Alright, my Aiper Scuba X1 arrived last night, so here's my initial reactions.

Let me start by saying my pool has started very, very dirty. So far, I've given the X1 two runs in the pool. One last night after it arrived, and one this morning. Here are my quick takeaways: (1) It has not had full coverage on the floor or walls after two runs. (2) It has had no problem getting past the safety ledge on my fiberglass pool, it cleans up past it to the waterline and gets the ledge itself cleaner than I expected. (3) I like the X1's charging dock, this is my first pool cleaner, so I haven't had to deal with charging ports, but I it's pretty easy to get this unit charged back up. (4) Hooking the robot and pulling it to the surface was easier than I thought it would be, it's bouyancy makes it light to carry to the surface, but it definitely "poops" when you lift it out of the water.

Alright with all that said, I'll start by saying my first cleaning may not have given the robot a fair chance. I was getting ready to go out for the evening, so I set the robot to "smart cleaning" (walls, waterline, floor), tossed the robot in the pool, closed the auto-cover and left. That left it to spend the next 2+ hours cleaning in pitch black darkness. I returned home and opened the auto cover to find it "parked" in the deep end with two walls scrubbed and about 80% of the deep end cleaned. I'm not sure how much the robot depends on the vision systems, but I did confirm it can clean all the way up to the waterline with the cover closed. So, I cleaned out the very full basket and put the X1 on its charger for the night.

This morning, I put it back in the pool on "smart cleaning" again, this time in the shallow end, and I left the pool open for its full cycle. I spent some time watching it bumble around the stairs in the shallow end and found that it was very slow to navigate them, and missed big sections of them (I'll try to post a photo of that). Once it got past the stairs it moved around the other walls pretty quickly. After a while I came back to find it working on the floors and noticed that it didn't make it around the full perimeter before it switched to floor mode. I'm not sure if it stops after a certain amount of time and switches to floors, but it missed almost all of the far long wall. The floor cleaning seems okay, but I'd say after these two runs its still only about 95% of the deep end and still missed almost all of the shallow end. The robot parked in the deep end and had a very full basket again. It's back on the charger now.

I think next, I'll give the "floors only" mode a go with the ultra-fine basket and see how that goes. I'm curious to see if "floor only" will get me closer to full coverage on the floors, and if "walls only" will allow the X1 to make it around the full perimeter.

Edit: I haven't done any firmware updates yet. Might try to get one in before the next run.

New pool build, most likely ordering from Royal Pool soon. Hopefully! I really need help with lights, does anyone have ideas?

• STD Chlorine (Not SWG) pool, vinyl liner (I had a previous 16x32 Doughboy that I learned from pool school) hoping for the same luck
• 20x44 Latham 14 gauge steel panels, Walls are 42" deep with 8' deep end
• full width open steel top steps, they recommended open top?
• heavy duty adjustable 12 gauge steel a frame braces
• 42" deck support braces
• deep end corner swimout benches on each side
• APC 365 vinyl cover in light gray
• 1/8" wallfoam
• Latham Stardust Blue 20 mil liner
• 2x Hayward Wide Mouth Skimmer
• 4x Returns
• 2x Main Drains
• Pentair Intelliflo 3 HP Pump
• Pentair SD80 Sand Dollar Filter
• Raypak 266k Propane heater
• Automatic Chlorinator
• 2" ridgid pvc everywhere with individual home runs for every plumbing fixture
• LIGHTS????? I am scared by everyone complaining on reliability. I am a gadget person and like the color options but don't know what would work best. We are also installing our pool with the full width steps on the house side so not sure how to deal with the lights and brightness.

I am an avid DIY and have done most things, just not a pool I am hoping this will be another fun project. We are planning to do a brushed concrete pool deck to finish things off. Please be as critical as you can! I am an engineer and love the details but am struggling with finalizing things.

Thank you!

Hi everyone,

On my 5th year of getting my pool up and running. Previous 4 years have gone off without any issues... However, this year is giving me a lot of trouble.

I started getting my pool ready about a week ago by getting all the leaves out, (didn't use a cover over the winter) and starting the SLAM process. Process was going fine, the pool water was like pond water in the beginning of course, and it eventually cleared to this:



It's gotten better since the "pond water" I first started with, but it's recently plateaued as shown in the picture above and it hasn't gotten any clearer in like the past four days. My most recent tests are:

4/19

FC - 11 PPM
CC - 4 PPM
CYA - 20
Backwashing multiple times per day and refilling water as level decreases.

4/20 (this morning)

FC - 10 PPM
CC - 4.5
CYA - 20
Backwashing multiple times per day and refilling water as level decreases.

Don't think it's ammonia problem as CYA is not at zero... But maybe it is? Who knows!

I will say that while cleaning out the pool from all the leaves, I did find several metallic items such as a metallic patio furniture, other pool deck items and I am curious if perhaps the salt interacting with the metal of these objects could have messed anything up? I didn't realize they had fallen in, so they've been in there several months...

Like I said in the previous four years, I would have had the pool crystal clear by now, but I am not sure what the issue is this year! Looking for any suggestions to help me get over the hump.

Thanks

Aaron

Hi, I have a 3 tier waterfall and have gone through a few leak repairs.
- Crack in the base was repaired with quikrete and then painted over w/ pond shield. The pond shield started peeling off 2 years later, but the quikrete lasted.
- Two foot length crack in the wall of the bottom pool was fixed using quikrete also, but that only lasted two years.
- We also have chunks/layers chipping away from the top pool that I assume will eventually create a huge issue.

We aren't in a place to get this fixed professionally, but we are pretty handy.
I'm tempted to just lay down an entire new layer of plaster/concrete on top of the old but making sure no water gets in-between the old and new is probably hard.
Any suggestions on how to tackle this waterfall project?

Also, our concrete deck has a long crack that runs the width of the deck (12ft) and it's also rough from the salt water and general age of the entire build (built by previous owners in 2002). What do folks put down to protect the deck from degrading further?
Thanks so much for any advice you have.
I've attached pictures.

Howdy folks,

Brand new Aussie product here, what on earth has Bioguard been cooking up now:


Any thoughts on what this actually is? Chat GPT advised its propiatary and I can't even find a Safety Data Sheet. I did however find the below blurb on a site that sells it:

"
BioGuard® Eco Sunscreen and Clarifier is the industry’s first chlorine stabiliser that does NOT use standard isocyanurates or cyanuric acid. It is a 100% efficient alternative to traditional stabilisers, avoiding all the problems of CYA saturated water and unnecessary chlorine over dosage to compensate. Compatible with all types of treatments.

• CYA-free
• Filters UV light
• Does not form toxic by products
• ORP probe-safe
• Eco-friendly
• Prevents chlorine breakdown due to sunlight
• Up to 40% clearer water
• Reduces chlorine consumption.
• Reduces maintenance costs.
• Ideal for outdoor swimming pools.
• In saltwater pools, Eco Sunscreen and Clarifier increases the life of the electrolysis cells.

Shake well before each use. When using for the first time, add 200ml per 10,000L of pool water. Thereafter, add 100ml per 10,000L of pool water each week, OR 400ml per 10,000L of pool water each month. Always add product to the deep end of the pool. Run pump for at least 1 hour after application to disperse product.

Dosage rates should be adjusted to the bather load of the pool. IF frequent backwashing is required, or pool is in an environment that is high in contamination, dosage rate can be doubled for peak performance.
"

Dosage rates seem very regular and and require a lot of the product. Just asking as seeing ORP probe safe piqued my interest.

Looking to bond my above ground pool. Because it is all resin except the shell, I have read on this site that you only need to connect to the seem. So I will run the copper line from the seem to the equipment and branch off and connect the pump, heater and anode. Correct?

Two questions.

1. Do I still need to loop around the pool? (Guessing I don’t because there is no other place to connect to the pool, only the seem)
2. Do I need to connect the bonding copper wire to a copper rod that’s in the ground?

Ordinarily, when opening the pool, I manually vacuum all the silt and debris to waste and get the pool clean and balanced before using the robot. It's a miserable job that takes hours, so this year I decided (because I'm an idiot, a lazy idiot) not to do the usual manual vacuuming when opening up the pool, and instead I just netted out some of the big debris (leaves, piles of worms) and then put the robot (a Dolphin SX20, same as S100/E20 I think) in to clean it up for me.

That might have been a mistake. For one thing, it very quickly got clogged up with fine silt (this was with the regular basket, not the fine one). Worse, all kinds of debris is now sprouting out from every opening and even the joins between the plastic exterior panels - evidently crud and debris has got everywhere inside the thing once its basket got clogged - and I can't clean it out. I did briefly put it back in the pool and it seemed to still work OK but of course the water was still pretty bad so took it out again (and now attempting to clean up the pool the 'traditional' way!)

Anyway, I guess I know now that using the robot for the initial clean up is a bad idea.

But do you think (one I've got the pool clean) when the robot goes back in, the clean water will flush out the debris from inside the machine? Anyone else had this happen?

This is my 3rd summer with the pool (2 winters). Could my filter gasket have already gone bad? It's leaking a lot from behind the band clamp. I took the gasket out, cleaned it, re-lubed it, re-set it. I always give it little whacks as I tighten it. It is my understanding that helps to set it properly. I can't see anything physically wrong with it. It's not dried up, or brittle at all. I have a replacement gasket on the way tomorrow, but since the current one looks fine to me, I'm doubtful that it will solve my problem. What else could it be?

This is a new pool, I had it for 1 summer and then it was closed in fall 2024.

Today, the person came to open it, saw that I didn't have any algecide (polyquat40 or 60 he was asking for) and said that I should NEVER put liquid chlorine in my pool orelse it will make the pool walls yellow (fiberglass pool).

The guy is old school, but he's been doing this for over 40 years so I trust him but wanted to have the opinion of TFP on this.

I was under the impression that it was ok to use liquid chlorine (bleach).

I've never struggled with low CH. Lately for the last couple of weeks I'm reading 150. This pool has always been on the high side 250-300+ usually. Plaster pool about 13 years old. Everything else is close to normal for me anyway. this mornings results TFTtest with new chemistry.

FC 5 ppm
PH 8.2 (before adding acid)
TA. 130
CH 150
CYA 70
Temp 86
Salt 2600 Taylor test

What can cause low CH? It's been a fairly dry and cool winter/spring here(South Fl). With the heater keeping the water at 85 I've had more evaporation than I'm used to. Was convinced I had a leak until I passed a bucket test. So have had to add more water than usual. Rain usually keeps this pretty full.
I'm not even sure what to add to bring it up.
As I was writing this I decided to test my tap water. 50. That could be the problem.

So, I'm going to be adding a new outlet(fresh cut hole in liner etc.) to my pool, its a funsicle 14 x 42 with the skimmer pump, converted the skimmer pump to just a skimmer and have purchased a intex sand filter pump and chlorinator. I will be doing the pvc plumbing and also it will have a manual vac as well as the intex zx100, Might even be adding a second inlet aswell, can anyone be kind enough to tell me which fittings I'd need? Yes I know seems overkill for a small above ground. Don't ask, I blame the wife x.x, hence the username. Haha.

I noticed something orangey-brown on the walls of the pool and on the seat carved into the deep end. (just on a small section of the wall near the seat and on the seat) It was barely noticeable, but when I brushed it it went away. Is this mustard algae? If I do a chlorine loss test tonight and it checks out and the orangey stuff doesn't return, am I okay? Or should I go ahead and shock the pool now just in case? Thanks!

FC 7
Ph 7.8
TA 60
CYA 50
CH 240

Cleaning filters and noticed water is coming out of the area circled. Something to be concerened about? My pressure is low but I do think Im due for a new pump.

Hello,

I opened up my pool and turned on the pump. As soon as the pressure built up, the plumbing broke off from the yellow rubber piece in the images. I was able to put a plug in the opening of the jet to stop the water from draining.

I am fairly handy and have an idea of what I should do, however I am not even sure this was installed correctly. Is the rubber boot (so to speak)even the correct way to put this on? The plumbing was glued into the rubber boot. Rubber boot was slipped onto the outside return jet piece and held on by a metal screwed in clamp.

How should I fix this? Same way, but with a PVC union piece and the rubber glued back onto a new piece and reinstalled?

I had a new piece for the outside return that I can use. Images to show what I am working with. This is a 32 x 16 Semi Above Ground Doughboy Pool.

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About a month ago I needed a new robot pool cleaner and I contacted Margaret at Marina Pool and Spa. My initial goal was to buy another S200 "style" robot as I have been happy with them so far.

Margaret suggested that I might want to look at a new line of robot cleaners that Marina is now carrying, the Aqua Products EVO. I was intrigued and so I opted for the EVO instead of the Dolphin robot. I have been using the EVO for about a month now and here are my initial thoughts...


I recently had the opportunity to use an AQUA Products EVO 614i Robot Cleaner. It looks like they are under the Zodiac Pool system brand.

I have been a faithful Dolphin robot user from many years, but I thought I’d give the EVO a chance to show me what it’s got.




On the surface it appears that both the EVO and the Dolphin S200 are about equally matched. In this initial review, I point out some of the notable differences. Not really a good and bad situation, just where I noticed different engineering.

1. Dual Drive motors. The EVO has a left and right drive motor. These drive motors can run forward or reverse. This means the EVO can spin on a dime, when the two motors are going in opposite directions. You notice this instantly when the robot makes its first turn.

2. Two Active Brushes. The EVO has Dual active brushes, while the Dolphin has one active brush.

3. Large Brushes with wear indicators. The EVO’s brushes are larger and appear to be much more robust than the ones that the Dolphin uses. Because there are two drive motors the brushes are split between the left and right sides. The brushes in the front are the same size as the brushes in the back. The Dolphin has a smaller brush in the back.



4. Filter basket. The EVO’s filter basket is about half the size of the Dolphin basket. It has a one-piece screen-like filter vs. the Dolphin which has a 4-piece pleated filter. I initially thought this would be an issue, as I have always used the pleated Dolphin filters. But, after many cleaning cycles, I’m beginning to like the screen filter better. I think my dislike of the screen filters is because I used them on the Dolphin and they lasted about a month before they got holes in the them and became useless. As much as I like the Dolphin’s pleated filters, the EVO’s screen filter was much easier to clean. Although the Dolphin has a much larger basket, I am not sure it matters as I doubt the Dolphin can fill the basket due to its inlet design.



5. Water Inlet Differences. The Dolphin sucks up debris into the center of their basket, through an open-ended cloth bag. The bag is to prevent the debris from leaking back into the pool when you pull the robot out of the water. It certainly helps contain the debris, but it does not stop everything. It has a negative side in that it can get clogged with large debris and then nothing can get sucked up into the basket. The EVO does it differently. It sucks up the debris through a tube and into the top of the robot and then drops the debris into the basket. When you pull the EVO out of the water, none of the debris go back into the pool.







6. Filter Area Design. The EVO has an almost water-tight area with the suction motor and impeller along with the filter basket. Not sure if this a plus or not. It does make the EVO harder to sink as it acts almost like a boat. You lower it into the water with the rear brushes pointing down. Where you can just throw the Dolphin in the pool, and it just sinks on its own. Edit.. To be clear the EVO sinks on its own, it just take a little longer than the Dolphin.

7. The Power Cord. The cord on the EVO is much larger in diameter and stiffer than the Dolphin’s cord. I had great hopes this would mean that the cord would not tangle. I was wrong. I have not had it long enough to know what will happen as it gets broken in, but running the EVO several times in a row, without removing it from the pool, induced the same basic tangle that I have seen in all my Dolphin robots. Edit. If I run the robot, like I normally do, and clean it after every run, the cable does not tangle.




8. The Swivel. The EVO has a much more robust looking swivel compared to the Dolphin. The EVO combines the cable float and the swivel in one device. Neither swivel seems to swivel enough to keep the cable from tangling.



9. The Power Supply Connector. The only thing on the EVO that appears a little out of place and rather cheap is the connector on the power supply end of the cable. It just plugs into the Power Supply with two little snaps. Maybe I’m just used to military cannon plug style connectors, but I like the Dolphin’s connector better. The EVO’s connector does appear that it could be replaced easier, while the Dolphin is more molded in place and does not look to be easily replaceable. Not sure I have ever seen bad one.



10. DIY Repair. I have some experience with the assembly and disassembly of the S200 style Dolphins and it is very easy. At first glance I don’t see how to disassemble the EVO or if repair parts are even available. Not something I plan to investigate until the EVO is out of warranty.

11. Water Line Cleaning. When cleaning the water line tile, the Dolphin moves sideway because a gate turns and causes water to shoot out of a vent on the sides of the plastic housing. This forces the robot to move along the tile line for about 2 or 3 feet at a time. The EVO does not have any directional vents, but does move along the tile line. It appears to me that the robot floats at a slight angle and while the brushes clean the tile line, they also cause the robot to move along the tile line.

12. The Power Supply. The EVO’s power supply allows you to select either floor only, or floors and walls/tile line. The cycle time is 1.5 hours for floor only and 2.5 hours for everything. Both the EVO and Dolphin power supplies are water resistance. The EVO’s power supply has a Power Light that is on anytime the power supply is plugged into AC power. You would assume when you pushed the Start/Stop button that it would light up, but it does not. The Power light flashes once when you push the Start button. I find that odd as it is hard to tell if the Robot is on or off. If you have the EVO 614i, then the Power supply has a Wi-Fi button. Edit.. It appears the idea is to use the app to start or stop the robot.. It works fine from the power supply once you understand the start stop button does not light up.



13. Wi-Fi Control. The EVO 604 and 614i are the same basic robot, but the 614i has Wi- Fi control. Not that it actually controls much. I am not sure what the App is for other than when you sign up for the iAquaLink app you need to give them just about everything including location of any birth marks. Quite invasive for what you get. The plus side is that it came right on line and connected once I entered the 80 pages of personal info. The app lets you change the cleaning mode from floors to floors and walls, and lets you start or stop the robot, but it does not allow you to ‘drive’ the robot around. It appears the drive mode is an option for the more expensive models. The app displays a big spinning clock showing how much time is left in the cleaning cycle. I pushed stop and it stopped. I pushed start and it did not return to work, it just started over. It does give you some info on the robot itself, like how may total hours run, S/N, F/W installed and other such info. I don’t see the value in what the app does, but it came with the unit. Edit... I'm told that the app for the 614i will be updated in the next few weeks to include the ability to drive the robot and to make it drive itself to the surface at a wall so it is easy to remove from the pool. I guess time will tell if this happens or not.

14. Warranty... Both the EVO and the Dolphin have a Two-year warranty.

15. Unknow life expectancy. Dolphin 3 to 5 years. Edit. This is key in my mind, but we won't know how reliably the EVO is for several years...

16. Main Drain Hang Ups. So far, I have run the EVO for about 50 hours and it has never hung up on the main drain. The Dolphin would hang up on the main drain about 10% of the time. I believe that because of the dual drive motors, that the EVO will not have this issue, but time will tell.

17. I did not find anything that would keep me from buying this unit again. See #18

18. I assumed you could run the unit on weekly schedule, but I now realize that is not an option. For me that is not an issue as I normally only use the robot two or three times a week, but it will not work for a lot of pool owners. You’d think it would be an easy App fix. I also do not see where you can control it from an automated electrical outlet. Edit. The app is supposed to be update (automatically) but my understanding is that the timer option is not part of this update. This makes no sense to me, but we will see.

Thanks,

Jim R.

Hey everyone, I purchased a "new" PX300 off ebay and it came with a safety capacitor(I googled the numbers on it). Has anyone used something like this? I googled pictures of similar transformers and they don't have it. My new pool lights are 12v.

I thought I would post my impressions of the Instapark betta and my experience with it. The beta does an excellent job cleaning the pool, it is the only skimmer I found on the market that has a very large container for collecting debris. I get a lot of pineneedles in my pool and this feature was the main selling point for me. The beta also comes with a remote control that you can drive the robot around manually with, and provides a convenient means to retrieve it from the pool, and to spot clean. It has a total of five different modes, which are indicated by the LEDs on the back of the unit. In it’s autonomous mode, the LEDs on the back blink blue. When the robot is being controlled with the remote control the LEDs are solid blue. When the robot is running low on power the LEDs will turn red. If robot experiences a fault or a jammed basket, the LEDs alternate between red and blue. When it is completely out of batteries it enters a sleep mode and no LED lights will display on the unit. The batteries seem to last a long time, as it can run all day and all night. However you cannot charge the unit with an outlet. It can only charge via the sun. What I have discovered is that if I run the robot a full day then let it run all night and if the next day is cloudy the robot will run out of power. This will require that the robot charges in the sun all day before it can run it again. Because of this, I choose not to run it at night, and it always seems to have enough power to run several overcast days in a row. This isn’t unique to the betta though as other solar skim bots are designed the same way. I wish that it had the option to charge it via an outlet.

I have had several issues with the product and I am on my third unit. The good news though is that the company is very responsive and when you have a problem they will ship you out a new one immediately. They also are constantly making updates to their robots and I am hopeful that they will eventually resolve the reliability issues myself and other owners have reported experiencing. There are at least three different versions of this robot that I am aware of at the time of this post. The first version of the robot apparently was having issues with their motors and they would not recommend the robots for use in salt water pools. The motors were rusting and seizing up apparently. The first one I received was the first version that was released for use for salt water pools and I have never experienced any issues with the motors on my previous two robots. The issue my first robot had was that it seemed to have gotten stuck in it’s error mode. When I would power on the robot all it would do is blink blue then red. Instapark sent me a new unit to replace it with. This robot seemed to do better and had its programming updated. The first robot seemed like it would just swim along in the pool full speed until it hit a wall. The new robot would slow down and turn before it would hit the wall. It also seems to do a better job avoiding objects in the pool. The issue that I eventually had with this robot was that it started swimming around in circles, which was a common problem on the first generation of robots due to the motors freezing up. That didn’t seem to be the case with this one though. I noticed that the robot would stop spinning in circles if it took up rather violent whack into the side of the pool. When it would start swimming in circles, I could give it a whack or two around it’s sensors and it would correct the issue for several days. The other issue it seemed to have, was it would go into its error mode when it would stubbornly try to fight the currents from the return jets. Instead of turning around to avoid going headlong into the current, it would eventually just give up and would enter into its error mode and start to flash blue and red. When this would happen I would have to turn it off and on again or just wait 20 minutes as the robot restarts itself 20 minutes after experiencing a fault. I have received my third robot last night, and I’ve yet to use it because it needs to charge. This new robot seems to be a different revision, because it has a much smaller power button then all of the previous ones. I’m not sure what the reasoning is for this but it does indicate to me that the company is making changes to the hardware of the robot on a fairly consistent basis. The newest revision as of the date of this post has a smaller button and red propellors. I will update this thread when I have more experience with this new robot. I am hopeful that this one doesn’t experience any issues, as when it’s working correctly it does a wonderful job and keeps my pool free of all the pine needles that I experience every time I have a massive storm. It does an excellent job keeping the pool clean. If it didn’t have the issues that I have experienced, I would be more than happy with it, and would highly recommend it to anyone.

I wanted to share my experience with saltcellsupply.com to allow people to judge for themselves if they should enter into business with this company.

Abbreviated Timeline:
May 2023 - The cells of my Jacuzzi SWG started to fail, and finding a replacement was difficult at best. I came across saltcellsupply.com, and in a helpful email exchange with them, they recommended that their salt cell replacement would function well. I decided to buy the generic replacement because it was based by a generous 5-year warranty. I installed the cell, and it worked great.

March 2025 - The replacement cell began to fail in the same way that the old one did. I verified the salt ppm and cleaned the cell, but it continued to display a low salt error.
I reached out reached out to the company using their online form explaining the situation.
Two days passed with no answer.
I reached out again via the online form.
Two days passed with no answer.
I looked up the two-year-old email thread, and I replied to that email explaining the situation.
Two days passed with no answer.
I found an email on their website, and I emailed them with that address.
Two days passed with no answer.
I used one of my different email accounts and emailed their listed address asking a question about the differences between the performance of the generic and OEM cells.
I received a reply within 40 minutes. (I sent the email about 10 pm in the Mountain Time Zone.)
I replied to that email with my cell situation.
Two days passed with no answer.
I emailed them back expressing my displeasure and explained that I will have to share this experience.
Two days passed with no answer.
I tried another online form on their website.
It has been a couple of weeks, and I still have not had any contact from the company about my inquiries into their warranty.

I can't see how this does not illustrate poor communication at best and deceptive business practices at worst. Has anyone else experienced something similar with this company? Or, have people had luck in receiving any level of customer service? If so, what is the secret?

At this point, given the seemingly lack of availability of replacement cells for my system, I am looking to replacing the whole SWG.

Just opening our pool for the season. After cleaning the pool (dirt and algae) over the last several days and adding chlorine (testing 2/day), the water is looking clear, however the CYA is too low to show up on tests. I’ve been adding Cyanuric acid 16oz at a time (sock method) and after adding it 3 times, I have noticed the testing water is yellow. I’ve ordered new R-0013 test drops, thinking the chemical might have gone bad. Until that arrives on Saturday is there something else that I can check? I haven’t done the full testing because the Ph and CYA was off, but I know not to address the ph until the CYA balanced…. So just hold off on all testing and Chlorine and Cyanuric acid addition until the new solutions arrive?

Historically the only issues we typically have needed to address are algae, chlorine and low CYA. The PH etc are typically always ok.

My gut say
1. Get cya balanced after new solutions arrive
2. Do full testing and correct as needed.

Our pool light housing hasn’t worked since we purchased the home. Power is going to the box. We had to replace the junction box and the light came on for a few minutes. But hasn’t come back on. We removed the light housing from pool and this is what we saw. Pool age: 34 years old. Pretty Sure the housing has never been changed. What is this?

Hey Everyone,

The pool was finished about 2 years ago. I keep the pumps going year round, so no closing or opening. Just adding liquid chlorine over the winter.

Last year right before it was warm enough to swim, chlorine levels looked good once I got more salt in the water. This year that hasn't happened.

1. What am I missing that I should be doing to get the chlorine up? I'm assuming I need to get it higher than 0.5 or 1. The SWG is set to 100% and the pump is going 24 hours a day.

A couple of less important questions:

2. We've had a lot of rain but my overflow drain isn't draining as fast as last year. It's barely a trickle and taking days to go down 1/8 of an inch. What can I do about this?

3. My Polaris EPIC 8640 vacuum seems to be flipping a lot and not sticking to the walls as well even though the basket is empty. Is it just getting old or is there something I can do about it?

Here are my logs from the Pool Math app. I missed logging a lot of the chlorine / pH tests and the additions related to those two, but hopefully it helps to see the numbers.

• New pool opened in May 2023
• 5/22/23 – 5.5 FC, 0 CC, 7.8 pH, 120 TA, 200 CH, 40 CYA, 3200 Salt
• 7/2/23 - 3.0 FC, 0 CC, 8.2 pH, 100 TA, 275 CH, 20 CYA, 2400 Salt
  • Added 120lbs Salt
• 3/5/24 – 3.0 FC, 7.8 pH
• 3/23/24 – 0 FC, 0 CC, 8.2 pH, 90 TA, 250 CH, 20 CYA, 1600 Salt
  • Added 320lbs Salt
• 3/24/24 – 3200 Salt
• 3/29/24 – 4.0 FC, 8.2 pH
• 4/14/24 - added 7 lbs dry stabilizer
• 4/16/24 - 3 FC, 7.6 pH
• 4/17/24 - 50 CYA
• 4/18/24 - added 3.5 lbs dry stabilizer
• 4/19/24 - 55 FYA
• 6/8/24 - 2 FC, 7.5 pH
• 7/17/24 – 1.5 FC, 0 CC, 7.3 pH, 110 TA, 375 CH, 60 CYA, 2800 Salt
• 9/10/24 – 10 FC, 8 pH
• 9/11/24 - 7.5 FC, 7.8 pH
• 12/8/24 - 4.5 FC, 7.8 pH
• 1/18/25 - 0.5 FC, 7.8 pH
• 2/2/25 - 0.5 FC, 7.8 pH
• 3/2/25 - 0.5 FC, 8.4 pH
• 3/4/25 - 4 FC, 7.8 pH
• 3/12/25 - 1 FC, 7.8 pH
• 3/22/25 - 0.5 FC, 7.8 pH
• 4/4/25 - 0.5 FC, 7.8 pH
• 4/18/25 - 0 FC, 8.2 pH, 74 F
• 4/19/25 - cleaned the filters
• 4/20/25 - 1800 Salt
  • Added 240 lbs Salt
• 4/21/25 - 2800 Salt
  • Added 80 lbs Salt
• 4/22/25 - 2.0 FC, 7.8 pH, 3300 Salt
• 4/26/26 - 0.5 FC, 0.5 CC, 8.2 pH, 60 TA, 450 CH, 30 CYA, 3000 Salt

Hello,
I have had my pool for about 5 yrs now and I have always used test strips. I tried using the Taylor kit my pool guy gave me when we first opened but I found it to be so confusing. I want to start to try and understand this and I am looking at the TF-Pro Salt kit. How long will that last me? I am comparing to some digital options that sit in your pool and monitor it and tell you what it is you need. Sutra and water Guru are two I am looking at. I’m sure people on this forum will say not to do the digital stuff. I just want something easy since my time is limited and I hate it when things go haywire. Any help is highly appreciated.

So, just like the title says, pool light is hanging by its cord in the deep end. Our pool was installed late last summer so not even a year old. We recently got a Dolphin Cayman vacuum that I had gotten a lot of advice and good info from here about.

I have so many questions I don’t even know where to start. Can this be fixed without draining? Is it a safety hazard to be around? (Not in the pool yet this year so that’s not a worry.) what sort of cost am I looking at? Has this happened to anyone else?is it the “fault” of the vac? Shouldn’t a pool light be able to handle a pool vac going over it?

I worked so hard and was so diligent to get the pool good for this season! I’m furious, yet again, at the builder. All I want to do is enjoy my pool! Please, please, please help me with any advice, info, or whatever.

Hope everyone is having a better day than me!
-Mark

Hi. I have a Hayward Aqua Plus system with SWG, installed around 2012. Unfortunately, several local "pool professionals" have not done right by me and my system, so I've completely taken over. I'm on my 4th Salt Cell and my 3rd circuit board. Also, my Hayward Intelliflo pump's controller died, so I replaced the pump with a Century Vgreen 270. I have the Aqua Plus monitored and controlled through Home Assistant via an RS485 to Wifi adapter and the Vgreen is monitored and controlled through Home Assistant via ESPHome. Since the Aqua Plus is not directly communicating with the Vgreen pump (since they don't speak the same RS485 "language"), I basically have the Aqua Plus set up to have the Filter relay turned on 24/7 to provide power to the Vgreen however/whenever I decide to run it. So, the Aqua Plus is unaware of when or what speed the Vgreen is running at, if at all (except for maybe via the Flow Sensor).

So, after all that, my question is: How does the Aqua Plus know when to turn the SWG on or off? Will it claim "Chlorinator Off, Percentage Met", thinking the pump has run from midnight to 1000, when the Vgreen doesn't even start till 1000, just because the Filter Relay has been ON since midnight but with no Flow? Or will it only turn on the SWG when there is Filter Relay=ON AND Flow Sensor=FLOW, and then start calculating Percent Generated? Is there a better way for me to be managing the system I have?

Sorry it's kind of convoluted and I hope I've explained the situation adequately. Thanks in advance for any insights.

Hi Friends! I hope everyone had a lovely winter and getting geared up for POOL SEASON! I drug my little beauty out of the garage and got her all assembled. Seems I have some pool set-up amnesia as it took me longer to get this darn dang thing assembled this season.

I have 2 arms that were damaged last season (long story...) and I'd love to get some thoughts on what I can do this season to correct the damage before I fill'er up! I'll attach some pics - I'm thinking maybe some pool noodle could get in there and create a round surface for the weight of the pool vinyl to rest and remain straight. Very small amount of rain water in the pool so far - so now is the time to fix! I've checked Bestway website - replacement arms are out of stock. I've checked Amazon but not sure I trust the measurements.

I also want some guidance on paver placement as I begin the fill process. I have the little 5x5 stone squares this season, but I also know the legs might move a bit during the fill. So just general guidance would be greatly appreciated.

I'll have to dust off my trusty rust removal bucket, and my test kit. I cannot wait for a happy pool season! CHEERS!

Hey everyone! This site has been a great resource for me after purchasing my first house with a pool in 2023. Now I'm finally making a post instead of lurking...

We just got some quotes to replace our sand filter (Sta-Rite from 2008) and pump (1HP/3450rpm mystery brand single speed). For context, we have a SWG (Intellichlor IC20) and our pool is somewhere in the 17,000-20,000 gal range (mostly a guess based on measurements and 1 summer of watching the chems). We aren't planning to add any complexity to the pool, it's just 1 skimmer, 2 returns, and a non-functional main drain (plumbed into the 2nd skimmer hole). No need for fancy automation. The pump developed a slow leak last fall and we want to upgrade to a VSP for the power savings with the SWG. The filter is fine, except that our backwash line is connected underground to the sewer system and there's some kind of leak under the concrete, so we've been lugging a backwash hose all the way to the cleanouts in the front yard each time we needed to backwash. We figured it would be a good time to switch to a cartridge system since it doesn't need backwashing (no more hose and wasting salt, yay!).

We live in a MCOL/LCOL area but pools are not so common here, so the companies are few and far between. The two quotes we got were slightly different in what they recommended (see screenshots for details), but Company A came out to $5,420 and Company B to $4,187 or $4,822 (depending on the pump HP). I have a couple of questions before I commit:

1. Do these prices seem fair? The more expensive company was - of course - more professional and prompt in their replies and my partner likes their "vibe" better. We've had bad luck with finding people that do good work so far (1st time homeowners), so maybe we're being extra cautious. We've done almost all of the pool maintenance ourselves so I have no concept of what's fair.
2. I did some reading up on here before getting quotes and I decided it would be a good idea to get an 'oversized' ~3HP pump so that we could run it at a lower RPM for longer to generate chlorine with the SWG.
   1. Company A has told us "In this situation we would be unable to install the 3hp version, due to your pool only having a single suction pipe at the equipment. To install the 3hp pump we would need a minimum of 2- 2" suction pipes at the equipment." Is that something you've ever heard of before? Would it be an issue to purchase an oversized pump in this scenario? In all my reading it was never mentioned.
   2. Company B quoted us the extra cost, totalling out to $4,822. However, now I'm worried that there's some issue with an overpowered pump possibility.

Sorry that came out to be super long!!! Thank you for reading!

TL;DR: Is $4k-$5k a normal ballpark for filter and pump replacement? Is there any issue with installing an oversized pump into a pool with only one suction line?

Hello! We bought our intex 18’ round above ground pool in 2020 when our daughter, son-in-law and two grandkids moved in during the pandemic. Both kids learned to swim in it and the adult children took care of it for the first two years. When they left the care and maintenance has been left to my husband and I. While we have done many google searches this site never showed up until I asked a question and AI quoted the site! So glad to have a forum to learn from. I am hoping to save some money and get more enjoyment out of the pool. Thanks for the great support.

Hi all, I'm a first-time pool owner and excited (and a little nervous!) to be taking over the maintenance. The pool had service today, and the water is currently clear. I've got the basics covered – a TFPro test kit, a Dolphin Nautilus CC Supreme cleaner, a net, vacuum, and brush. I'm trying to get ahead of things and stock up on chemicals before I start testing the water next week. What chemicals do you all recommend having on hand for general maintenance and balancing? Any advice for a newbie would be greatly appreciated

I bought a 7lb bag of CYA at Ocean State Job Lot at the end of last season. It remained unopened in the garage over the winter (not exposed to excessive sunlight or humidity). This year, I used up the Clorox brand CYA I had left, about 1lb, and then opened the new bag. Per usual, I put 1lb in the sock and hung it front of the return. This stuff will not dissolve! It hung in front of that return for hours yesterday afternoon, like 4-5 hours and hardly any of it dissolved.
I used the same sock that I used the other day for the Clorox brand and that dissolved fine, within like an hour it was completely gone.

Is there some way I can get this to dissolve so it's usable? Or I am just SOL and should go buy a new bag of Clorox brand that I know dissolves? I really hate to waste it since I already spent the money on it and disposing of pool chemicals is a pain.
If I start over, how do I dispose of this stuff? Both the stuff in the sock that's already wet, and the remaining 6lbs of dry in the bag. I can't return it since I bought it several months ago.

Is there a "free" AND "paid" app or just free and pay to get unlimited logs? I've tried the app off and on (free) and can never get it to overwrite a log. I enter new values and it just defaults to 4 months ago. Needs to be an "edit" button. Back to Pool Logger I guess.