Marble Waterline tile?

Hi! So first round of tile was severely delayed in transit and then arrived completely damaged. I’m back to the drawing board and my options are what I can I get locally. Floor and decor has this marble fish scale tile that says it’s okay for pool use and quite frankly we love. Thoughts?
Also still looking for pics of pools with the Stonescapes Micro finish 😆
Thank you!
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Diverter Valve ID

My diverter valve is leaking around the stem. I plan to replace the o-rings, but I'm having trouble identifying the brand of diverter valve since there doesn't appear to be any legible markings. I'm leaning towards pentair but probably wrong. Can anyone help out?

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Bug Identification

Looking to see if someone can identify this bug. I seem to be getting a significant amount of these bugs on the surface of the pool. Water chemistry is good outside of the FC might be a little high. I am guessing they are Springtails but looking for confirmation so I can figure out the best way to address the situation. Every hour is a constant battle with these bugs.

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Lots of test results today

Hi all, great site, thanks everyone for making it what it is!

I started taking care of this pool last year, and kept it half clear most of the time. I've got a minor in chem and have maintained several fish tanks over the years. Licensed general contractor as well. I winterized it myself with TFPs help and, thanks God, didn't have to break out the concrete saw this spring.

I know I need to buy the expensive test kit now. I tried to scrimp, and am seeing inaccurate test results all over the place. Can anyone make heads or tails of these results while I wait on the good kit to arrive? Any guesses as to which metrics are accurate for instance?

I think I'm at max range on quite a few parameters. I found it interesting that pool store said CYA at 135 was good with FCl at 1.6ppm. Pool store's "optimizer" metric looks like it might be borates. They have 32 whereas my guess strip showed maybe half that. Pool has been clear all year thanks to you all and a better dose of FCl than in years past, the neighborhood says thanks.

Thank you for reading, and if you would be so kind, go
-EasyOnMe

Poolmaster 5way Test Kit
Cl (OTO test): 4.0
pH: 7.5
TA: 180-190
Acid demand. None indicated

7-in-1 test strip
Hardness 90
FCl 3
Total 4
CYA 0
TA 200
pH 7.7

5way strip
FCl 2
Alk 200
pH 7.6
TH 80

5 tests-in-1 strip
FCl 1.5
pH. 7.4
TA. 200
CYA. 0

Borate strip 15
_________
Peace be with you

Portion of seasonal above ground pool has started sagging

Hello! Looking for some safety input here.

Have had this above ground 15' diameter, 4' high Bestway pool up for the last 1.5 months in the same spot it sat the previous two seasons. When we first installed two years back, the ground was relatively level so we skipped perfectly leveling it and it's gotten by okay since then—slight unevenness, but never exceeding one inch and that wasn't a defined slope in one direction, just poles here and there being slightly offset from the others. This year, once it was filled, we noticed that it seemed to slope downward in one area more noticeably than the rest. I should have measured then but I didn't, so I can't say how bad it was to begin with. Today I noticed one of the poles is leaning very noticeably on the deep end (see the last image, pole leans to the left), which prompted me to measure: there's a 3" difference between the high and low water lines. If you look in the earlier photos, you can see that the incline is very gradual for more than half the pool—aside from a slight dip in one small area, it's less than an inch different on the left side (in the first two images), then it drops off faster where it's sagging. The part that's sagging lowest accounts for maybe 25% of the circumference, the rest is sloped less steeply at about 1".

My question is: do I need to fix this straight away or can it wait to be leveled properly next season? If straight away: is draining and leveling the ground the only way to do it?

Been reading online and I've seen different answers on the degree of slope that can be tolerated, and all that I've seen is talking about pools 10K gallons and upward, where mine is about 5K. Different sources say 3" and above to drain and level, while others suggest up to 3" is acceptable. I don't have patio blocks under the poles which is an error I will certainly remedy next season, or sooner if draining is the recommended course of action. Will probably leave the pool up until early to mid September, or perhaps longer if we have another unusually delayed fall here in the Seattle area.

Please let me know if I can answer any questions or send more photos that will be helpful in your analysis, and thank you so much in advance for the advice!

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Cleaning Pool Issues - Wanda Whale

Greetings from the VERY hot and muggy Memphis TN. We bought a house in November that had an above ground pool.

Got a Wanda Whale cleaner that worked fine for about 2 months NOW i got issues, boy oh boy. HELP!!??!!

I have been using WW with an in-line leaf filter to catch much of the debris. After a MASSIVE storm over a week ago and the pool filled with leaves and limbs wanda worked so well it clogged the in line filter causing the black send/return hoses to crimp and collapse on itself. SO, being the redneck thinker i am i decided to fix the problem with new HIGH PRESSURE hoses that have metal braiding in them.


No dice. Take a look at these two videos to show you how the new high pressure hoses are collapsing on themselves. They do this WITH the in line filter, without it and even when i am doing regular old school cleaning with the vacuum head on the long pole.

What on EARTH is happening and how do i fix this? At the moment i cant even use my old school filter without these hoses acting silly.

Video 1 w In line filter. Filter set to FILTER settings.
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Video 2 withOUT in line leaf filter. Filter set to Waste
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This is MY first pool as an adult (54). Growing up we had an inground pool (16). So its been a minute since i tinkered with pools.

This issue is taking the FUN out of owning a pool. After THIS issue is fixed i will have to throw myself to the mercy of the forums for being talked into a Perma Salt system. Seemed easy at first. My blonde wife is not convinced EASY is worth her having green hair......OOPS. Yeah, the salesman never mentioned that.

First things first, how do i fix this pressure thing happening when i vaccum? New hoses?

My pump reads roughly 17 on the PSI (?) gage when its just running in filter mode. I also replaced ALL the sand yesterday with the Ruby sand.

Any help and advice is GREATLY appreciated.

Denicio DelToro

Pool Crete Installation

Hello Everyone ,
I installed a inground pool myself with the help of friends and family. We are in the final stages now. My question is about the pool crete premixed in bags . I got a bunch of people together to try and get it done in one day and all did not go as planned . It was alot harder the. n I thought. Can I do seactions at a time at my leisure and not worry about rain damage ? It seems like alot to do even in a weekend. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated. Our pool is a 18x36 rectangle with radius corners 8 ' deep end .
Thank You

Filter pressure won’t show up in loggable items

Hi there. In PoolMath I’m selecting Filter Pressure as one of the items I’d like to track for my pool. But filter pressure does not show up on the items that can be logged.

When I select temperature, temperature does show up, so I think there’s something special about pressure.

Is this a bug or is it working in some way I don’t understand?

Thanks!

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Gap Between Tile and Coping?

New to owning pools, bought house that had one that was severly neglected for years. There is a gap running between the pool tiles and the cement coping. It runs about 1/2 the length of the pool and 1/2 inch at its thickest. Not sure if this is something I can fix with the pool open and full?
2 sections lifted at some point in the past and I will need to bring in someone to fix that, but was hoping to patch this problem now if possible. PXL_20230802_190737439.jpg

Fiberglass pool...is this a structural crack or a gel coat crack?

I discovered this crack just below the coping on my fiberglass pool that was installed in 2019. It's about the size of a nickel. I'm trying to figure out what would have caused this and is it serious. It's just under the coping so I don't think anything could have hit it to cause the damage. You can feel it when you rub your hand over it. The first photo is zoomed in but you can't really see it when your back from it a few feet. I've contacted the pool builder but haven't gotten past leaving messages with his secretary. Is this something to be worried about?
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Jandy AquaLink RS - Which model to purchase?

Hello,

Our pool is currently under construction, We're skipping automation this year and plan to handle it ourselves sometime next year. We're running all Jandy equipment. (1 VS pump, 1 single speed pump, SWG, heater, pool lighting). We only have a pool, no spa.

I've decided the AquaLink RS is probably the best option for us, allowing us to expand in the future if needed. But I'm confused as to which one to get. I spoke with our electrician, and he said that he will not be installing a sub-panel at the pool, as we have plenty of free breaker spots in our homes main panel, and its not very far to where the equipment pad will be located.

I believe what I should get is "iQ904-P", which is the "Jandy AquaLink RS P4 Pool Only Kit With iAquaLink", and the 6612F power center. My concern with this is, it only supports up to 4 relays. That should be fine for now, as I believe the only things we need relays for is the single speed pump, and the lights. (Correct me if I'm wrong).

The next option is "iQ906-P-PC", which supports 6 relays, but also includes a sub-panel, which I do not think we will need given our configuration.

So I guess my question is, with the first model, will 4 relays be enough for some future expansion? Do I really only need 2 for the given configuration? I may decide to connect our landscape lighting as well, which will obviously take up another relay spot.

Do they make a 6 relay unit that doesnt have the sub panel?

Thanks!

high PH and TA - raise TA?

Hi,

I tested the water this morning and most numbers seems to be pretty normal since our last few test other than having to regular add liquid chlorine. Our PH seems to be on the higher end every time we test in a few weeks and have been throwing muriatic acid to bring it down to 7.5 before swimming. I see my TA is lowering and I know that is expected when bring the PH down.. but wondering if I should I work on bringing the TA higher closer to 100 and see if that stabilizes the TA?

FC 9
PH 8.2
TA 70
CH 325
CYA 50

Thank you!

Is Jandy valve required for SWG set up?

I am considering installing Universal 40 for my 18,000-gallon pool. This is my current set-up, and as you can see, I don't have much space. @Newdude was nice enough to suggest to go vertical when instaling an SWG, but when I shared this idea with the guy who installed the filter for me, he said that I needed to add a Jandy valve to protect the filter. Is this correct? If so, what Jandy valve would you recommend and where should I be adding it in the suggested set-up?

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Continuous Algae

I have been experiencing algae outbreaks once a month which is addressed through a cartridge filter clean, SLAM, and daily brushing. However the algae will return within a few weeks following the SLAM. Also any time I adjust chemicals to lower pH, the algae will come back even quicker. I am hoping to get some direction on best way to clear up the water and maintain an algae free pool. Here are my current numbers (SLAMing):
FC - 10
CC - 0
CH - 325
TA - 160
CYA - 30
Salt 4500

Jandy VS FloPro intermittent cycle on/off

Based on my experience with a bad temperature sensor, the Jandy software has weird behavior when anything is wrong in the system. My 5-yo PLC1400 SWG has been throwing intermittent errors for the past month, and a cleaning didn't help, so I'll be replacing it this weekend. For about the same amount of time, I'll occasionally notice the pump stop, then start again shortly after. I'm really hoping it's related to the SWG issues so I'm not looking at replacing it too. iAqualink shows no pump related errors. I keep it at 1600 rpm 24/7 year round, and good water chemistry.

What kind of lifespan should I be looking at on the VSP?
Has anyone noticed this behavior on a VSP with an aging SWG, or otherwise?

Troubleshoot tripping breaker on Pentair EasyTouch

Howdy y’all. I am also tripping the 3amp relay on my pentair easytouch (my salt cell chlorinator IC20 is also out) so I’m hoping that replacing the relay driver chip will be the fix. However, I’m having trouble identifying where they are located. Are they on the side of the motherboard that is accessible when you fold down the control screen? Or do I need to remove the screws from the motherboard and access them on the opposite side? Appreciate any guidance!

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MyDolphin App / Active 30i - can no longer control

I have an issue that I reached out to Maytronics support on and before I proceed due to cost, I wanted to run it by here.
About 1 year or so back, I replaced my cable and bought the swivel type cable which has done as expected. A few months back I found that I can connect to the cleaner with the app and turn it off/on but I cannot set cleaning mode, cleaning time, or any other feature. Manual drive does not work either. They said that this happens when there is a cable issue. I have reseated the cable multiple times on the power supply and the cleaner to no avail. Has anyone else seen this kind of issue?

R-0871 (TF-100) question

Are the results of the R-0871 FAS/DPD reagent different if the liquid is warmed up? If so is there a "margin of error" I can mentally add/subtract to compensate?

In years past when using Taylor test kits I always thought I saw a difference in drip-test results when the kit had been on the deck for a few hours and the reagents were warm. Accordingly, they always tell you to store your test in a "cool dry place."

It is much easier for me to leave my TF-100 kit in the outdoor storage box near my pool. I don't use the drip test hardly ever. I always use the R-0870 10g DPD powder test. For pH, I have a high end digital test meter in a water proof case (and is itself water proof). I do occasionally test for TA and CYA but the pool's pH and chlorine use has been so stable this season I usually do it when I want an exscuse to play around the pool longer :)

Pentair Repair service

Last fall my Easytouch Control and wireless module experienced the wrath of mother nature and I am curious if Pentair does factory repair. If so, anyone have experience with them? Something is fried obviously - cannot control any pump or actuator however it will occasionally move an actuator on its own (not a schedule) so I bypassed it for the time being. I'd like to see about sending it in for repair. Similar replacement now is 2x of what I paid for it in 2017.

Pentair 520540 EasyTouch 8 Pool/Spa Control System, Base System​


Thanks

Filter