Small Pool Build - Brisbane, Australia [emoji1037]

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Whatever you do when talking about caring for your pool do NOT use the word "bleach" you will get this :shock: Use the word "chlorine" instead. For some reason this is okay :roll: We even had one guy who poured the BLEACH from their jugs into CHLORINE jugs for the longest time because his wife said NO! to bleach. He would put the bleach jugs in his neighbor's recycle bin. He fessed up after 6 months and she could see the purrfect results.

Kim:kim:
 
riley00dog said:
Oh definitely!! Can’t imagine doing this on bigger pool. I feel like it’s a much more intimate relationship already lol.
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Your pool looks great. I love the large rocks around it. It reminds me a pool I used in the bahamas right down to the pavers.

Oh great LOL.... I just measured our pool 24' across at the widest and 34' at the longest. My arms are feeling sore all of a sudden... I just recovered from building 60' of fence. Everytime a truck goes by I look out the window :cool: PB didn't know if it would be tomorrow or today but weather is going to cooperate.
 
iain42 said:
Your pool looks great. I love the large rocks around it. It reminds me a pool I used in the bahamas right down to the pavers.

Oh great LOL.... I just measured our pool 24' across at the widest and 34' at the longest. My arms are feeling sore all of a sudden... I just recovered from building 60' of fence. Everytime a truck goes by I look out the window :cool: PB didn't know if it would be tomorrow or today but weather is going to cooperate.
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Thanks Iain. It’s not looking so great today. Need to get this equipment up and running to clear all the dust etc.

You might fare better than me with the brushing. Was watching YouTube videos on technique and the men all seemed to do it effortlessly... I noticed there were no women in the videos I watched [emoji848] This morning muscles are sore that I didn’t even know existed. Not just arms, but legs and stomach [emoji31] It will be worth it and we will be fitter for it too!

Good to hear the weather is good and plaster will be very soon. Almost there!
 
AmyJo said:
Sounds like you need a SolarBreeze that will constantly skim the surface! BEST money we’ve spent for our pool -
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I like that idea! We might have to see how we go as the winds over the past two days are very unusual. Typically nothing gets in the pool. Today is beautiful and still. Cold but at least not windy. We have Jeff our robot ready to go in. I think pb said he will go in tomorrow at start up. I asked if it will damage the surface and he said not all. It’s only a little bot and the pebble has been rock hard since the night it went in.
 
The robot will plug up with plaster dust very fast, so you'll be cleaning it often, but they really clean the water nicely. For my money, I'd filter with the pool's sand filter for a day or two before putting the robot in to finish the job by getting the finer stuff. You can let the plaster dust settle on the bottom overnight, then use the manual pool vacuum, moving slowly, and suck up heaps of it. If you didn't get a manual vacuum, just brushing it up and keeping the water cloudy will get it to the filter. The filter is easily backwashed (less work for you). Periods of heavy contamination is when a sand filter shines in terms of less effort. Just food for thought :)
 
needsajet said:
The robot will plug up with plaster dust very fast, so you'll be cleaning it often, but they really clean the water nicely. For my money, I'd filter with the pool's sand filter for a day or two before putting the robot in to finish the job by getting the finer stuff. You can let the plaster dust settle on the bottom overnight, then use the manual pool vacuum, moving slowly, and suck up heaps of it. If you didn't get a manual vacuum, just brushing it up and keeping the water cloudy will get it to the filter. The filter is easily backwashed (less work for you). Periods of heavy contamination is when a sand filter shines in terms of less effort. Just food for thought :)
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Thanks Jett. Might pull Jeff out as soon as the pb leaves. Really just want the pump and filter running. I have a manual vacuum in the start up box the brush etc in. Will use that for maybe the first week. Brush, settle, vacuum. Really want this rubbish out of my water. Having said that I am not seeing a massive amount of dust when I brush. Mainly the bench, stairs and around the returns. Water just looks terrible compared to when it first went in. At least it’s only 24 hours to go.
 
Our PB mucked around with clarifiers but I was not convinced they did much. What did make a difference was running the pump on low speed for 24 hours after backwashing. I think it allowed some of the finer stuff to get caught in the sand, which helps the filter get better at its job. A somewhat dirty filter works best. There's a procedure here for adding diatomaceous earth (DE) to the sand filter which does the same thing, and it happens immediately. Unfortunately you have to buy a $40 4.5 kg box that will last you for yonks at 1/2 cup or so per recharge!

If you try a clarifier, my experience was that the so-called "natural" ones (chitin based, microscopically ground up crustacean shells, aka chitosan) didn't do much for me. They're designed for helping with skin oil, sun cream etc. which is not the issue now. The one that did seem to work was *poly-diallyldimethylammonia chloride (DMAC) Hy-Clor 1L Water Clarifier | Bunnings Warehouse Stick to the recommended rate because too much can render it ineffective.

On the other hand, patience gets it done too. You'll be able to back off on brushing and vacuuming and just let the filter work long hours. In around a week or so, it will all be a distant memory! Not sure what filter element you have in the robot, but those are amazing filter machines!

- - - Updated - - -

and Happy Mother's Day!!
 
needsajet said:
Our PB mucked around with clarifiers but I was not convinced they did much.)

and Happy Mother's Day!!
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Thanks for the Mother’s Day wishes!

I don’t think the pb is adding any clarifiers. Just a sequesterent (metal out). Have all the start up chemicals here and there doesn’t seem to be anything other than the standard chemicals. I will take your advise on running the pump, filter cleaning etc. I think I will be opting for long run times even after I finish up with the 24/7 initial start up. Electricity isn’t a concern particularly (our bill is so high as it is anyway). I think it’s matter of filtering out all the fine debris and getting levels and equipment on track... easier said than done but I will get there. I just need to be patient!

Oh my arms [emoji31] There even worse after brushing this morning. Going to try and find a new lightweight pole later that fits pb brush. Maybe a new brush too.
 

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Pool care is sorted! Just need to find a comfy chair for the pool area so I can make sure they don’t slack off.

The water is so murky. Can’t wait for the morning for equipment start up.

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I'm wondering if cloudy is a kinder word. Murky said near your pool might give it a complex, haha. Looking really good already actually, and great to see the kids pitching in.

I was a tad worried about all the beige, but i gotta say it looks great and is very elegant :) When the water sparkles, it's going to be brilliant!
 
needsajet said:
I'm wondering if cloudy is a kinder word. Murky said near your pool might give it a complex, haha. Looking really good already actually, and great to see the kids pitching in.

I was a tad worried about all the beige, but i gotta say it looks great and is very elegant :) When the water sparkles, it's going to be brilliant!
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True... it’s not my pool’s fault. I will go with cloudy for now. The boys are so keen to help so I will take it while it lasts. Btw, I had already given the pool a very good brush before this. As much as I’d like to count their work I can’t quite yet.

I was worried about all the beige too! We didn’t want any bling at all and this was the only paver and waterline tile that took my eye. It was a very easy decision but also a huge gamble. Showed hubby a few options for each and he said that one and that one. Which were the two I had chosen but hadn’t mentioned. If we hated it then it would be on both of us lol. It was after 5pm when I took this photo so it doesn’t really look all that great but in the full sun I am very happy with our choices. Kind of just blends in to our yard and looks like it has always been there.
 
kimkats said:
I was just thinking...............she REALLY needs to get those boys to work! LOL Well done MOM!!

Kim:kim:
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They are both very keen to help, especially my 6 year old! He is almost too keen. He wants to do everything which is great but ends up taking me twice as long to get things done. I know this doesn’t last forever though so I let him when I can.

It’s almost 10.30pm and I’m about to do my third and final brushing for the day (pb said they really just want 2 not the 4 we are told). Bring on the morning when the equipment is turned on. At least I will feel like my brushing is being effective.
 
Everything is running! Start up chemicals in. He didn’t add much at all. I was dubious about how much CYA he was adding but it was just two tiny bags plus some granular chlorine which contains cya. Metal out and a little bag of something else. Much to the disgust of TFP salt is in. It dissolved the second it hit the water so I’m not really concerned about it damaging the pebble and it didn’t look like it touch the pebble at all. Here salt seems to go in straight away unless you have polished pebble or jewels 4 pools, in which case it’s a month. The guy actually thought the interior looked polished and questioned me before adding the salt. Auto dosing set up for ph. Everything is set on timers. I had to take the boys to school and he was gone when I got home, but I think he might be coming back this afternoon. Oh Jeff is having his maiden swim. He seems to be doing a really good job but will pull him if he’s clogging up with dust. He’s very cute! So all in all, a morning to make TFP cringe, but I’m happy to let my pb do the start up and take over from handover. Really happy to have things up and running. Heat pump is being commissioned today too. Just walk me through how to use it and set up the ugly blanket and roller. Bye bye pretty pool deck!

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Hideous blue cover being cut to size.
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Temporary fencing has just been collected. These dogs use to be guard dogs but apparently not anymore! With both the heat pump man and the fencing company the dogs happily let them in and they walked up to the backyard where I was brushing without so much as a single bark [emoji849]
 

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