Okay...we've waited long enough!! Where are the pools pics?? 
I'm ready for that BLING!
I'm ready for that BLING!
Hello from an excited Newbie in Bixby Oklahoma!!
- Thread starter Nursenini
- Start date
Thank you, bankOman! For a while that light in the distance looked like a speckle. It's getting larger and brighter by the day!
I am loving the plaster color! Looks like they did a great job cleaning the "jewels". I can't wait to see it full and with the sun shining right down on it to make everything BLING out!
Kim
Thanks, Kim! It looks good so far, I'm excited to see it clear up and get to its final look in a week or 2.
They did a nice job with the BLING, for sure!!
Getting my sunglasses ready for that bling...
Lol!! I need to get some
You have pretty water pictures now, too!!
UMMM!!! You're back just in time!!! Thanks for popping in to see my "almost" finished headache, I mean, blessing!
Did you post about your need to slam and what happened? I need to go look....
Ha! It sure has FELT like it was...
Aww, thank you, donlumber! Nice of you to come out of "lurkdom" to say such nice things! I appreciate it!
HI JANNYLEE!!!! Thank you!
Thanks, tommy!!! I was beginning to wonder if we were gonna have to close it as soon as it was finished. Looks like we'll get a week or two
Hi mooveebuff!! Thank you! I can't tell you how many times I pulled up the pictures of your pool to encourage myself!! Silly, I know, but it made me feel better!!
Thanks, blazeone!! We plan to thoroughly enjoy!!!
Haha, MayorHannah!!! Sterly! Love it!!
Okay...we've waited long enough!! Where are the pools pics??
I have a couple from yesterday early when I went to work. It had about 30 minutes left to fill. I had predicted we would be full at 7am. Hubby turned off the water at exact 7am!
I also have a couple pics Hubby took this morning after the sun came up fully.
This evening when I got home, I just brushed and it's super cloudy. I didn't take any pictures.
Even if it was a headache it was worth it! My headache is now a low drone headache but it is still there. I am still dealing with my PB. They just were out to my house this past Tuesday.
I posted about my slam in the algae section. It turned out fine and I passed and my chlorine is dropping now. I do need to figure out how to clean out my main drain. That rectangle looks nice but it traps leaves really bad.
Okay...we've waited long enough!! Where are the pools pics??
Right?! I've come here 4 times today looking for pics!!!
Sorry folks!! I was very busy at work today!!
For your viewing pleasure:
These are from yesterday morning around 6:15am right before I left for work. I told Hubby it would be full at 7am. It turned out I was right on the money! It was completely full at 7am and Hubby turned the water off for me.
The white ball you can see in the water is the reflection of the moon.
These are from this morning after I left for work. I asked Hubby to take a picture of it for me after it was in full sun. He got close!
For your viewing pleasure:
These are from yesterday morning around 6:15am right before I left for work. I told Hubby it would be full at 7am. It turned out I was right on the money! It was completely full at 7am and Hubby turned the water off for me.
The white ball you can see in the water is the reflection of the moon.
These are from this morning after I left for work. I asked Hubby to take a picture of it for me after it was in full sun. He got close!
PB told me to contact their start up guy as soon as the pool was full. I texted him about 7:30 yesterday morning and he responded pretty quickly that he would head over during the morning. I don't know what time he came since I was at work and Hubby was asleep, but I know it was after 11 as Hubby was awake until 11. When I got home it was almost 8:30pm and I wasn't prepared for how the pool looked. I'm guessing the pumps are on high. They are MUCH louder than I imagined they'd be- they sound like my AC unit- and the pool water is churning like a boiling cauldron! The scuppers aren't running but the bubblers are (well, one bubbles great-the other occasionally bubbles great), the water is flowing over the spa spillway (the tile looks cool, but the water effect is just "eh").
I quickly changed out of my scrubs and dashed outside to see a long handled brush (it was wet, so maybe he brushed?) and I checked out the equipment.
Next to the equiptment pad are 2 40# bags of salt, a vacuum hose (in a box) and what looks like a skimmer/net head w/wheels and a test kit that looks like a toy.
I started brushing a bit of the shallow end but really have no clue what I'm doing. I quickly abandoned that in favor of swimming before it got too dark to see. I swam for 30 minutes. All by myself. It was HEAVEN! The water felt perfect! I don't know what all the startup guy did to the water but I didn't put my face in it. My eyes were burning just being above the water and I could smell chlorine.
Hubby told me startup guy came by this afternoon and dumped chemicals in the water and left. I was hoping to swim when I got home (Hubby's babysitting some of the grandbabies) and after today's shift, the alone time and relaxation would have been great! I was sad to see how cloudy the water is. No swimming! I spent about 40 minutes brushing. I started with the spa which is just FULL of brownish sediment. The water in the spa looks so dirty! I brushed all the dirt to the drain in the bottom but a lot of it got mixed up in the water again while I brushed. After that I started on the opposite end I had brushed last night and also did the bubbler shelf. I don't feel like I am accomplishing anything.
So, how do you guys brush? Do you do it like a push broom or lie a scrub brush? The brush is so unwieldy and awkward.
Do You use different size brushes? I feel like I need a hand held brush for the tile and vertical areas. What do you all recommend?
I looked at my pumps. One has condensation, the other looks dry with a very small amount of aggregate debris. Pressure on the DE filter is around 10, the red line is set to 21.
Someone came by and added a long blue backwash hose to that cut off pipe. I guess that will work....
One bubbler works good, the other work intermittently if I mess with it.
My my plaster is not perfect but I'm not going to persue more acid washing of spots. I read on the Finest Finishes site that mottling is characteristic of all plaster/aggregate/quartz finishes so I'm just loving it as is!!
Any advice is appreciated. I will run a set of numbers either tomorrow evening or (more likely) Monday morning.
Oh! My cushions arrived!!! They look great!! Now for the pergola and deck to be finished so I can put my furniture and deck boxes out!!!
I quickly changed out of my scrubs and dashed outside to see a long handled brush (it was wet, so maybe he brushed?) and I checked out the equipment.
Next to the equiptment pad are 2 40# bags of salt, a vacuum hose (in a box) and what looks like a skimmer/net head w/wheels and a test kit that looks like a toy.
I started brushing a bit of the shallow end but really have no clue what I'm doing. I quickly abandoned that in favor of swimming before it got too dark to see. I swam for 30 minutes. All by myself. It was HEAVEN! The water felt perfect! I don't know what all the startup guy did to the water but I didn't put my face in it. My eyes were burning just being above the water and I could smell chlorine.
Hubby told me startup guy came by this afternoon and dumped chemicals in the water and left. I was hoping to swim when I got home (Hubby's babysitting some of the grandbabies) and after today's shift, the alone time and relaxation would have been great! I was sad to see how cloudy the water is. No swimming! I spent about 40 minutes brushing. I started with the spa which is just FULL of brownish sediment. The water in the spa looks so dirty! I brushed all the dirt to the drain in the bottom but a lot of it got mixed up in the water again while I brushed. After that I started on the opposite end I had brushed last night and also did the bubbler shelf. I don't feel like I am accomplishing anything.
So, how do you guys brush? Do you do it like a push broom or lie a scrub brush? The brush is so unwieldy and awkward.
Do You use different size brushes? I feel like I need a hand held brush for the tile and vertical areas. What do you all recommend?
I looked at my pumps. One has condensation, the other looks dry with a very small amount of aggregate debris. Pressure on the DE filter is around 10, the red line is set to 21.
Someone came by and added a long blue backwash hose to that cut off pipe. I guess that will work....
One bubbler works good, the other work intermittently if I mess with it.
My my plaster is not perfect but I'm not going to persue more acid washing of spots. I read on the Finest Finishes site that mottling is characteristic of all plaster/aggregate/quartz finishes so I'm just loving it as is!!
Any advice is appreciated. I will run a set of numbers either tomorrow evening or (more likely) Monday morning.
Oh! My cushions arrived!!! They look great!! Now for the pergola and deck to be finished so I can put my furniture and deck boxes out!!!
I'm sorry, Amanda!! I was going to post on my lunch but I only ended up taking about 15 minutes today.
I'll go look for it!
Gosh, I hope I don't have that problem! Keep me posted!!
- Jan 4, 2016
- 5,293
- Pool Size
- 44000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
Brushing is kinda like a once over. Just brush in straight pushes away from you. Follow a pattern that covers all surfaces once. Change the pattern for next time, but still covering everything once over. Kinda like vacuuming a carpet or mowing the lawn as far as coverage and varying it. My brush does little on the way back toward me, but the resistance with the water when pushing away helps press the brush toward the surface I'm brushing. For vertical surfaces, I reach out a bit to help the brush press toward the pool wall, then push down and the water resistance takes over. Takes me around 20/25 minutes.
Your pool looks great! I'm sure you will get the technique and water chemistry under control pretty quickly with the help of everyone here.
Pool looks awesome! I'll be curious to see how your pH does since you are curing out a new pebble finish also. We have really hard water here, and I've been battling pH the whole time. Seems to have settled down somewhat now, but I had some big spikes overnight, going from like 7.5 to close to 8 by the morning. I started added some acid before bedtime, just to get ahead of it.
The pool guy told me that they sometimes do an "acid" start where they run the pH down to 6.8 for a couple days I think, to encourage evening of the plaster. You might check that pH, maybe it's why your water is so cloudy? Mine never really was, but we didn't drop the pH very low.
The brushing is a chore... I bought one of those wall whale brushes, and really like it. That also meant i now had a spare brush, which I gave to the kids to hop in the spa and brush it down down real good. I also bought a little corner brush, but haven't found it that useful. At least in our case, I do think it's got a lot smoother over the last couple of weeks of brushing.
We got our polaris 280 in the pool for first time yesterday, and it vacuumed up a pretty respectable pile of pebbles. I felt like you, in that I pretty much just felt like I was pushing stuff around on the bottom. I decided to think of it as "wet" sanding the rough patches...
Also in that first week, the DE pressure went from 20 to 30, which is the dirty mark. They backwashed it then. It didn't really rise at all the next week, but we backwashed yesterday so they could show me how it all worked. So keep an eye on that.
I don't know how your PB is(well I kinda do from reading your thread...) But you really want to keep an eye on your chemistry. They told me they were going to take care of all the start up. Yeah...right. I'm not saying they never came out, but if I relied on their efforts alone, I'd have some messed up water right now.
Congrats on getting through it! Your pool looks great!
The pool guy told me that they sometimes do an "acid" start where they run the pH down to 6.8 for a couple days I think, to encourage evening of the plaster. You might check that pH, maybe it's why your water is so cloudy? Mine never really was, but we didn't drop the pH very low.
The brushing is a chore... I bought one of those wall whale brushes, and really like it. That also meant i now had a spare brush, which I gave to the kids to hop in the spa and brush it down down real good. I also bought a little corner brush, but haven't found it that useful. At least in our case, I do think it's got a lot smoother over the last couple of weeks of brushing.
We got our polaris 280 in the pool for first time yesterday, and it vacuumed up a pretty respectable pile of pebbles. I felt like you, in that I pretty much just felt like I was pushing stuff around on the bottom. I decided to think of it as "wet" sanding the rough patches...
Also in that first week, the DE pressure went from 20 to 30, which is the dirty mark. They backwashed it then. It didn't really rise at all the next week, but we backwashed yesterday so they could show me how it all worked. So keep an eye on that.
I don't know how your PB is(well I kinda do from reading your thread...) But you really want to keep an eye on your chemistry. They told me they were going to take care of all the start up. Yeah...right. I'm not saying they never came out, but if I relied on their efforts alone, I'd have some messed up water right now.
Congrats on getting through it! Your pool looks great!
The brushing may not seem as if it is doing anything but it is. It is getting the plaster dust off the side/bottom and out into the water to be filtered out. It is MUCH easier to brush in the pool. Like said above it is like mowing the lawn or vacuuming the house. Go this way and that.
If you want to vacuum now you can get this kind of vacuum head:
11.25 Swimming Pool Weighted Liner Butterfly Vacuum Head with Bumper - Walmart.com
It has brushes on the bottom so is safe to use on new plaster. Two things at a time-brush and vacuum.
It was SO nice to hear you were able to get in the water and enjoy it. I can see how it will be a wonderful thing for you to do every night when you get off work-come home and just relax in the pool as you recover from your day of saving lives:angel:
If you want to vacuum now you can get this kind of vacuum head:
11.25 Swimming Pool Weighted Liner Butterfly Vacuum Head with Bumper - Walmart.com
It has brushes on the bottom so is safe to use on new plaster. Two things at a time-brush and vacuum.
It was SO nice to hear you were able to get in the water and enjoy it. I can see how it will be a wonderful thing for you to do every night when you get off work-come home and just relax in the pool as you recover from your day of saving lives:angel:
A Wall Whale brush is what I use. It has a flap that the water will apply downward pressure to help with the brushing.
They will run the pump(s) flat out for a couple of days and then should dial them back "if the are VS pumps. Once you have control of the pool you can figure how long and that rpm to run the pump to get you a complete turn over or two per day. Save a lot of $$$ and not run pump needlessly. For example my pool is 11,600 gallons. I run the pump for 8AM to 4PM at 1400rpm which gets me a flow of 50 gallons per minute (GPM). I have a flow meter but you can figure it out without one.
So 50GPM X 60 minutes = 3000 gallons per hour of flow. 8hrs run time = 24,000 gallons per day. Therefore I turn the pool water a little over twice a day. Running my pump at 1200rpm uses right a 238 watts of electricity, which is very little. Think of two 100w light bulbs. Cheers and enjoy.
So 50GPM X 60 minutes = 3000 gallons per hour of flow. 8hrs run time = 24,000 gallons per day. Therefore I turn the pool water a little over twice a day. Running my pump at 1200rpm uses right a 238 watts of electricity, which is very little. Think of two 100w light bulbs. Cheers and enjoy.
IrwinK
0
Pool looks fantastic with water and glad you were able to "swim". I was in heaven too that first time I went in. Hard to believe it will be 2 weeks tomorrow since my start-up. How long did PB tell you to brush? I've been brushing twice a day and running the pump 24 hrs. I cut that back to 8 hrs on lowest speed and think I can brush every few days now. I don't see any cloudiness anymore when I brush.
Your pool is just beautiful -- especially the gorgeous water color!!
FWIW, Greg used a tile sanding and rubbing stone to smooth a few areas of the pool plaster that were a wee bit rough to the touch.
FWIW, Greg used a tile sanding and rubbing stone to smooth a few areas of the pool plaster that were a wee bit rough to the touch.
Denise, that water color looks so gorgeous! Congrats on your pool! Isn't it hard to believe that you actually have a pool??
The water will be cloudy as you brush away that plaster dust. For me, it didn't take very long before I didn't notice any more...maybe just a week? The more you brush the sooner it'll be done! At least you can get into the pool to do it. Mine was filled in April and the water was too cold. I do know what you mean by the brush being unwieldy and awkward. Maybe it's because we are shorter?
Enjoy your pool and happy testing!!
The water will be cloudy as you brush away that plaster dust. For me, it didn't take very long before I didn't notice any more...maybe just a week? The more you brush the sooner it'll be done! At least you can get into the pool to do it. Mine was filled in April and the water was too cold. I do know what you mean by the brush being unwieldy and awkward. Maybe it's because we are shorter?
Enjoy your pool and happy testing!!
The water is so pretty! It feels like it's not the real color until you see it in the sun! Do you keep staring at it?
Helen, two questions! What is FWIW? [emoji5] And using the stone doesn't scratch or hurt the glass beads? I think we have a few rough spots too. Also wondering if that would work for the bottom of our table. It's super rough and I'm afraid we're going to end up with some scraped legs on it.
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Helen, two questions! What is FWIW? [emoji5] And using the stone doesn't scratch or hurt the glass beads? I think we have a few rough spots too. Also wondering if that would work for the bottom of our table. It's super rough and I'm afraid we're going to end up with some scraped legs on it.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk