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You can get phosphate test strips on Amazon. The AquaChek ones made by HACH are pretty accurate. Mine were wicked high when I moved into my house and I eventually treated to remove them, but it's debatable at best whether it was necessary.

New fence completed (thanks, Beryl). Been fighting to keep the sawdust and dirt at bay via skimmer socks and sand/silt bags on the Polaris. Probably going to chlorinate to the higher end of normal for a few days just in case. On to the next repair…

As I heard from another neighbor, a crew came and replastered it today and it's now being filled. All well and good, except I'd bet good money they're going to fill it and then just let it turn into a swamp again. But maybe they have a tentative offer pending the pool not being a swamp?

You can absolutely install a pump- If you search on the forum, you can find some pretty ingenious setups that people have installed. If you keyword "stenner," you'll get plenty of results. But as others have pointed out, it isn't necessarily easy or inexpensive. That said, if you get everything...

They did that earlier this summer when it went on the market. The plaster was massively stained but they cleaned it and repaired the equipment just as the rest of the house was completed. Then they let it return to a swamp again (they’re blaming the hurricane, but it was green well prior to...

That was always my understanding. Not surprised a flipper is going cheap- he overpaid for the house given its condition and his asking price is already too high. Just verifying my thoughts as I approach my own replaster.

The pool next door to me is being flipped with the house. I figured for years that it was in terrible shape, but you couldn’t see as the water was black. A crew spent about half a day over there so after they left I snuck over to see what was happening. My own pool is probably heading for a...

Hey- Sorry, I just saw this. I haven't been online much lately. It's still holding up quite well, actually. I haven't been as diligent as I wanted to be about resealing it annually but considering that I'm definitely not displeased with the results. I have one area where there are some light...

Agreed that it can be confusing at first. But no- there really is no formula and every pool is different. Heck, even your own pool will be different day to day, month to month, etc... Personally, what I try to do is find the approximate spot where it holds nearish to the middle of the range that...

You could always tell people (and yourself) that it's a safety feature to identify where the slope to the deep end starts and you paid extra for it because you're fancy. LOL Much like how software developers respond to me when I identify an obvious glitch, "Oh, no. The crashing you are...

I'm pretty OCD, so it would bother me. However, the unknown of getting a new one would nag at me, too. At the end of the day, I'd probably take the $1200. I've never had a liner pool but my sister did and hers never seemed to last all that long (but she doesn't follow TFP- I've tried to tell her...

I always keep several on hand... Smith + Cross and Wray & Nephew- Funky overproof rums that add a kick to Tiki Drinks. Plantation overproof- also adds a kick but less funky. Various spiced rums- Kraken and others- mostly used for egg nog for me, but guests have other uses. Bacardi White for the...

I never get algae blooms and keep hair nets on my skimmer to trap as much of the smaller stuff as possible. Consequently, I dismantle and fully clean my DE once a year, and usually don't have to backwash it (although this year I had to do one backwash due to it being very dry and dusty). It's...

Got it done, and only have one rant about the task: Is it too much to ask that motor manufacturers provide sufficient space to route the wiring needed without cursing prolifically? I mean, make the motor housing 10 mm longer- That couldn't possibly hurt your profit margins, knowing that the...

I ordered the PB460 for MUCH less than what local stores were asking and it was delivered a few days later, as I was arriving in sunny (and dusty, smoky, polluted, etc...) Basra, Iraq. 7 more days and I'll be headed back home to install it and see how many leaves I collected. Asked the fam to...

Thanks for all the advice. Found a PB460 for about $415 and as I hear it was delivered yesterday. When I get home from this delightful place, I guess that will be task #1 on my to-do list. After LOTS and LOTS of sleep and tequila, of course. And, obviously, I assume something will blow up on...

Interesting- Thanks for the input. I don't see it specified anywhere whether the case is reinforced or not. Right now, I'm leaning that I'm just going to get the PB460. One online retailer specifies that the PB4SQ does NOT have ANY warranty if you buy it online and install it yourself, which I'm...

Of course, during my 10 days home between 20 day trips to Iraq for work my Polaris pump decides that RIGHT before I have to go back is a good time to finally die. I've been expecting it as it has sounded like an angry velociraptor for the past 3 years (kind of surprised at how long it ran...

Leaving on Friday evening... The project I'm going to step into is devolving at an alarming rate, and I won't even be able to cope with my usual evening martini. I keep thinking about the extra $$, days off between deployments, and the airline mileage boost...... It's all I've got to look...

Have a backup plan, though- A friend of mine back in Louisiana had a backup generator, which would have been great except gas service went down, too, during a weather event.

Just south of you, on the border of Houston and Spring. I pretty much have just been running it (in decreasing increments) until the water hits about 65 degrees, then I swap to dosing with bleach. I don't have a heater so by that time I'm not getting in it until the following summer, so I don't...

I'll be getting Expat pay, which for that country is 160% of my normal salary. Not sure about the tax ramifications- I'm getting royally hosed this year, regardless thanks to inheritance taxes. I'll also get some extra vacation days out of it. Have a cruise scheduled in late October and looks...

Midland/Odessa ALWAYS finds new and interesting ways to mess up my plans. I've been stranded there more times than I care to count. Once, I thought I'd be smart and fly in/out of Lubbock instead (and get to see the Buddy Holly museum) but got stranded there, too. I haven't been attacked by a...

In the last months, I've complained about how hot it is in Houston, and having to travel to West TX (Midland/Odessa) for work where it's typically hotter and dusty. So now? Being sent to work in Iraq for a month. o_O

From my personal experience... My pool was in about the same situation as yours- >5000 ppb phosphates (I ran the testing in my lab at work, so it wasn't a pool store fabrication). I wasn't having any terrible-awful problems, for the most part, but.... I had small spots of black algae that I...