard, we bought some soil to build up planting beds around the pool, got some edging and a little bit of sod to go right around the pool. We have rye grass to plant in the rest of the yard and in the spring we'll sod the rest - probably in a checkerboard pattern to save on cost. It should grow in completely by the end of the year I think.
Monday I think they are coming to finish the tile on the back of the spa, seal the coping, finish the spray deck coating, fix the issues that need fixing etc. Well he said Monday, so that probably means Thursday or something.
We put off the plumber on Friday to hook up the heater, so we could go plant shopping but he's coming Tuesday instead. There's still way too much plaster dust in the pool for my liking to run it anyway.
As far as how its looking chem-wise, I'm not sure whether I've had a pool school or not yet. My PB came out and tested the water. Which I'd already tested. Of course. I told him not to bother getting me a test kit after he forgot to bring me the one 'he had to bring me'. Which was a pentair kit that did an FAS chlorine (not DPD), pH, CYA, TA and CH. At least he came with a K-2005 to test the pool. Not strips. So he went up slightly in my estimation. He asked me to show him what I had, I have a kind of conglomeration of test kits - a Taylor FAS-DPD, and a Taylor kit that I got from Leslie's that does the rest of the stuff, plus big bottles to refill the CYA test and the FAS-DPD reagent, my sample sizer and my speed stir. Any questions. No I think I'm good.
My free chlorine is was running 3.5ppm, but I had a cc of 1ppm. We have 2 'tablets' in each skimmer basket - I am trying not to cringe too badly. I keep telling myself its just for 30 days.
I'm keeping tabs on the pH, the first day I tested the water color was fuchsia and took 18 drops of acid demand to get it to 7. Good grief. Its running 7-ish now. My Calcium hardness is really low though, so we are adding calcium 5 lbs - directly in the skimmer (cringe) at a time to get it higher. We also added stabilizer on Friday. In the skimmer. Sigh. I offered him a skimmer sock and everything, but no.
My PB keeps telling me how impressed he is that I understand the chemistry so well. He asked me if I had backwashed it - and was quite impressed when I told him since he added all the chemicals direct in the skimmer, its likely its all now caught in the sand and needs time to dissolve so why would I backwash it. Apparently it takes people who don't read TFP a long time to get that concept.
Oh and I've kind of been in the pool - brushing - which is highly over-rated by the way, is easier if I stand on the benches and steps. So I've been in up to my thighs. Considering the water temp has only been around 70, thats about all I'm willing to do without a heater working.
The lights work!
This last one I just took. You can see the higher bubblers