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Hi All - Happy Pool Opening Season! Have learned a lot from this community since first getting a pool in 2022. However, my pH is a constant struggle especially through the winter close period. The pH shoots so high it creates scale. Here are the results of my final test before closing...

Hi All - Hope everyone is enjoying their last few weeks of summer. We have some organic stains in our pool. If we get the chlorine up close to SLAM levels, would the brushing from a Dolphin Nautilus be sufficient to remove the stains (in most cases)? Or is it something you think we'll have to...

Hi All - Thinking this might be a simple issue to fix? See the photo. I can’t make a determination but either the inlet (top) or outlet (bottom) to my heater is leaking. Seems to be coming from the slotted PVC piece (last piece you see before it turns black for the heater). Pool is only 2...

Hi All - Pool is just a couple years old but we have some discoloration/black stains showing up. Predominately around transitions (eg wall to bottom). Are these metal stains? My kit can’t test for metals but in May Leslie’s pool store showed no metals. Any ideas? Thanks in advance for the help!

Hi All - Has anyone found pool deck umbrella bases that don't rust? We've had these for the last two years and the rust rings are adding up and, unfortunately, nearly impossible to remove from our broom finish. Surely someone has had some success? Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Hi All - Bought a home in 2021 that came with a beautiful 450 gallon, 57 jet, 6-person Cal Spa (A857L). It's almost 20 years old, but in pretty good condition. We've only had to replace three diverter values. I drained it in summer of 2022 since it gets no use in summer. When I opened it...

Hi All - Closed my gunite pool in October and opened in April. Upon opening my pH was high, probably in the 9s. It was 7.2 or so at closing. Our winter was relatively mild so not sure if that had anything to do with the pH. We have swimming temps right now, but my kids are complaining the pool...

Hi All - Happy almost pool season (for us). I asked the pool company that opens my pool to leave any chemicals they normally add at my pad. Most posters here suggested I should balance the pool myself since pool company seems to just blindly add stuff. They left quite a bit of liquid...

Hi All - Always the best answers from the TFP community! I thought I'd get some insight on sealing my cement pool deck before pulling the trigger. Pool build was finish in August 2022 and sealed with "Laticrete L&M - Dress & Seal WB" by pool builder. I'm planning to seal it again this...

Hi All - We have a 6-person 450 gallon CalSpa Avalon A857L the previous owner left at our home. It's at least 15+ years old, but in otherwise good condition. I closed it over the summer, not realizing there's a 'process' to follow, and now I've filled it for the winter months and it's...

Hi All - I have an older 450 gallon CalSpa. Had a ton of water issues last winter because I wasn't staying on top of the chemicals. After owning a pool over the summer I've got a better understanding, but still struggling to get my chemicals dialed in. Hoping you can assist and tell me what...

Hi All - Happy Friday! See attached photos. I noticed this recently in my deep end ... doesn't seem to be anywhere beyond this one area. Honestly can't tell you how long it's been there, but pool is a year old. Doesn't go away with brushing. My test from this morning is below and this is...

Hi All - I read and re-read this helpful article on my hot tub chemicals. Once I hit target CYA of 20-30ppm it says to switch from Dichlor to plain old bleach. It's not clear how much bleach I should be adding to maintain my FC. I checked Pool Math and default for bleach shows 'Bleach...

Hi All - 1 year old Pentair 400k gas heater. I am noticing every now and then our heater vibrates. Yesterday it was fine, today it vibrates. The vibration is low and you can hear it inside our house. Changing pump speed doesn’t seem to make any difference. Any idea what might be the issue...

How do you folks clean your pool tile? I don't have any build up, just some darker spots on the tile and some residue from when they installed the tile (I can easily remove it with my thumb). Does some dishwashing soap like dawn and a stiff (not metal)/soft bristle brush do the trick?

Hi All - Anyone host a penny dive for kids? We did this when I was a kid. We’ll have 10-15 kids participating and throw in a few hundred pennies. Is this a good idea? Any issues I should worry about? I searched and didn’t look like anyone has asked about this recently.

Hi All - Recently had my pool built last summer and pool builder said it was pretty big for them. However, last week I swung by a neighbor's house down the road and they have a 40k gallon gunite pool. Anyone wiling to share photos of their 40k+ gallon gunite pool? How much bigger do...

Hi All - Is it just me? Getting an error in the Intellicenter 2 App. Says "500 : ( message = "internal server error"; )". I receive the error if I'm on Wifi or my mobile 5G plan.

+++Scroll to bottom for latest updates+++ Hi All - Pool company opened my new pool (opened for a month in 2022) three weeks ago and I finally had a chance to use my new TF-Pro Salt with Smart Stir testing kit. Some grey matter on the bottom of the pool, which I assume could be dead algae...

Hi All - Opened my pool for the first time two weeks ago. I see some wet spots on my equipment pad. Originally I thought they were condensation but now I think maybe a leak. Thoughts?

+++Updated on June 27 Cracked Coping / Patio - First Time Opening +++ Hi All - Hope you're well and had a nice weekend! Pool company is opening the pool this morning for the first time (was built in August 2022). Coping is cracked pretty significantly near the shallow end skimmer. Pool water...

Hi All - Had a Gunite pool built last summer and pool company did everything. I also have a hottub I inherited when I bought my home. I've put off learning about the chemistry side of things, until now. From everything I've read it seems the TF-100 test kit should take of almost all the tests...

Hi All - Yes, already thinking about opening even though it's snowing today. We have ~1,200sqft of concrete patio and this is our first year opening a pool. Any annual maintenance we need to do on the concrete patio? Does it need to be cleaned/sealed each year? I expect a lot of stains from...

Hi All - Posted this elsewhere, but posting it here as well for more eyes. Which plaster is this below? Is it 'Luna Quartz - Polar White' or or 'Altima - Altima White'? If it's not clear, how could I confirm definitively that it's one or the other? Luna Quartz - Polar White Altima - Altima...

Hi All - Hope you're well and always get great input from this community. Our new pool opened in early August and since then we haven't had a gas meter reading. I went out today to get a reading and called it into the gas company and they had a reaction that the reading was really high. They...

Hi All - Hoping you can help with some basic questions I have. I did read the pool school threads relating to maintenance and didn’t see the answers. 1) Should I vacuum the pool before I put the cover on for winter? I assume yes? 2) The box for the LED pool lights does not appear to be...

Hi All - noticed my pentair 400k BTU leaking from the bottom today. Also pool temp on the heater doesn’t match pool temp on the intellicenter - off by 2 degrees. Is this all pretty normal?

Greetings! Long story short, we've been noodling on a pool for three (3) years now. We had to cut short our last design because we moved from PA to NY. We're finally into the design stage and very nervous and excited! I've perused TFP mostly looking for any oversights / mishaps folks have...

Hi All - We were planning to have a pavilion as part of our pool build, but it's become cost prohibitive. Instead, we going to include extra decking to accommodate a pavilion in the future. However, we need to run Ethernet (CAT6), Coax (RG6), and Electric (110V) out to the area so it's there...

Hi All - I've seen a few posts on barking dogs, but mostly focused around waterfalls. We have neighbors with three Dachshunds and they like to be heard. The neighbors dogs are 100' away from what will be our pool come end of the summer. We've had some success this winter in speaking with the...