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Hi all, started caring for a 35k pool approximately 4 weeks ago. The short is: pool was very mismanaged, was called for a heater issue which turned out to be an overlap in programming. 2 yr old Pebble teh with Easytouch, SWCG ic60, quad filter no DE and polaris 380. Fought the ammonia and started to balance all. They heat the pool to the sky and don't always use the auto cover so there's lots of evaporation and naturally auto fill works overtime. The ic60 was completely calcified to the point that it looked like a solid piece of pvc blocking the plate so in went a new cell. Was at the pool yesterday to maintain so I pulled the 380 out to empty the bag which to my surprise was very heavy with a white gritty substance. Took some of it and put in glass with some water and added MA which then reminded me of my younger days in school doing science experiments. It fizzed like there was no tomorrow so I know it's calcium. This is a large property lots of manicured landscaping so there's definitely a deep ground well feeding all the grass and plantings. The picture below is a capture of the poolmath. The CYA dropped and I consider it a consumable here as there's no limit and heater runs 24/7 . In the shallow I was able to brush a white substance which is the same stuff found In Polaris mesh bag. Yes I know the PH is high and a gallon of it will bring my CSI in order. Will need to find another water source as the spigot looks to be before any filter as the CH and TA are high making me run in circles trying to bring pH down and then the autofill puts back high TA water. My question to the group is where is this calcium coming from and how to deal with it. Can it be the fill water and if I find a source with treated water from the house will it change something with the calcium. Can't seem to come up with a solution, anybody have inkling what's going on with this calcium.

Hello everyone. This is our second year of enjoying our 28' round above ground pool. We are really trying hard to understand the methods to keep the water balanced. For example, I entered the following values on the poolmath website... Free chlorine, now=50, target=3, pH now=7.2, target=7.5, alkalinity now=140, target=10, CH now=200, target=200, CYA now=70, target=70.

The issue is that the form has me increasing my pH with the appropriate chemical but suggests nothing for LOWERING the alkalinity level. I don't understand why this calculator is not suggesting a solution to lower my pools alkalinity level.
I would appreciate any feedback that would help me understand the reasoning behind the lack of a solution for decreasing alkalinity.

Thanks.

Hey, guys, I am just having a pool installed and it is zero entry. Can I use a pool robot in a zero entry pool, or will it escape? Are there any robots that can be programmed to cover a specific area? Thanks!

First-time pool owner, looking forward to learning from you folks!

New member here, just purchased a Intex XTR 16' x 48" , wifey is very excited !

Anyways I would like to make a permanent sight for the pool with a border and gravel base , make it look nice an clean.. However I am not sure if I would want to dig down deeper lets say 10" , fill with gravel to make a base , lay down foam for pool to sit on, gorilla pad on top of foam.. pavers surface level with the top of the foam.. once pool is installed backfill with gravel to flush with paver surface and hide foam edge .. I want a gravel base for drainage, weather here is unpredictable and the ground has a high clay content. so lots of movement between wet and dry spells.

What I am not sure of

1. What pavers should I use for under the uprights ? can these rest on the gravel or should I try to have them on the levelled earth, of course if they are on the earth they will need to be much thicker , or do I even need pavers with a gravel base ? And if not pavers what else would look good and clean ?

2. How deep should we make the gravel base and what gravel is most recommended ?

Thank you in advance, I am so happy to have found this forum, its given me the confidence to order one of these pools.. I will be hiring someone to do my pool sight, I'm too old with too many back issues.

Here is a picture of a setup I like that I plan to try to emulate

I am a new pool owner and just looking to learn from experienced pool people. Looking forward to learning more about caring for my pool.

So my pool builder has disappeared close to the end of the job. Phone number is disconnected and I have traced him to TX, I’m in CA.

I would just like to finish off my pool but need the following done
1. Install SWG also need to procure
2. Install my aqua link system ..I have the parts
3. Connect the electrical

Contractor installed the PebbleTech and filled the pool stating they would be out the next day to finish install But never showed. We jury rigged our sump pump to circulate the pool with chemicals after about 4 days but have no way to filter the system. Pool water has been in place for 12 days now .. not sure how long this rigged process will work.

I believe everything else is done except final inspection (which I can handle if necessary).

All installed equipment is Jandy.

Any thoughts or helpful suggestions?





Does anyone have a recommendation for getting another contractor to do this work in Long Beach CA

Suggestions needed!!! We need help deciding on what material to use for our raised spa spillway spillover. We have a raised round spa with an 2 foot wide spillway. Has anyone used Majestic Water Spouts to get a spillway and your opinion? Our original plan fell through with our pool builder so we are deciding between a custom cut piece of bluestone to fit and overhang by 3 inches or get a custom insert with Majestic Water. I attached a picture of what we were thinking of getting. I prefer the look of the bluestone but my main concern is functionality and I want it to flow out and not just run down the side of the raised spa. I know that is mostly the spa pump and water speed/volume but I’m trying to do anything more that helps. If we do bluestone, would I need to have one piece raised on the left and right edge to create a channel like the copper one has? I attached a picture with yellow circles showing what I mean. Also, is 3 inches enough of an overhang? We have the option of 1.5 or 2 inch bluestone, is one thickness functionally better than the other? It would be one piece that would be custom cut to fit and have a sharp 90 degree edge. I have tried researching and requested they cut a small line on the underside all the way across to break the tension in case any water runs under but didn’t see recommendations of specifics of the cut. If the bluestone hangs 3 inches from the edge of the spa then they could cut the line 1 inch from the edge, or should it be closer? Also, do you recommend 1/8 or 1/4 inch deep? Should the cut run the entire length of the stone or stop before the edge? I attached a picture of stopping before the edge. Also, any reason to pick granite over bluestone, or not to go with bluestone? Thanks for all the advice!

Newbie here. I'll be asking alot of questions

I wanted to share an experience I had with Maytronics.

I was fairly disgruntled after the M600 I purchased in November 2019 failed (completely dead) in January of 2023 of course just after the 3 year warranty expired! I disassembled the unit after being told it was out of warranty and discovered that the motor unit showed signs of having moisture in it and I believed the circuit board was ruined due to the moisture it had been exposed to.

After searching for a new robot I began getting ads on social media about Maytronics. I started commenting back with negative comments advising people not to purchase their product and I wasn't alone.... One of their reps asked me to send them a personal message and explain my situation. I explained a prior negative experience I had while trying to use their warranty service as well as my disapproval that a unit cost as much as it did and only lasted slightly longer than the warranty period. After much discussion they offered to repair the unit for free IF it was indeed the motor unit. I wasn't sure it was worth it, but I reassembled the unit and mailed it to their service center. They pretty promptly looked at the unit and said that it was the motor unit and also needed new tracks and climbing rings. I had to pay for those, but for only a little over $100 it seemed worth it. The unit was sent back and is working perfectly!

I also noticed that if you look on their site now, the M600 has a 4 year warranty instead of the 3 year it had when I purchased mine. I think if I get another 3-4 years out of it then I'll be much happier about the money spent on it! I'm very pleased with how the M600 works as long as it's working! It is a HUGE improvement over the Polaris 280 that I had been using since my pool was built.

I opened my pool on May 13 and have not been able to hold chlorine yet.

A week ago my CYA was 56. I don’t know how it dropped to 5 today. I backwashed twice and added a bit of water this week but not much.

I tried to super chlorinate with cal hypo (9 bags two nights ago) and still woke up to zero FC.

I’m working on getting CYA up before I try to super-chlorinate again. Going to try liquid chlorine this time. Do I need to SLAM? I never have before but I’m thinking that might be the only way to go.

Here are today’s test results:
FC: .09
TC: .09
PH: 7.5
TA: 119
CH: 250
CYA: 5

10,000 gal pool. Sand filter.

Hi! We are building our pool and having a hard time deciding on a color. Our builder uses CL Industries but their site is not ideal with samples. I think we narrowed down our color to Blue Pearl and Grey Reef Pearl but can’t really find a ton of pictures. Any pictures would be greatly appreciated!!! I’m looking for a more “natural” blue color since we are having a natural rock waterfall put in and we live in a highly wooded area with a lot of pine trees. Our coping is bluestone. We have a sunshelf and spa, and the pool will be 3.5-6 ft. Also, do you think our tile will make a huge difference. Attached is a picture of the blue pearl with the bluestone coping and the color tile we picked out. They didn’t have a grey reef sample in the office.

A short time lurker, but I’ve already learned so much. I’m looking to make a life-long dream come true this year. And I have questions…..

I’m so pleased to be here.

Cheers,

—CD

North Texas pool owner since 2021. I was sent here by a friend! She said it’s the best place for reliable info. Thanks for the add!

I was amping up my FC before adding salt to the pool, in anticipation of having to keep my swg off for 24 hours, so I had my swg at 100%.

I thought I had turned my swg down to 0% before I added 80 lbs of salt, but after looking at it after about 7 hours, my swg was still at 100%. Did I ruin it? What are the consequences? My Pentair salt ppm on the app is still reading what it was prior to adding salt, but my standalone meter reads what it should be reading (500 ppm higher)

Hello,

I am new to this forum and am trying to learn more about my pool chemistry and how to maintain it. I am barely understanding at this point! We installed the above ground, 24ft round/52in, vinyl pool in 2020 and have been using Leslie's testing to maintain it. Like everyone else, I have found this experience to be extremely expensive and would like to try TFP's methods to see if I can save some hard earned cash. This year I started with purchasing the Taylor K-2006 FAS-DPD test kit not really knowing if that was the correct kit. Turns out I am on the right track... I would have ordered the other recommended kit if I would have read more of these articles first. The K-2006 kit at least gives me a start. So for the last two years Leslie's kept showing that my CYA levels were sky high (130), but nobody explained what was causing this. Turns out I was causing it by using WAY too many pucks, like 5 in the floater. I have since removed the pucks entirely and drained the pool about 40% and refilled it. Since refilling, my CYA is registering 55, (where I loose site of the black dot), so I am rounding it up to 60. My initial TA reading was 250, which is normal for our well water. I have been adding muriatic acid for the last 10 days trying to get it down to a reasonable level. It is currently at 120. After each treatment of MA, my PH falls to 7.0-7.2, but bounces back to around 7.4 by the next day. Since refilling the water is crystal clear but I have a small amount of algae on the walls, not much. Here is my readings as of today:

FC: 4.5
CC: 0
PH: 7.4
TA: 120
CH: about 300
CYA: 60

I have been using Cal-Hypo and have about 15 lbs left (currently cal-hypo through Leslie's is $225/25 lbs) I had my wife purchase 6 gallons of pool bleach 12% from Menards at $4.99/gal. Will this be enough for a slam? I believe I can save money by using the Menards liquid pool bleach after using up the cal-hypo, but I am going to use the liquid bleach for the slam. A friend from work, who is a pool pro would like me to stick with the Cal-hypo, and use some copper algaecide to take care of the algae, but I really want to give a TFP slam a try for financial reasons. I am planning on starting a slam Friday after work. Can someone please help me through this process? My friend is telling me to use cal-hypo and raise the chlorine to 30ppm. The Pool Math app is telling me I can do a Slam taking my FC to 24 ppm using bleach 12% 2.6 jugs worth. Will 6 jugs be enough for this process or do you think I will need more? If I start this Friday night, how many days do I keep the FC level high, since my CC is already reading practically zero?

Hopefully I explained this properly. I trust my work friend, but I am tired of throwing money at this swimming pool. Hoping the TFP methods will be cheaper in the long run.

Thanks for the help!

Will

I have a Hot Spring Spa, Prodigy, Model H, Serial Number H3E1249. It appears to be leaking from somewhere behind the drain valve. It looks similar to this.



My particular spa has one drain at the lowest part of the tub. There are two drains on my spa, located underneath the maintenance panel. One has a lever on the valve body, while the other does not. The one with the lever, somewhere behind it is leaking. Any tips on how to fix the leak?

I looked online for example:

Hot Spring Spas 30592 Drain Valve, Hose Shut-Off

To see if I could find a diagram for my spa of this part and what it is connected to. Under specifications, none of the diagrams seem to match my spa. But this is my closest one.



Part 10 and 11, I'm not able to locate on my spa.

Because it seems to be leaking from behind the vale, I think the valve is closing properly. Anyways, I was thinking of untwisting the drain valve with the handle from the tube adapter, putting new tape around it and seeing if that helps. The valve itself seems already pretty tight. I'm not able to loosen it or tighten it by hand. There are wrench flats on it, but I'm not sure what size socket I need. I would assume some sort of special one, with a cut out for the handle. Not sure where to get such a socket, but I presume it would be a specialty one.



It's in a recessed cutout at the bottom of the spa, so channel lock pliers would not help, not enough clearance. The only thing I could think of is a socket. If successful in removing the valve (if I ever find the right tool), I would be unsure how much torque to tighten the thing back down in place with. Anyone know? I would use a torque wrench.

If retaping the valve does not work, then I would presume it's leaking from somewhere else, further back. How do I troubleshoot or investigate further to attempt to fix this issue? How would I access the rest of the parts in the drain system to look for where it's leaking? I'm learning to be a mechanic, so jack stands, floor jacks, wrenches, so forth I have plenty. Not sure if I would have to access the rest of the drain system from beneath the spa? If so, I wouldn't be sure how to safely jack and support the spa in the air safely.

Thanks for any help or tips on how to fix a leaking spa that is leaking in the drain system somewhere.

Also, I might add, that this spa hasn't been used for awhile, and it came with our house when we bought it, so the history is unknown to us. However, it's an indoor spa. I do live in an area that gets below freezing typically in the winter. It sits in a room with no heat, however there's heat inside of the house that the room is in that presumably was always heated, because people were living in it, so I doubt anything could have frozen causing damage.

Friends, I just had to replace my old Pentair #340210 1.5HP pump (see this thread if interested) connected to my Sand Dollar SD40 sand filter. Thankfully, the inlet plumbing and base alignment is perfect and needs no adjustments (sigh of relief!!)

Unfortunately, the 2-1/2" OD pump outlet has completely different threads on it than my very-recently-purchased replacement pump-to-filter hose, although both appear to be the same diameter. The threads on both ends of my hose are much wider than the threads on the pump outlet. I'm posting some pictures here, although I'm not sure if they help. The pump did come with two collars and header blocks (not pictured) - I presume for connecting to PVC pipe, although I'm not sure. (probably one for both inlet and outlet)




Is there some type of adapter than I can purchase (using either inner or outer threads on pump outlet, or even an adapter from 2" PVC to the Pentair-style 2-1/2" threads, that I could use with the adapter collar they provided?
The hose was around $60 and I doubt that I can return it, which kinda stinks if the only answer is a special hose with different threads on each end.

Let me know your thoughts, please! Not having a working pump/filter is getting really old, really fast!! Thank You!

Unfortunately our pool is near a messy Mulberry tree (the neighbor’s). Has anyone used a solid cover like the one pictured that has mesh drain holes in it? Pros vs cons? We currently use a solar cover and a mesh leaf debris cover on top of that but debris still gets in and also slides in when we take the solar cover off.

The trusty Dolphin DX3 that saw me through the SLAM that brought me to TFP died. R.I.P. Bought an S200 with both mesh and fine filters.

I used the mesh filters when the mesh cover was on...seemed ok, kept coming back with junk. When I pulled the cover I switched to the fine pleated filters. I'll be honest, I haven't been impressed. Seems like I have to run it multiple times, and it rolls over stuff and it doesn't get sucked in...chalked it up to the design (filter/single door vs. DX3 bag/double door)

Had a storm this week with lots of leaves...pool was a mess. Got to thinking, maybe the mesh filters flow more, allowing the S200 to flow more water and suck more stuff up, so I switched 'em.

What a difference. Cleaned the whole pool up in one cycle.

Anyone else have this experience?

Alright so after watching water chemistry 101 on YouTube posted by HTU I figured I would try the technique. Trichlor is rather acidic but if you keep your alkaline in the 120s things should work out pretty good. So what I did was used my old spa frog silver floater cartridge and used a drill to hollow down a chlorox 3” true blue Trichlor tablet to insert into the floater. I keep the dial release gauge completely closed and normally have a chlorine level of 1-2ppm. Curious if any others have tried this but so far HTU is spot on with the video of how this method can be used. I also keep the blue mineral floater twistlocked with the chlorine floater and seems to work

When I turn on the lights, either with mobile app or at the panel, the pump comes on too! What is going on? (Pentair Easy Touch and ScreenLogic)

We just got home after 1.5 weeks. I opened the cover to find these stains in two different spots, close to each other. At least I think they are stains. I thought it was dirt that collected where the textured surface meets the smooth surface, but it did not easy brush off. Water chemistry tested perfect. What could this be and how can I remedy?

This is officially my first season with a SW pool. I did have it opened last year for about 3 weeks once it was installed around Labor Day but it wasn't anything long term. I'm using the Taylor salt testing kit

When I opened the pool in May, I tested the salt and it was at 2800 PPM so I added salt and it read first at 3000 PPM a little while later it read 3200 PPM then shortly after 3000 PPM. I chalked it up to me either testing too quickly or wrongly for salt although it is a fairly easy test. I haven't tested it for about a month and today it read 2800. I know it doesn't evaporate (actually with a solar cover on nothing is evaporating! ) and I've only have added about 1 inch of water due to a plumbing leak (probably less) and back washed the filter once to see how dirty the water in the filter was from opening the pool. Could this little bit of water "exchange" drop a 24 foot round AG pool's salt by 200 PPM? Unfortunately, I don't have a handle on the salt portion yet.

I have another 40 lbs of salt to bump up the salt level for when I turn on the SWG (still using LC) but does salt need topping off? I would think not unless water is added due to losing and adding water. Or can testing be that inaccurate ... maybe user error?

Since opening the pool this year ive noticed lower suction when vacuuming and my pump isnt fullt priming. I just got the pump installed last year and ive gone though trouble shooting and i couldnt find any leaks. I tried running the pool without the filter and that seemed to be the only way to get it to fully prime and get serious flow out of the pool jets. The filters atleast 3 years old. Could the filter be the actual issue causing the poor flow and priming, or is this a somewhat imaginary solution?

Ok guys. I thought I was done but it seems like I have one last issue I can’t figure out.

I have an Intelliflo VSF pump. I have the communication cable wired to my Aqualink Power Center. I am able to fully control the pump from the iAqualink app. I can change speeds, turn it on and off, etc. I can also run the pump from a schedule EXCEPT for when it gets to Speed7 on the schedule. Each time it gets to this schedule, the pump does not turn on and displays the message in the screenshot. If I press the Filter Pump button on the app, the pump turns on and runs the schedule speed.

I don’t know if it’s the way I have the schedule setup or the speeds configured or something else. I’v included screenshots of the schedule as well as the speeds I’ve setup.

Hoping I can get some help on this.

Sorry for what feels like wasting a post. Next year I'm considering ditching my DE filter and going cartridge. There are two reasons, primarily: one, I hate cleaning the DE filter, even if I only do it once a year. It makes a mess of my equipment pad and the surrounding area since the DE goes everywhere. Two, the plumbing to the garbage backwash slide valve has a very slow leak and needs to be re-done anyway. I'd rather simplify my plumbing and eliminate this all together and go cartridge.

My current setup has the backwash plumbed into the house (super convenient, and required by code for DE filters). Is there any reason to plumb in a Jandy 3-way before the filter so I could route the water to waste? In my head I feel like there's no harm (outside of the valve developing a leak), but I haven't had many times where I've actually NEEDED to drain to waste. Early this year we had a torrential downpour and my sump pump failed - and my pool overflows into the sump. The pool was about half an inch from the coping and there was more rain coming. I went out there and just opened the backwash valve drained it down that way. That's the only time I've needed something like that.

I could also just terminate the existing drain and put a cap on there so it can be used as a clean out for draining with a sump pump or some other purpose.

Any thoughts or considerations I'm missing?

I was considering installing Universal 40 to switch to SWG, but then I realized that I might not have enough real estate to install it. Here is a picture of my current set-up:

Is there a particular salt chlorine generator model that I should be considering if all I have is 11 inches of piping to fit it in?

Hi,

I know this question has probably been asked over a hundred times but wanted to get peoples experience that have done this in the past. Ten years ago, my wife and I bought a house with a pool/spa combo in Hunt Valley, MD that did not come with a heater. In all the years living in the house, we never used the spa. My pool is over 20 years old and needs to get resurfaced and coping/tiles redone. I thought while we will be doing this next year, I wanted to get all the options for this remodeling project.

Our system has:
- Spill-over spa to pool which makes no sense because you would be mixing hot and cold water.
- Single variable speed pump for pool and spa
-A Polaris pump that is just for the pool
-A single filter for pool and spa
-A blower for the spa which is uphill in a different location

Here are my questions:
1)The equipment pad is downhill from the pool and spa. How do I protect the external pipes from freezing during the cold months?
2)Do I buy a separate pump and filter for the system so both can be run independently in the spring and fall months? Or keep it on one system and just close the pool in the fall-spring and just run the spa but filter seems too big for just a spa.
3)Was thinking of getting rid of the coping around the spa and build up the wall a little so I can put a permanent heat cover on the spa. Will the pool side with freezing water still make it inefficient for the spa?
4)Would you get a propane heater or heat pump for the spa?
5)Get rid of the spa all together and buy a standalone spa I feel like building an inground spa in Maryland or north does not make sense. This would be a great design for somewhere south like South Carolina or south.

I have attached pictures below.

Also, if anyone can recommend someone that can do resurfacing and tile work in Maryland, I would greatly appreciate names and numbers.

Thanks
-Dimitry

Apologies if this is mis-categorized as it kind of crosses several categories.

I typically expect to drain my pool once a year as my fill water is hard and after about a year my CH rises to >600ppm. I'm right at that level today.

However, Las Vegas has also introduced new water billing rates for high consumption users (in summer, users >28k gallons monthly) that I would love to avoid "funding." I estimated that I could get by with doing partial drains twice annually. Even better if I can do a partial drain and fill with softened water.

I did notice a bit of green along the waterline on the shady side last week and have noticed my SWG is not keeping pace, so I figure I'm also due to SLAM.

Is there anything I should be considering before I go ahead with a ~50% drain, refill, stabilize and SLAM? My CYA is at ~100 right now so I figure the drain will allow me to SLAM at a more traditional (~80) CYA rather than the 100 that has worked for me in Las Vegas.