Hi all,

Still pretty new here. I finally finished slamming my pool and getting my FC and CYA situation under control. I am now turning to, what appears to be, my next issue: Calcium Hardness.

Here are the results of my latest tests:

PH: 7.5
FC: 6
CC: 0.5
CH: 850
CYA: 60
TA: 60

As you can see, my CH is pretty high. I have tested it multiple times over the past month and the results are consistent, so I don't think it is a testing error.

My pool is just over 1 year old, so I am not sure if the new-ish plaster has anything to do with it being high like this.

From what I read, the way to lower the CH is to replace pool water. I also tested my city tap water here in North Florida and the CH is 425, which seems high (we have terrible water here in Florida so I am not surprised), so I am unsure how much of an affect replacing water will have for me.

Any thoughts on how to approach this? Is this a problem? I have not noticed or experienced significant scaling issues from the high CH. The only scaling I remember seeing was a small amount on the SWG plates when I cleaned it one time time after this summer. But it seemed like a very minor amount and I hadn't seen any buildup on there in my other SWG inspections throughout the year.

Hi all:

I just bought this house with a pool in San Diego CA. The Pool is a Blue Haven pool built in 1964. The pool is roughly 30 feet long, 12 feet wide and 10 feet deep near the drain.
I want to bring this pool back to life, but I don't know much about pools. How can I educate myself so when I start calling builders I know what to ask for?

Thanks in advance

p.s. I have a degree in Chemical Engineering so I do understand chemistry.

I recently took over doing the pool chemicals from a service company. It’s a salt water pool but oddly enough when I took my water to get tested there was hardly any salt in the pool (800 ppm) and makes sense now as he did tell me he has been adding chlorine pucks frequently. Well. I boosted the salt up and am currently at 2600 ppm and the weirdest thing happened. My heater won’t kick in fully. It will come on the 1st stage but won’t kick in high and turns off after about 2 mins running.
I can only imagine that there is some sensor in the heater getting pooched by the extra salt and consequently the higher conductivity.
It worked flawlessly and I use it 3 times a week…as last as Friday night past so I have to imagine it’s slat related.
Appreciate any thoughts.
Cheers
Mac
Jandy pool controller. Jandy 400k btu LXI heater.

Hello everyone!

In Sweden you build your pool even if the temperature is minus 10 degrees (14° F).
If you find this exotic you can read my blog and se more pictures at dragspelaren.blogspot.com You can change the language in the menu bar into English if you not prefer Swedish.

Actually the blog is about me getting a brain tumour in January-21. It was very dramatic, and I was close to dying. But I was one of the lucky guys that survived and had a benign tumour. After a big operation I’m almost like before. Most probably the tumour will not come back.

The pool is a present to myself and my family. I thought we needed this after a heck of a year.

I post you some nice pics here, so you can see how it differs from the US pools. It’s built in wood.

All the best,
Johannes

I couldn’t wait to make this donation. Everyone on this site has been amazingly helpful. So many small and big things went the right way because I knew enough to ask the right questions or make the right decisions due to this site. Thank you for all you do. I will do my best to give back to this community by helping others.

Anyone try this device? Pool Maintenance - Complete maintenance system for Pools, Hot tubs & Spas - Sutro Smart Water Monitor

Automatic and continuous water testing seems like something that could make TFP even easier. I would love to get hear about any personal experiences.

-Chad

I just took over as manager at a small, independent pool store and am wondering if there is anyway we can improve our testing procedures. Previous manager used taylor reagents and would test for free chlorine, ph, alkalinity, and cya. Also would test salt on salt pools. Occasionally they would test calcium if the customer's situation gave them reason to test it.

If nothing else, I want to add total chlorine, TDS, regular calcium testing and I'm on the fence about phosphates (that test is more expensive, not part of the taylor pack).

I'm also considering other options, such as the lamotte spindisk (if the budget allows) or a different, more affordable digital reader (e.g. ColorQ, Xpress Flex). I am confident doing the taylor droplets myself but ensuring that every employee will do it right every time, with seasonal turnover, leaves me with less confidence that each customer is getting a fully accurate test. A more automated system like this seems easier to train people on, and if I ensure that it is regularly cleaned, calibrated, etc., that might make for a more consistently accurate water test.

I have been reading this forum for a while and I know the prevailing attitude has little faith in pool store water tests, so I am curious how you would make this process as accurate and reliable as possible.

Any suggestions are appreciated. Thank you!

Hi all,
I’m sad I even have to post this. Our puppy got into the pool fence and fell in and drowned this week. My wife went into the frozen water to try and save her, but it was too late. I really need to find a solution to let me sleep at night and ensure this never happens again…to my dog or to my children. I keep the pool locked with a combination lock 24/7, but it wasn’t enough. I’m guilt ridden and need help finding some sort of alarm system to make sure this dogs death wasn’t in vain. We ordered the Pool Guard Alarm, but have seen hit and miss reviews. Wondering if a 110v motion detector with an on/off switch would work as well. Thanks for any/all help.

A couple months ago, I started to have problems with my AquaLogic PS8 wireless remote. It frequently showed "The base receiver is not responding" which usually only lasted for a short period of time due to weak signal levels. But this time, it lasted for nearly a half day and eventually it failed completely. Instead of trying to fix it or purchasing a new wireless unit, I looked for a lower cost alternative.

So after some research, I found others that were looking into the same thing:



Leveraging this work, I came up with my own standalone solution rather than home automation which I am not all that interested in at this point. However, there is a solution below for HA if you are interested in that.

Using an RS485 to WiFI server module shown here:


With some software I developed, I was able to replicate many of the functions of the wireless remove on Windows, Android and iOS as well as integration into Home Assistant.

Documentation: AQL-PS-8 & EW11 Setup Instructions

Windows Installation​

• AQL-PS-8 Remote Emulator - Windows Store

Android Installation​

• AQL-PS-8 Remote Emulator - Google Play

iOS Installation​

• AQL-PS-8 Remote Emulator - App Store

Note that I have tested it only on an AquaLogic unit but according to ProLogic users on the development sites, it should work with the ProLogic version as well since many of the commands are the same.

Let me know if you run into any problems and/or have any feedback. The app(s) are fairly stable now and are now consistently working for me.

Post #77 and above relates to Home Assistant integration:

Home Assistant​

• PS8 & P4 Home Assistant Installation Instructions

Test Track.

As the title states, I am taking over the maintenance of my pool. The PB maintained it for the first 45 days or so, and now I think I'm ready to handle it from here. As it stands now, the pool water is clear, and I don't see any visible issues.

I have the TFT-Pro test kit that I've been using to get the readings .

I started to log my readings in the Pool Math app a couple of days ago, 12/5.

My first reading (12/5) was:
FC 17 (this high reading could be a beginners screw up...)
CC 1
PH 7.5
TA 90
CH 304
CYA 30

After reading the pool school and a ton of threads, I realized that I needed to get my FC and CYA at a more manageable level, according to the Chlorine / CYA Chart.

The PB had my IC40 SWG set to 50% pool and 5% spa. I figured this was causing my FC to be high, and I turned down the SWG to 0% Pool and 0% Spa on 12/5 to get it down to a decent level. I'll turn it back on once the time is right, but I will need to see if 50% is too much. I may dial it down to 30% pool and 5% spa. Feedback on this will be much appreciated.

I followed the recommended steps in the Pool Math app to raise the CYA, which was to add ~4lbs of stabilizer to the pool on 12/5. I did this by hanging a sock with the stabilizer from a ladder in front of the return (I switched from my IFCS to my returns to do this). I went out about every hour or so to give it a squeeze. It took about 3 hours for it all to dissolve. After reading other posts, it appears I should have done half the dosage and waited a week, then added the other half if needed. Lesson learned.

I took another reading this morning (12/8) and got the following:
FC 11
CC 0
PH 8.2
TA 80
CH 325
CYA 70

What I need guidance on is what to do from here. My plan is to:

• Follow the Pool Math app recommendations and add 19 oz of 31.45% muriatic acid to get the PH down, but have been reading that high levels of FC can cause inaccurate high PH readings. I'm thinking I should cut this in half and see where it takes me.
• Let the chlorine dissipate on its own. It's taking longer than I expected since we have gotten hardly any sun the past few days, and the next few days don't look any sunnier.

And...sigh...Another item to note that I'm kinda embarrassed of...
Before I started to track my readings, I did a PH test on 12/3. My PH seemed extremely high (now that I think about it, it could have been because of the high fc), so my careless thinking (I have other names for myself but we'll leave that for another screw up) thought I needed to add a gallon, (yes, a gallon) of muriatic acid to get it down. Well, that got my numbers down, to say the least. This freaked me out a bit, so I went to all places... Leslies.... to see what I needed to do to fix this. They ran their test, and my PH readings showed to be 6.5. So they sold me soda ash to get the PH back up and a couple of packs of Leslies Fresh and Clear. I added about 3 lbs of soda ash and 2 lbs of their Fresh and Clear. After this hiatus, I realized that I better get my act together. So dedicated this past weekend to the pool school and running several tests to re-enforce my learnings. And there you have it folks, my first week as a pool maintenance guy .

I can't get a connection from my phone (cell) or from my house.

Hi everyone,

Creating a thread to document building of my deck for my Above Ground Pool. First... lumber is ridiculously expensive right now. I've been working on these plans since last fall, and from when I initially priced everything out the lumber cost has increased by at least 50%. But when you've promised the wife a deck, she's going to get a deck. At least doing the work myself (and enlisting my teenage son), I'm spared the contractor fees. After I'm done abusing my body I might regret that, but alas here we are. Just in materials I'm estimating this will be about $3k. Another $500 or so in tool/equipment purchases and rentals.

These are the plans I drew up for the deck:

And here's the ground prep, with the footings dug. I covered the ground with crushed gravel to prevent growth underneath the deck. Once the footings are poured I have to spread and level this better, but for now at least I've got a solid surface to work on:

And here's one of the footings. I had to be careful digging with the four by the pool to avoid the bonding wire. This one came a little close. You can also see how much the holes love to fill with water... my little utility pump is getting a work out:

Concrete landing framed for the bottom of the deck stairs:

So far the weather looks to be holding up for me to do the concrete work this weekend. I wasn't happy with any of the rental options locally for a mixer, so I bought this bad boy for $300 delivered from HD. It'll get put to the test soon.

Thankful for the 3-car garage to hold all of this lumber. I haven't even bought the deck boards yet and there's so...much...wood.

Not to mention the pile of remaining gravel in my driveway, pallet of Quickrete plastic-wrapped in my driveway, and multiple piles of dense clay I need to get rid of. My neighbors must love me right now. But hey, I have a permit.

More to come as things get underway. All the ground prep wasn't so glamorous, but we should be getting close to the "fun" part!!

There seems to be quite a bit of questions lately regarding IntelliCenter Feature Circuits and how to associate those circuits with Pump Speeds and/or Flows and Valve Actuator associations. In addition, questions regarding the creation and uses of Circuit Groups (macros) appears to be another "hot" topic lately.

These questions are mainly due to the shortfalls of Pentair IntelliCenter documentation.
Since I had some time on my hands and frankly was kind of bored , I started playing around with putting a video together that hopefully takes over where the Pentair documentation leaves off.

This video is NOT professional grade quality (I know that ), but its the best this rookie could do based on my experience. Hopefully I will get better at these as time goes along.
Anyway, I had a bit of fun with it and I hope it helps some of the newer IntelliCenter users.
r.
Login to view embedded media

Understanding ORP is the single biggest problem I run into when dealing with new staff. It's not a difficult topic but nobody really offers any training on automated controllers the way training is offered for manual chemistry and pool operation.

First ORP doesn't have anything to do with Chlorine. An ORP sensor has no idea what chlorine is and doesn't react to the presence of chlorine. ORP sensors are used in both Chlorine and Bromine pools. ORP sensors are essentially oxygen sensors - they sense how readily the pool water will let oxygen transfer from one molecule (reduction) to another (oxidation). Chlorine and Bromine do not kill pathogens in pool water, they just act like as a carrier for oxygen which is what does the killing.

Anywhere I mention Chlorine you can pretty much replace the name with Bromine and it's still mostly true.

When chlorine is added to pool water there are two compounds created (that we care about); one is Hypochlorite Ions (OCL-)and the other is Hypochlorous Acid (HOCL).

Hypochlorite ions are "free" chlorine but they are quite stable molecules and don't give up their oxygen very easily. OCL- contributes very little to the germ killing power of your water and is insignificant as part of an ORP value.

Hypochlorous Acid is "free" chlorine and very unstable. HOCL will give up its oxygen at the drop of a hat. It's the main sanitizing compound in the water and constitutes pretty much all of the water's Oxidation/Reduction Potential. Although technically incorrect you can pretty much consider an ORP sensor to be a Hypochlorous Acid sensor as that'll be the only significant oxidizer in your pool.

So your "Free" chlorine kit is showing you both HOCL and OCL- while an ORP controller is only showing you HOCL.

The difference between HOCL and OCL- is a single hydrogen atom. The more "free" hydrogen available in the water the higher the ratio of HOCL to OCL- will be. pH, or "Potential of Hydrogen" is a measure of how readily something will absorb hydrogen. The higher the pH value the more readily the substance will accept hydrogen.

Since Hypochlorous Acid requires OCL- to pick up an H+ the less basic your water is the more hydrogen will be able to bond with OCL- and the more HOCL vs OCL you'll have. The higher your HOCL the higher your ORP value and the more bug killing power you'll have. Free Chlorine, on the other hand, won't necessarily change.

Assuming a spa/hot tub:

- At a pH of 7.0 approximately 75% of the Free chlorine residual is in the form of Hypochlorous acid. So if your FAC is 4.0 then your HOCL is 3.0 and your OCL- is 1.0.

- At a pH of 7.5 approximately 48% of FAC is HOCL and 52% is OCL- so FAC 4.0 means HOCL 1.92 and OCL- 2.08

- At a pH of 8.0 approximately 22% of FAC is HOCL and 78% is OCL- so FAC 4.0 means HOCL 0.88 and OCL- 3.12

If your ORP control is set to 762 mV and your pH is 7.5 then you will have 4.0 PPM FAC and 1.92 PPM HOCL. If you have a PPM vs PH vs ORP chart around you'll see that's true (7.5 pH # 5 PPM FAC is 768 mV). You can work on the (technically incorrect but operationally OK) assumption that your ORP controller is set to 1.92 PPM HOCL.

If your pH drops to 7.0 then that 1.92 PPM HOCL will increase to 3.0 PPM which is too high and the controller will not feed chlorine again until the HOCL PPM has dropped to 1.92 PPM. For that to happen the FAC has to drop to 2.4 PPM. Why?

At 7.5pH HOCL is 48% of FAC or 1.92. At 7.0 pH there is more hydrogen available and the OCL- will pick it up and become HOCL. in order to drop to 1.92 HOCL you need 1.92 / 75 * 100 FAC = 2.56 PPM

If your pH rises to 8.0 then that 1.92 PPM HOCL will drop to 0.88 which is too low and the controller will feed chlorine until it sees 1.92 PPM of HOCL. This requires 8.73 PPM FAC: 1.92 / 22 * 100 = 8.73 PPM

In all cases above the controller has the FAC exactly where it needs to be in order to maintain the same pathogen destroying power. This is exactly what then ORP controller is supposed to do. The "problem" with the sanitizer levels above is the pH, not the FAC.

When doing manual sanitizer control you add the sanitizer then fix the pH after. When you have an automated controller it's kind of opposite. pH MUST be steady and correct before you can turn on the sanitizer system. I can't tell you how many times I've seen people trying to "fix" sanitizer levels that were too high or too low while completely ignoring pH. Heck, I did the same thing for the first couple of years I worked in a pool!

Here's a chart I stole from someplace online that shows the effect of pH on chlorine compounds. I wish I could remember where! It was a good site.

[attachment=0:2f41wkns]ORP vs PPM.JPG[/attachment:2f41wkns]

Come join us Saturday, December 11, 2021 at 7 pm EST/4 pm PST for an Open Forum Discussion. We will be using Zoom. Questions will be submitted via Chat during the Zoom call. We will have Mods and Experts (never know whom will show up!) on hand to answer your questions.

Found the forums a few months ago and have been reading non-stop learning everything I can. We are finally ready to sign a contract this week. Received 3 quotes and felt this one was the best overall on top of they were most responsive and easiest to work with during bidding. They also completed a friend’s pool earlier this year and they had nothing but great things to say.

Below are the pool specs but some other things we have confirmed with the builder:

• Drains and skimmers will all be independently plumbed to pump with a valve on each line
• Heater will have a plumbing bypass
• Equipment pad oversized and pre-plumbed for chiller

PB quoted inline chlorinator but I finally have my wife on board with SWG so we will be making the change to SWG. I assume I should request the W3T-Cell-15 due to the size of our pool and to stay in the Hayward family?

Pending HOA approvals, PB said we could break ground in January.

This will be our first pool and appreciate feedback on anything I may have missed.

Pool Specifications

• Dimensions: 35' x 16', 540 sq.ft, Perimeter: 113', 16127 gal
• Depth: 3'6" x 5'6" x 3'6" (Most likely going to make shallow ends 4’)
• Finish: WetEdge Signature Matrix Lvl. 1
• Lighting: (4) Hayward Colorlogic 320 LED
• Fill Line: Autofill

Pool & Spa Structure

• Steel (Beam): #3 Rebar Continuous
• Steel (Walls & Floors): #3 Rebar Continuous Matt
• Gunite: 6:1 Cement (sx) : Sand (yrd)
• Gunite (Beam): 12" pneumatically applied;
• Gunite (Walls & Floors): 8" pneumatically applied;
• Deck Dowels: 3/8" rebar deck tie-in every 4 ft
• Warranty: 10 years pool shell and pebble finish
• Pool Plumbing: Schedule 40 PVC, 2" plumbing suction and return
• Pump Connections: Schedule 80 PVC

Pool Equipment

• Filter: Hayward Swimclear 425 sq.ft
• Filter Pump: Hayward Tristar VS900 Omni
• Heater: Hayward H-Series 400KBTU Low NOX
• Main Drain: Pentair AVSC Main Drain (x1 in pool, x1 in spa)
• Skimmers: Hayward Autoskim Square (x2)
• Chlorinator: Pentair Rainbow 300C
• Transformer: Hayward 300W
• Controller: Omni Logic with App.
• Warranty: 3-year manufacturer warranty on all Hayward equipment unless noted

Spa Specifications

• Dimensions: 10 x 6 raised with single spillover per drawing, 60 sq.ft, Perimeter: 32', Depth: 36", 850 gal
• Finish: WetEdge Signature Matrix Lvl. 1
• Lighting: (1) Hayward Colorlogic 320 LED
• Spillway: 16' perimeter overflow

Spa Equipment

• Main Pump: Primary filter pump above
• Air Blower: Hayward Blower 1.5HP, 1-year warranty
• Heater: Primary pool heater above
• Drain: Pentair AVSC (x1)
• Controller: Primary Pool Controller

Features

• Feature #1: Integrated fire pit, filled with black lava rock
• Plumbing: Gas line from heater to column
• Feature #2: (1) Bubbler on sun deck(s), non-lit 1/2" orfice
• Pump: Hayward Tristar VS500
• Plumbing: Plumbed to feature 2 pump
• Feature #3: Water shear in column
• Pump: Feature 2 pump above
• Plumbing: Plumbed to feature 2 pump

Decking

• Material: New concrete base with cool deck coating, includes existing patio, 850 sq.ft new;

Maintenance Equipment

• Pool Cleaner: Hayward Sharkvac; Polaris connection plumbed, booster pump not quoted.

Payment

• Deposit: $1500
• 30%: Day of Excavation
• 30%: Day of Gunite
• 30%: Day of Decking
• 10%: Day of Project Finish

We are building our pool and this is our first time building. Excavation was done, rebar was done, some of the pluming was done and gunite was done . However, this pipe is sticking out and it is worrying me. This pipe drains our water from te, laundry room and idk what else. PN said they will reroute the pluming and that this happens all the time. I am worried about how they will patch up where the pipe is at. I feel completely clueless and cannot find any threads on this topic. Can anyone help/advice?

Hello everyone! Last weekend we had a simple dry stacked retaining wall completed in preparation for a semi in-ground pool install next week. The semi in-ground pool is a Doughboy Hydrosphere 12x24' oval that will be buried 3 feet with 16 inches sticking out of the ground. We've got a decent slope in the backyard, and the retaining wall was not necessary but hoping to help. I'm a recent joiner of the TFP family and hope to glean information as we proceed in our journey. I thought sharing some pics of our progress would be helpful. I'd love to hear from any semi in-ground folks on how their process went and their decking ideas!

I finally got around to putting my installation timelapse together! This took place over 4 days in August. Sorry about the occasional glare (it's the reflection of the tripod on the window).

The pool is a Fox Ultimate which is an onground (also called hybrid or semi-inground). Enjoy!

We signed our contract March 16, 2021.we should get our engineering report back next week, to see if we will piers.
Here is what we plan on building.

Hi All,

I've looked at all the guidance here on TFP and focused on keeping my chemistry in range using PoolMath. However, it seems while I'm in range with the TFP recommendations, my CSI is highly negative.

For example, here are my readings:

FC 5
pH 8.2
TA 60 (2 weeks ago)
CH 500 (15 days ago)
CYA 70 (17 days ago)
Salt 3450
BOR 48 (14 days ago using Mannitol method)
Water Temp 66
CSI -.37

I usually won't let the pH get above 7.8 or 8.0 at the most before I chase it down to 7.2 or 7.3 using muriatic acid as that's my understanding of the TFP recommendation. I let the pH climb a little higher as the water is a good 15 degrees colder with the cold weather in Austin right now and the cold water seems to make pH go further negative.

That said, if I push the pH down to 7.2 (using liquid muriatic acid) with the stats above, it says my CSI would be -0.77 which seems troubling. When I check the impact of zero'ing out the Borates (using poolmath), the CSI swings from current -0.37 the way to 0.18.

Should I be allowing the pH to rise more instead of pushing it back down with acid? Won't it cause scale if I allow pH to go higher? I would greatly appreciate thoughts, suggestions, and recommendations.

Hi all and thanks in advance for helpful advice.

Thanks to COVID I am "stuck" in Hoi An, Viet Nam (good place to be stuck) and as the only tenant in a 6-apartment building (a typical scene as tourism is decimated here) I have taken on the role of maintaining (and enjoying) its pool. Thanks to this forum and many YouTube resources I have given myself a crash course in pool maintenance that has been mostly successful.

After an initial chlorine shock and nursing the 28728L (7589G) pool from green back to blue 2.5 months ago, I have been very diligent about measuring and maintaining proper pH/Chlorine/Alkalinity levels, skimming leaves and stuff off the pool surface daily, brushing and vacuming the pool every few days, and backwashing the sand filter regularly (trying backwash intervals ranging from daily to every 2 weeks).

BUT despite all that, the pool consistently has this sediment floating in it (see video here and pic attached below):

Login to view embedded media (video showing symptom)

IMG-20210709-224321 (full-res image)

Even if I run my pump for 24 hours, the sediment remains. If I vacume to filter, no change. If I sweep, vacume to waste, and backwash, the sediment is back in 1 day just the same.

The sediment is all over the pool, but particularly noticeable in the pool light at night. The sediment is lighter than beach sand (I don't know what kind of sand is inside the filter), moves very slowly, and takes hours and hours to settle. But other than this sediment, the water is NOT cloudy and stays blue.

I have tried mega-shocking the pool again (bringing the Chlorine level to where OTO turns bright red (>35ppm TC Is there a basic test kit with distinctive yellow colors? ) and bright orange (>25ppm TC) for several days ) and it didn't help.

WTF is this sediment and how do I get rid of it? See theories below.

In addition to the sediment, there is one more suspicious symptom. If I gently drop the pool brush to the bottom and make a quick stroke, I can always see a very subtle cloud of greyish fine dust. It is hard to see even with a still pool, but it is always there. But that dust never rises and the pool itself is never cloudy and stays blue. More on that later...

Vital stats:

• Volume: 28728L (7589G)
• Design: infinity edge (see pic) with tile walls and floor
• Circulation: not fantastic: intake jets are at bottom of pool at shallow end and middle of pool, main drain at deep end, infinity edge that is installed incorrectly so that it only spills at shallow end (so not great circulation from jets to deep end)
• Placement: pool is mostly covered under a roof (about 10% of it gets sun during the day but I cover that part with a plastic tarp, and that vastly reduces Chlorine consumption too) in a hot beach town in Viet Nam where the air temp ranges from 90F - 103F every day, and where the sea wind is always carrying pollen and other stuff to the pool surface. Water temp roughly ranges 77 F - 85 F (pool is in shade).
• Chlorine: ALL chlorine (both shocking and everyday) comes from 70% cal hypo granules. The pool eats approximately 42g of cal hypo per day in order to stay level (though it depends on temp). Liquid chlorine never used. I use an OTO test and keep the TC between 1ppm and 3ppm as best as the test allows (* see important note below about FAS-DPD/FC test availability). After the initial balance on pool startup, whenever I add Chlorine, the TC jumps very predictably from the amount I added, so this indirectly suggests that the TC in the pool is mostly FC.
• pH balancing: after initial pool startup and balance (when I used some baking soda and soda ash to establish initial alkalinity and pH), I only ever need to reduce the pH (the sun and aeration raise the pH every day), and I do so with small amounts of Muriatic Acid (200ml per week approx). I keep pH in range 7.6-8.2. I am using a good-enough electronic Chinese pH meter that I calibrated with real distilled water from a local water safety university and 3 pH buffer powders.
• CYA: There is NO cyanuric acid in the water and never has been. This pool never used dichlor, trichlor or any other tablets. I am happy about this; the stuff seems like a a nightmare and cal hypo is cheap and plentiful.
• Alkalinity: I initially got the Alkalinity to roughly 80 and I believe it may have oozed down to 60 by now, but I can only measure alkalinity using a really Darnty Chinese test strip where the strip color barely resembles any of the example legend colors ( * see important note below about test availability)
• Calcium Hardness: The only tool I have to measure this (Darnty Chinese test strip) sucks, sucks, sucks. The color doesn't match any of the legend colors, even when the Chlorine and pH are in a good range. If I had to guess, I would guess 250-500, but the color match is absurd. Since I use cal hypo, wouldn't one expect high calcium hardness?
• Pump: sand filter. Doesn't matter how long I run the pump, the sediment remains. I typically run it for 2-3 hours per day but even at 24 hours the sediment remains.

(*) IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT TEST AVAILABILITY: I KNOW I should use the Taylor K2006 with its great FAS-DPD test, reverse titration, and BELIEVE ME I WANT ONE but it is SIMPLY NOT AVAILABLE in Viet Nam. I've looked and looked and looked. Even Viet Nam websites that clam to sell it NEVER have it. If I got a friend to ship a kit, not only would it cost >$70 in shipping alone, and not only would it take >30days to arrive thanks to COVID even with "express" USPS service, but there's a 75% chance that Viet Nam customs would steal it or it would get lost. It's just not an option, sorry. I know it's hard for you to help me if I cannot get the best tests, but it's what I have. Every Vietnamese "professional" pool guy here uses a TERRIBLE test kit with only OTO and a virtually meaningless pH phenol red test, and almost none of these so-called "experts" ever even measure Alkalinity, let alone hardness or CYA or anything else. It's shocking! I can't believe more people don't die in pools here. And there are no other FAS-DPD tests either, not even from China. So I have no way of measuring FC except a super-crappy Chinese test strip whose FC colors never resemble any of the legend colors. Even with the OTO TC test I do use, I had to reverse-engineer the meanings of the colors based on whether my skin itched (UG), since its colors don't resemble the yellow shades on the test container either. Only my pH measurement is really solid.

My theories about the sediment are:

#1 Maybe sand in filter needs replacement? Unlikely because the sand was replaced in the last 2-3 years according to landlord (though maybe the Vietnamese techs here use beach sand :| )

#2 Maybe sand filter laterals/standpipe are damaged and the sediment itself is actually sand? But would sand float as seen in the video (I'm not sure because I've never actually seen filter sand before, nor do I know if they used real filter sand)? And I never see islands of sand at the bottom of the pool.

#3 Maybe sand filter laterals/standpipe are damaged and the sediment itself is junk from the pool? More likely. But then why would I only have large sediment as seen in the video? Why wouldn't my pool be cloudy with smaller particles as well?

#4 Some kind of chlorine-resistant algae like mustard algae? Possible but unlikely since I don't see any stains (though the pool is pattered blue tiles so stains would be a bit hard to see; I don't see any stains on the white ladder stairs), and doing the mega-shock to 35ppm TC didn't affect it. However, the greyish dust mentioned above seems to be a vote in favor of this theory, maybe?

#5 Since I use cal hypo, maybe the sediment is chunks of calcium something-or-other that cannot dissolve in the water because the water is saturated with calcium-something-else already. During pool startup when I used soda ash to raise alkalinity, I totally "snowed out" the pool, with a layer of calcium deposits on the infinity edge thick enough to write on with my finger. But that resolved after a few days. Based on a post in this forum, I tried the trick of taking some of the pool water into a new container, and diluting it a bunch with tap water and waiting 30 minutes. The sediment remained after dilution. So probably not excessive calcium? By the way, while we're talking about calcium, there are three teeny-tiny, sharp spikes of Calcium sticking out at three points in the deep end of the pool (as I understand it, the spiky crystal shapes are more due to insufficient calcium/LSI than the calcium "scale" that is from excessive calcium/LSI but I believe they have been there for much longer than the 2.5 months I've been looking over the pool.

#6 Is my plastic tarp disintegrating into the pool? No, I checked that.

#7 what else??

So so far, #3 seems the best theory? What do you think?

It will be very expensive to get the local guys here to open the pump, possibly replace the sand, and check the laterals/standpipe (because I am a newbie who has never opened a filter, and because the filter is located lower than the pool and thus there is a possibility of an out-of-control spill that empties the pool into an access hole with 240V electrical wires in a country where the breaker is likely miswired and somewhat hot even when off due to ground leaks, I am not confident about performing that operation myself). Based on how disappointed I am with their lack of testing, I'm not even sure if they're capable of checking the laterals. Before I and/or my landlord spend that money, I want to make sure it's sensible to even try that.

Note that clarifier and flocculant are NOT available at all in Viet Nam. Nobody has even heard of either of them here. But I suspect it doesn't matter since the problem is more likely the filter or algae, and even if I did floc to clean, the sediment would come right back.

The only chemicals available in Viet Nam are cal hypo, muratic acid, various dichlor/trichlor Crud, and a few mystery "pool cleaner" chemicals from Thailand which have no ingredients (I can read Thai writing, and there no ingredients in Thai either) and which nobody can tell me what they are.

So, we don't have a the best tools or measurements to work with here, but what can we say from the data so far?

Thanks!

Hello-We recently got 2 bids for our new build: gunite w/faux infinity edge ~30x15 pool. Neither my spouse or I are interested in a spa which turned out to be a big money saver (had no idea they cost as much as they do) but are opting for Baja ledge and extending our existing patio.
Lots of amazing wisdom in this community and I’m hoping to get a good dose of it starting with my bids-I am open to any and all critiques, suggestions etc.
The photos attached are just about on point with what I want. 1 of them shows a brown concrete finish which will be changed to very light beige/off white.

Has anyone ever used a garage door on the pool house facing the pool? Have planned on open wall toward the pool but with the garage door, you can leave open when the pool is in use and close it when you aren't using it or close it for the season. It would keep things clean and dry when not in use.

Hi there,
Thanks for all the support from previous threads helping me, hopefully, get to the end of SLAMing after my pool started getting cloudy.
My question is, should I wash the thermal pool cover before I deploy it on the pool? It was on when the pool was cloudy and has been off for the last few days of SLAMing. My thinking is that whatever was in the pool will also be on the pool cover. Since it has been rolled up in an in ground box, it will still be damp so I imagine nasties still living on the blanket.
I was thinking I should take out the blanket and wash both sides with soap before putting back on. And I guess leave in strong sun for an hour or two.
Great to have your thoughts. Thanks

If you have a question about any information within this Sticky, please start a new thread for yourself where you will receive very quick responses to your specific questions. Thank you!


Introduction
There are two main things to consider when maintaining your hot tub water, Water Balance and Sanitation. There are a few different methods to sanitize your hot tub, Bromine and Chlorine being the most popular. However, I will only cover Chlorine, because that's what I know the best, thanks to Richard (Chem Geek). It is based on his famous Dichlor/Bleach method. If you're interested in Bromine, here https://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/how-do-i-use-bromine-in-my-spa-or-pool.84/ is an excellent writeup. However, Water Balance is related to all sanitation methods, so this could be helpful to anyone.

I will assume you have a fresh fill of water in your tub. If you don't and you're having problems, or it's close to the time to refill, you're better off just refilling your tub and starting over. Hot tub water should be changed every 3-5 months depending on usage. However, if your tub has serious problems, or you bought a used tub etc., you may want to decontaminate your tub using a product like Ahh-some.

In order to really maintain your water properly you need to test it. Test strips are ok for getting rough estimates, but IMO will make it more difficult to maintain your tub. It would be difficult for me to keep my tub as well tuned as it is by just using test strips. For a novice, I can see it being really difficult, especially if you have Well Water. Do yourself a favor and get a Drop Test kit such as the Taylor K-2006 or the TF-100.

One more note. Before I got my hot tub, I knew nothing about water chemistry. After I started studying hot tub water chemistry, I realized there was a lot more to keeping a hot tub water safe than I anticipated. However, after learning it, I realized it doesn't have to be difficult or time consuming. This may get a little technical, but once you learn it, you'll have no trouble keeping your water balanced and sanitized.

Water Balance
Water can be either Acidic, Balanced or Alkaline. If your water is not balanced, it could cause all kinds of problems. If it's too Acidic it could cause corrosion. If it's too Alkaline it could cause scaling. Both of which will reduce the effectiveness of your sanitizer. If your water is not balanced then your water is not safe for you, or your tub. So it's really critical to get this correct.

There are four main parameters to keeping your water balanced. Water Temperature, Calcium Hardness (CH), Total Alkalinity (TA) and Potens Hydrogen (pH). Assuming your water temp is around 100 degrees, we'll just focus on CH, TA and pH. The best way to test these is with a Drop Test kit, like the ones mentioned above. IMO Test Strips are just not accurate enough to test these, especially for a beginner.

Calcium Hardness: CH is basically the amount of Calcium in your water. The lower your CH, the higher your TA and pH need to be to have balanced water. The higher your CH, the lower your TA and pH need to be. The first thing you should do is test your CH in your tub. If you haven't filled your tub yet, test your tap water for CH using a drop test kit. If you have a water softener in your house, it will remove most of the Calcium from your water. That means you may get a different reading from your indoor sink then from the outdoor hose. Check both to make sure. If you have really bad well water i.e. lots of metals etc., you may want to fill your tub using the water softener water, then just add Calcium afterward. If your water is city treated water, you may be ok straight from the hose. Also, consider getting a pre-filter that attaches to your hose, and filters out some of the metals.

Here's my recommendation. If your CH is much below 100 ppm, you should add calcium to bring it up to 130-150 range. If your CH is over 100, you can leave it alone and just make a note of what it is. The CH level will be used to determine your TA/pH levels. To raise Calcium you add Calcium Chloride, aka Calcium Increaser. You can find it at most Pool/Spa supply stores. The good news is you only need to add Calcium once per water change, because it will stay relatively the same until your next water change.

Potens Hydrogen: pH is the measure of acidity in your water. It's on a scale of 0 to 14, 7 being neutral. The human eye has a pH of 7.5, so the ideal range in Pools/Spas is 7.4-7.6 with a min of 7.2 and max of 7.8. However, and this is important, just because you have a pH of 7.5, doesn't mean your water is balanced. If your TA and/or Ch is too high, you could be forming scale in your tub. So it is very important to have balanced water along with an ideal pH.

Total Alkalinity: Alkalinity is a pH Buffer. High levels of TA will not allow pH to change from additions of acid or base. However, a high TA requires a low pH to have balanced water. On the other hand, very low levels of TA will allow the pH to change with very little acid. A very low TA level could cause your pH to drop to low levels, very fast with little acid. Also, the lower your TA, the higher your pH needs to be to have balanced water. So, as you can see, a very low TA can become very unstable.

However, pH will have a tendency to rise with aeration (i.e. use of jets and air), more so if your TA is high. Although, as long as you're not adding Acid (or anything with a lower pH) to your tub, the pH will not usually drop. Therefore, in hot tubs the problem is normally pH rise (or Drift), because of all the aeration. So, the trick is to get the TA high enough to not create an unstable situation, and low enough to not allow pH to rise too much.

Let me repeat the last sentence, because it's the single most important thing to keeping your water balanced. The key to having balanced water, without pH drift, is having the correct TA level. If you find your pH rises too high (>8.0) after using your tub, your TA is too high, and needs to be lowered. If you find your pH is too low and/or your water is continually acidic, your TA is too low and needs to be raised. By fine tuning your TA, you can get your pH perfectly balanced, that rarely needs adjustment.

SO, what's a good TA then? Because spas tend to have a lot of aeration from jets and because the water is hot, it is best to keep the TA low at around 50 ppm.

OK, how do we adjust TA then? If TA is too low, you just add Baking Soda to raise it. However, if TA is high, it's little more involved. You'll need Acid (Dry or Muriatic). Depending on how high your TA is will depend on how long it will take you. Plan on it taking around an hour to decrease TA by 100 ppm. So if your TA is 300 ppm, plan it taking around 2-3 hours. First, uncover your tub and turn on all your jets, air, blowers, waterfalls etc. Test your pH. When it's greater than 7.8, add enough acid to bring it down to 7.0. Keep aerating until your pH is 7.8 again (about 30 min), then add more acid and repeat. Every time you add acid you're lowering your pH and TA. When you get your TA tuned perfectly, your pH will rise to a level (i.e. ~7.6) and stop, then you know you're at your ideal TA level. If your pH is rising too high (>8.0), bring your TA down a little more. If your pH doesn't rise enough from aeration (after an hour or more), you over shot it and need to add a little Baking Soda to raise your TA. After a few days/weeks of monitoring it, you'll get your TA tuned perfectly. You may need to add a little Dry Acid once a week or two, but your water should be well balanced at that point.

I wouldn't go much below 50 ppm TA, because that could become unstable if you add any kind of acid. Also, if you have a high TA, above 100, you may need to add more acid in the beginning to get your pH down. Remember, TA is a pH buffer, so the higher the TA, the more acid you need to bring the pH down. It takes approximately 8 oz total of Dry Acid to bring TA down 100 ppm in a 350 Gal tub. However, the key is not to add too much acid all at once to bring your pH down under 7.0. That's why you should aerate in between adding acid.

Lastly, there is one more thing I haven't mentioned that you can add to your tub that will help buffer your pH, Borates. The easiest way to add Borates to your tub is to get a product called Gentle Spa. It is pH balanced, so there is no need to add acid to counter balance it. The ideal amount is ~50 ppm, and only needs to be added once per water change. That will help keep your pH from drifting from aeration. Not to mention, actually make your water feel silkier. I highly recommend it.

BTW, I'm purposely not giving the exact amounts of Calcium, Baking Soda or Acid to use, because PoolMath will calculate that all for you. Just enter your tub size at the top, enter the current level in the left column, then enter your goal amount in the right. It will tell you the amount and what you need to add. For instance, if you enter tub size of 320 gal, a pH of 7.8 in the left column and 7.0 in the right, it calculates .4 oz or 2 tbs of Dry Acid. All you need to balance your water perfectly is Calcium Chloride, Baking Soda, Dry Acid and The Pool Calculator.

Sanitation
I'm only going to discuss Chlorine here, because I don't know enough about Bromine to comment on it. This is based on Chem Geek's Dichlor/Bleach method. I have found this method to be very easy and safe to use. I have yet to have a problem. I don't want to get into pros and cons, because that's better suited for it's own thread. If you don't know his method, this should explain it to you. If you do know it, maybe this will help you execute it better. I'm not going to get too technical. I'm just going to discuss everything that's important to keep your tub sanitized easily. If you want more details, search through Chem Geek's posts. You'll have plenty to read. Disclaimer: I'm not trying to convince you to use this method. I'm just explaining it. Please weigh all options before making a decision.

There are really two main things happening when your pool/tub is being sanitized. Organic waste is being oxidized, and bacteria/viruses are being killed. Chlorine does both, very well. That's why it's the most popular sanitizer in pools and spas. However, in order for chlorine to be effective there needs to be a Free Chlorine (FC) level in your tub at all times. If it drops to zero, bacteria will multiply within hours. So the number one rule with using chlorine as a sanitizer is, never let it drop to Zero for any length of time. Now lets get started on the procedure.

The first thing we are going to use to sanitize our tub is Dichlor. Dichlor is actually two things, Chlorine and Cyanuric Acid (CYA). CYA is a chlorine stabilizer, which slows down dissipation from UV rays (sunlight). It also acts as a buffer to hold chlorine in reserve. Having CYA in your tub will stop the chlorine from dissipating as fast while waiting for something to do and buffers the harshness associated with chlorine. However, CYA also cuts down on the ability for the chlorine to sanitize. So in other words, the higher the CYA level, the longer the FC will wait in the tub, but the less effective the FC is. With no CYA in the tub, using bleach would be too strong and not practical to use. So, there needs to be a happy medium. Luckily, Chem Geek has come up with one for us. He suggests a CYA of ~20 ppm. Personally I use a CYA of 30 ppm for reasons I won't get into here. But I think Chem Geek would agree anywhere between 20-50 is fine. Where the problem comes in is when CYA gets too high (above 100) after weeks of using Dichlor. Then your FC needs to be really high to get the same sanitation effectiveness. That's why we switch to bleach after we get our CYA to 20-30. Bleach doesn't add anymore CYA.

So, I'm going to assume our target CYA is 30, but feel free to use 20 and adjust as necessary. I find that it's easier to keep track of how much Dichlor you're adding to the tub and calculate the CYA, rather than testing CYA with the drop test kit until you get a 30 ppm reading. For every 10 ppm of Dichlor you add to your tub, you add 9 ppm CYA. So roughly 34 ppm Dichlor will give you 30 CYA. On a fresh fill, and after your water is balanced by the above method, shock your tub with Dichlor to 10 ppm FC. Then over the course of the next several days, depending on bather load, add 24 ppm more FC using Dichlor. You want to keep your FC normally between 3-6 ppm every day. This means you will be testing your FC EVERY DAY.

For example: On one day you test your FC and it's 1 ppm. You'll then add 5 ppm FC to bring it to 6. The next day you test FC and it's 3. You then add 3 ppm FC. You will do this until you add a total of 34 ppm FC to your tub using Dichlor. After that, you then switch to using bleach (plain, no scent, not splashless, no Cloromax). Important: if you're not willing to test your tub everyday, at least for the first month or two, this method is not for you. I'd recommend another sanitation method

When you use your tub (this applies to when you are still using Dichlor or after you switch to bleach), the rule of thumb is, you'll use approximately 7 ppm FC per person per hour in a 350 gal tub. Now this will depend on a lot of things, water temp, cleanliness of the users etc. If it's just two people, after taking showers, using no swimsuits, with the temp at 98 you may only need 2 ppm FC/person/hour. However, if you have 6 people in their clothes, drinking (spilling) beer, with a temp at 102 causing everyone to sweat, you may need 20 ppm FC/person/hour. So this is where you may need to make a judgment call and/or experiment. Remember, the Chlorine has to do two things, Oxidize Waste, and Kill Bacteria. If your tub is being subjected to a lot of waste (sweat, beer etc), your FC will be used up and not be able to kill bacteria. Not good! So I'll give you two scenarios and how you might go about running an experiment. Remember, all this up front work is only necessary in the beginning, until you learn how much FC is being used in your tub. Once you know, it becomes easy to maintain. The rule of thumb is, assuming CYA is 20-30 ppm, FC should normally be between 3-6, with a min of 1 and shock to 12 once a week.

We'll go with the easy one first, two people, showered, no suits etc. (Note: Some people prefer to use the tub with very little FC. That's your choice. I'm just telling you how to determine how much FC you're using in a safe manner). Test your FC and add Chlorine to get to 5 ppm FC. After one hour of soaking test FC again. If you find you have no FC after an hour, next time start with 6 or 7. If you find you still have 3 ppm FC, next time it's safe to start with 3-4 ppm FC. Get it? The trick is to have the lowest amount of FC without ever dropping to zero. If you plan on staying in the tub longer than an hour, either start out with more FC, or add some during the soak. However, you don't want to get into the tub with the FC much above 8, unless of course you like a strong smell of chlorine. I got in once with FC at 10, and it was a little too much for me, and I like the smell of Chlorine.

On the other extreme. Full tub of people drinking, sweating etc. Do the same as above, but start out with more FC, maybe 6-8 ppm. Check the FC in an hour (or even a half hour). If you have no FC, you need to add some and check more often. If you still have FC, add some, and check again in the same time frame. It's the same as above, but you're just using more FC, more often. However, having the FC drop to zero for a short time with your lover, is not the same as with 4-5 other people, if you get my drift. So it's much more important to keep FC above zero at ALL times during a Hot Tub Party.

If you find you're having trouble keeping FC in your tub during parties, and/or you smell a foul odor during your soaks, you can add Potassium Monopersulfate (MPS or Non-Chlorine Shock) before (and/or during) your soak to help the Chlorine Oxidize waste. The only thing I would say is, go easy with MPS. Use only the amount needed and not much more. It is acidic and will lower your TA/pH if you use a lot. Start out with 1-2 tbs in addition to your normal FC, and see if that cuts down on the FC usage. Up it to 3-4 tbs, or add another 1-2 tbs during the soak if needed. MPS will help oxidize waste. However, it will not kill bacteria, so you still need FC. Also, you can use MPS as a shock once a week to help oxidize leftover waste, and reduce Combined Chlorine (spent FC).

Wow if you made it this far, you did pretty well. It seems like a lot to learn, but it's really not. I'll summarize it here.

Summary

Water Balance
If your CH is much below 100 ppm, raise it to ~150 ppm. Otherwise, make a note of it.
Adjust your TA to ~50 ppm. Use Baking Soda to raise it (unlikely to be needed), or Acid/Aeration method to lower it. It takes ~8 oz Dry Acid to lower TA by 100 ppm in a 350 Gal Tub. Don't add it all at once!
pH should be between 7.2-7.8. Aerate to Raise pH. Acid to lower it.
If pH creeps up too much (>8.0), lower TA. If pH is too low, and doesn't raise enough by aeration, raise TA.
Add ~50 ppm Borate. (Borox/Acid or Gentle Spa)
Calcium, Baking Soda, Dry Acid and Borates is all you need to balance your water.
Use PoolMath to calculate exact amounts to add.

Sanitation
On a fresh fill use Dichlor until you get to 20-30 ppm CYA. (10 ppm FC = 9 ppm CYA)
Then switch to plain bleach or liquid chlorine.
Never let FC drop to Zero for any length of time. Keep it between 3-6 ppm normally, min of 1 ppm, and shock to 12 ppm once a week.
Use MPS if needed before hot tub party's and/or once a week to help oxidation. Don't use more than needed, because it's acidic and may lower your TA/pH.
Dichlor, Bleach and MPS is all you need to keep your tub sanitized.
Use PoolMath to calculate exact amounts to add.

Lastly, get a drop test kit such as the Taylor K-2006 or a TF-100. Also get FC test strips. They come in handy for a quick FC estimate, during party's etc. The only two things you need to check regularly are FC and pH. Check them every day and after soaks. Adjust TA as needed. If you have your water well balanced, you'll rarely need to adjust your TA. You'll just be adding chlorine every day, and after soaks. Shock once a week, and/or after high bather loads. Use MPS if you have party's, and/or don't want to use as much chlorine. Easy as can be, and your tub is always ready.

I hope that helps you to understand Water Maintenance a little better. It helped me just to write. If I missed anything important please let me know, I'll be happy to add it.

Happy tubbing!

Hi All,

Recently I have been doing a lot of playing around with Grafana and InfluxDB v1.8.3. Mostly, in order to better manage and access my swimming pool automation, sensor and chemical control historical data.

Grafana makes it great to do so, since I can view the historical and current data in ANY context or time period that I wish. It appears that Grafana makes the management of pool automation data much better than anything that can be found bundled with the big 3 pool automation platforms.

But I also know that my current Grafana dashboard can be improved even more.

So, I am looking for other experienced Grafana/InfluxDB users out there that may wish to share their ideas and the fruits of their labor, etc.

Things like the following:

• Dashboard templates
• Panels
• Plug-ins

In other words, I wanted to start a collaboration thread of sorts here for the sharing of pool automation related Grafana ideas etc.
I’ll go ahead and post what I currently have and would hope that there might be a few other pool automation DIYers out there that happen on to this thread who may wish to do the same.

In full disclosure, I did not develop the dashboard that I am currently using from scratch.
I had started with my own dashboard originally, then I lost all of my work on “Docker” (which I had no concept of.) I then decided to download Grafana directly to my Mac and started over.

Initially, @tagyoureit had assisted me with the setup of InfluxDB and Grafana. When I informed him on what had happened, he was kind enough to share the dashboard that he was working on and I imported his dashboard template into my own. I can't thank him enough for all of his assistance in the course of this project!

I used much of his base work and set out to modify it to my own preferences, setup etc. Modifying some panels and using his templates to create some of my own panels. I even found a cool new Grafana “dial” plugin in which to incorporate.

Although my Grafana log files etc., reside on my Mac. InfluxDB resides on a Raspberry Pi solely dedicated for that task and pulls its data from the nodejs-poolController that resides on a different RPi.

Note 1: I should really note here that there is a companion piece of software that is in final stages of development/beta testing that really goes hand-in-hand with the Grafana output but I’ll share more on that later.
Note 2: The bindings directions for integrating InfluxDB with the nodejs-poolController can be found in the following link.

I did find three other threads and/or posts here on TFP that do mention the use of Grafana. I'll go ahead and include the links to them below.

Anyway, I have included below a screen capture of where I’m at presently. If anyone has any ideas on how my Grafana output can be improved/modified, or you wish to share your own InfluxDB/Grafana work, your input and contributions are certainly welcome.

Thanks in advance…
r..

I am replumbing my equipment pad. I would like to be able to isolate the heather and SWG. What is better, 3way valves or tees with a ball valve on each side.

Liner was leaking and had seen better days. I looked for the leak and could not find it and it was leaking at a decent enough rate that I would need to add water every few days. As it was I filled it back up 3 or 4 times over the past winter.

Not sure how old the liner was, it pretty much looked like this when I bought the house in 2013. They said it was only 3 - 4 years old but I doubt it, since it was pretty faded then. I think the pool was still closed when I made my offer on the house and closed at the end of July 2013

In the first year or two I found out the the conduit to the light niche was leaking. First fix with epoxy putty lasted a year or two. After that I dug and fixed it by replacing some of the conduit and making a better connection to the niche. Settling of the soil looks to be what caused it to originally fail.

Some before photos: