Install Day 1... to be continued...

I'll have to talk to hubby about cutting it up.... it's massive... I got it off but as you can see in the picture below it's beside the pool -- in the sun. About all I can do by myself til we come up with another solution. With the record heat wave headed our way, I think we'll just leave it off!! I should see some of my FC get consumed too -- would prefer it around 3ish instead of 5. I am going to leave it uncovered the rest of the day then test/dose if necessary before bedtime.

I did get some pictures!
 

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With a pool of that size I would recommend a pool reel.
This year is our second season with the new pool and it got to the point that I didn't want to use the pool cause of the monster cover it had, I knew it was time to order the pool reel and I am glad I did.
 
Anyone know of a reel that works on a monster pool??? I found several that go up to 28'. The one I found that goes to 30' looks like it sits over the pool and bows down in the middle to let the blanket sit on the water?!? I can't have that with the kiddos... Another something to spend money on... whee!! I'm not sure hubby will ever use the pool if I don't get the water temp up though.
 
I detested dealing with our cover and it was only 21 feet. I lived in a pile on the deck most of it's life. If i ever get a new one, I will need a reel or something. I have seen some of the reel cover are in the middle of the pool and you slice the cover in half and the two halves wind around the reel. It would go faster the way and the biggest part winds on first... but it's in the middle of the pool. You could swim with the reel there or find a way to pivot it off to the side.
 
Many people have cut their covers to make them easier to manage, there are a few threads on the topic.

I often debated about cutting mine, but I manage well enough. Without a cover we probably wouldn't be swimming much outside of mid June-August, having the cover retains the heat you need to swim in May/Early June and Early September.

I've found that the outside temp/wind play a big factor in our desire to swim, so warmer water only helps during the time frame I mentioned above. Having the heater definitely helps on the days when swimming would be nice if the water was a couple degrees warmer. I'm wondering how much propane I could buy for the price of the gas line. Maybe a propane heater would be more cost effective. We probably spend at most $250/season on gas.
 
I doubt you will have any problems with the water being too cool for the next week or so :) I might have to start aerating at night to keep it cool enough. (depending on what temp it's at tonight)
 
My test:

Temp: 82
FC: 4.5
CC: 0
pH: 7.5
TA: 550
CH: 475

Their Test:
FC: 2.42
TC: 2.56
CC: .14
pH: 7.5
TA: 84
CH: 271
CYA: 9 (I estimate it at 20 based on what I've added so far)
everything else they tested was 0 (mostly metals) and my Saturation Index is -0.1

At least they got the pH right?!?! :) They said I needed CYA (Which is what I went there to buy). He swapped my "shock" (cal-hypo) for liquid shock (aka: 10%) and my "Alkalinity Increasor" for a gallon of Muriatic Acid. Tried to swap out my polyquat for a 1 time algeacide that had copper but I declined the copper. He had me keep the pH Plus and Minus (I was going for store credit) but since they are essentially washing soda and dry acid it's not a huge deal. I left spending $7 on a decent thermometer and my son spent $25 in the toy section (with his own money, he's a vicious negotiator - retail he got $40 worth of stuff. Should have had him buy the pool!)

I think I've made my last pool store visit for the season, though the manager is a pretty competent guy and didn't question my not wanting to use some of his chemicals :)
 

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Is your ladder ok?..

Same here on the pavers, I got lucky though it worked out well. The path from the patio to the ladder only needed 2 pavers to cross over the trench we dug for the gas line. The equipment pad is on the other side (same side they brought in the bobcat from)

2 years later we're now getting going on re-seeding some much needed areas. Would have been sooner but I spent plenty of time trying to get a tiller working because the ground was uneven and I don't want to do anything by hand :p

Now comes the aerator project, perfect timing too because with this heat you might want the cooling effect and your TA is high!

I'm assuming your return jet is mounted with a 1.5" fixture, you can check my fountain thread if you need ideas or to see what the parts look like, it's a rather simple process.

I made a new aerator last night, used a pretty small drill bit, I can't remember what size since I didn't look but it was the second smallest in a standard kit. I drilled 6 holes so I could run the pump on low and have a good range. I will take some pics tonight. I need to re-drill the holes to try and smooth them out a bit, a couple have a small amount of water spraying in different directions.


The manager of our Atlantis seems to be a fairly smart guy too, I overheard him tell a customer that he uses liquid chlorine. He didn't say why though... :blah:
 
The ladder...oh the ladder... well, it doesn't have the weight in it yet but I emptied another bleach container today. Filling it with Quickrete. We put one in there on the 'shelf' yesterday and it helped so it didn't float all the way up while we were in it. The outside steps are removed for safety to keep the kids from getting in when they aren't suppose to. I haven't "watered' the quickrete yet - we were just dry fitting it... but will water them and leave them out with the top off for them to solidify. I'm told by hubby that the concrete process is exothermic so I don't want exploding bleach jug in the pool!!

I've looked at purchased fountains and I'm not in love. Hubby doesn't sound eager to build our own but I may try my hand at it. There's http://www.amazon.com/Splash-Pools-3070 ... l+fountain at Amazon and it's pretty cheap. My concern with one attached to the return is if the kiddos mess with it... though, the blossom fountain with a hose all the way to the middle of the pool isn't much better. I see it being something that's used when we aren't in the pool.
 
Looks like your inside ladder is floating, sand weights or bricks inside the bottom step can be helpful in keeping it down.

My success with pavers (like your red ones) inside my ladder varied as they have more air in them than standard red bricks. It looks like a Confer ladder and they have angled outside legs. My Integrity ladder's outside legs are 90 degrees to the ground.
 
I have a fountain with a tube that floats in the middle of the pool. It works nice moist of the time but the float can fill with water (and not float as high) and if the weight comes off, the fountain moves around in the pool and the wind can blow it to the side where half of the water ends up side the pool. All in all, I am pretty happy with it.

It can also be used as an indicator that I need to bump my filter since the fountain will get shorter and quieter when the filter pressures are rising to backwash levels.
 
Honestly, I didn't always remove it. Sometimes we swam under the fountain when the pump was running. If the pump was not ruining, I could set the drained fountain on top of the skimmer body ( skimmer lid is off most of the time) and let the hose stay where ever. This was before my DD was old enough to swim alone so I was there most of the time to manage it's use as a toy. If you left the adapter threads loose on the return, you could simply unscrew the adapter eyeball and put the eyeball and thread on the standard cap. I was not used it this year but I was planning on hooking it up this weekend to lower my TA. I have a new return fitting that is slightly different tan my last one so I am not sure how it will work this year. I am considering looking at adding a fitting outside the pool and a valve to run this separate from my return eye. I would likely add a fitting (union?, plastic garden hose quick release fitting?) to the fountains hose to make life easier.

With a clean filter, this fountain shoots very high, at least 10 feet for me.
 
Don't let me discourage you from buying a new toy, but PVC is extremely easy. I'm not the slightest bit handy and have made a few attachments and also hard plumbed the equipment.

All you need is some PVC cement (blue glue) a 1.5" PVC tube, I believe they're 5-6' and some connecting pieces. I use a hack saw to cut the pipe, everything you need can be purchased at Menards, Home Depot, Lowe's, etc for around $20 or less. If you're plumbing the equipment you will need a few more expensive pieces (unions and a ball valve).

The outside legs on the ladder appear to be coming forward, I have mine going straight down. Does the ladder touch the legs when it's attached?
 
Speedo, I need a picture of your ladder! Hubby and I went out and looked at it. I'm thinking they may have the bottom 'step' on the outside set too high so it won't angle in close enough or something... not sure, I got the two poles more upright but the ladder doesn't touch it. I'll look at your other pictures and see if it shows me well enough.

Just did my testing... pH seems to have jumped today! It's about 8 (up from 7.5 this morning) ... Is that unusual to see such a swing? It's hot here. I have low CYA and high Alk/CH. FC is at 2 after the sun today so not too bad... off to figure out what to dump in it.
 
Speedo: I think we got it! Put the ladder pavers in today. Was way harder than necessary due to the heat but it's done. Also, figured out how to hang the ladder on the handles so it's not just laying in the yard!! Woohoo for reading directions :)

Techguy: Ordered the blue flower fountain with a coupon from amazon! Gotta work on the TA and water temp, will be a fun way to do it :)

We're off to melt in the heat at a ballgame tomorrow, hoping to get the acid in to reduce the pH since it's drifting up so much. Don't want cloudy water for the 4th!

Specific questions:

1) We're having people over for the 4th. Could possibly have 20+ people in and out of the pool. What do I do to ensure it's safe for all of us to swim and I don't end up with a mess on my hands afterwards??

2) I need a timer for the pump but the pump says it can go up to 16amp so hubby says I need a 20amp timer. Anyone use one that works well? They are of course more spendy *sigh*
 
I usually spend my time on the forum during the week, but since I took off the first half I spent that time either in the pool or doing nothing :) After all the cleaning and food prep was done for my family visiting on Monday.

Hopefully everything went smoothly. As for the ladder, We dug out a spot where the base would touch and put in half of a paver to support the legs and base. So in total we have 1/2 a paver used to support the base where the legs attach, 2 pavers to support the base of the ladder itself and one paver in front of the ladder to step on. I tried to get it as close to resting on the rail without putting much pressure on it. (the legs go straight down from the "platform.")

When I have people over I usually bump up the chlorine before and after. There were 6 of us swimming on Monday for about 3hours and everything went fine, I don't believe I added more than 1ppm extra, but my situation is different. The sun seems to burn off about 5.5ppm/day when it's this hot out. I believe I added about 6.5 ppm on Sunday night and back to the usual 5.5 before an intensely hot day on Monday night.

20+ people would scare me enough to get it close to shock value. Well maybe I would just double it. I target 7.5, even though 7 is my CYA level target. I think between 20 people and an unseasonably hot/sunny day, I would shoot for 14-15ppm (at my CYA level of 60). How did it work out for you?

How high is your alkalinity level? If your alk level is high I hear pH swings can occur. My TA was around 125, but I've been lowering pH w/ acid because of the aeration to keep it cool. I will test my alk again soon, it should be close to 100 now.

As for the timer, I've looked in to it as well. Unless you're going to hard wire the pump to a "permanent" timer, you won't be able to run the pump on high. (I've yet to find a "portable" timer that supports over 15 amps)

Since I only run the pump on high to clean, I've debated about getting a timer (and unhooking it while cleaning), but running the pump on low 24/7 hasn't been a problem.
 

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