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Update: I played around with the valves and speeds a bit this morning following your suggestions. I was afraid yesterday to divert any water away from the returns, but once I set that jandy valve to favor the waterfall/cleaner and opened the cleaner and waterfall valves fully, I was able to set...

This is exactly what I needed - it's so simple when you spell it out, but sitting there staring at the valves tonight, I was baffled. Thanks! Will give it a go tomorrow and report back. Again, in my PB's defense, I don't think my wife ever told the designer that we wanted the waterfall running...

Thanks Jim. Only reason to run the pump that long is because my wife wants the waterfall noise, and I don't have a booster so I have to run the main pump if the waterfall needs to be on. If I had my druthers, I'd cut back on the waterfall altogether because of the increased evap and aeration...

Good news, everyone! I graduated my PB's pool school this morning. (I look forward to your graduation gifts.) Unfortunately, the course on pump run time was limited to "in the summer, I'd run it at 3000 rpm from about 10 to 6." I know that's not taking advantage of the variable-ness of my...

Let us know what your PB says. I had almost the same experience with my Austin build this summer, they poured in 100+ heat and we had cracks in the deck within a week. PB told me they were surface cracks and gave me the same "dime test" line. I know all concrete will crack, just wasn't expecting...

Hi. Have been at a work conference all weekend so haven't done much with the pool other than keeping an eye on the pH. On day 3 I started adding chlorine as per the startup card. No sequestrant because the PB said not to and the card lists it as optional. Have been brushing twice a day but...

So I'm getting conflicting advice about this. The pebble startup instructions say no chlorine in the first 48 hours because of metal precipitation. But I don't think we have metal in our water here, and my PB didn't add any sequestrant (even though the startup instructions say to). On the other...

Yep, we're all set. Right now the chore is keeping the kids from jumping in, the other thing the PB added was two gallons of muriatic acid. I assume to get the TA down from 175 to something closer to the 80 that is recommended for the pebble start-up. Of course, that cratered my pH so I've got...

Bleach!

Thanks! Good idea to just proceed on the assumption of 80 ppm. I think I'm just gonna let him throw the pucks in the skimmer and then remove once he leaves. Will do a full battery of tests (minus CYA) tonight and post results. Thanks again!

Okay, you guys have successfully talked me down from the ledge! I'll leave everything as-is and do a test tonight to see where I stand. I've already got bleach for daily maintenance of my FC in between weekly visits from the PB (I assume he'll just throw some trichlor in the feeder, ugh). How...

I was about to but then folks in the other thread talked me down from the ledge. I'm so paranoid about excessive CYA after reading the forums for a month that it sent me into a spiral. But the experts tell me that even 80 ppm CYA isn't the end of the world and I don't need to worry about...

Maybe I've been reading the forums too dutifully, I was targeting about 50 ppm CYA and you guys had put the fear of God into me about ever going higher than that. But if you think 80ppm isn't going to be the end of the world, I'll just let it go rather than fool with trying to figure out how to...

I'm glad I have the recommended startup procedures to look at, because my PB for sure isn't following them. He just came out to do "startup" and got the pump going, threw a bunch of MA and dichlor in, and then proceeded to dump an entire tub of stabilizer into the skimmer. He's supposed to take...

Re: HELP! Builder's "startup" was a CYA dump! The PoolMath calculator shows that 9lbs (144 oz) of stabilizer should raise my 13.5k pool's CYA to 80? Or am I doing something wrong?

We finished filling our new pool this morning, the PB was just out to do his "startup" procedure. He got the pump going, dumped a bunch of muriatic acid (maybe 2 gallons?) in front of a return, and then proceeded to empty an ENTIRE 9 lb tub of stabilizer into the skimmer! Before I could run...

I called the water company beforehand to ask about this, they said it didn't matter because our wastewater charges are a flat rate per month that's determined by our average use during the winter (so there isn't any irrigation going on). I guess if I'd been filling between November and February...

One thing that came up on this thread is that my fill volume, as determined by my water meter readings, is somewhere in the vicinity of 13,500 gallons. The PB had previously estimated about 17,500, so that was a bit of a shocker to me. To be fair, that estimate was from the on-site supervisor...

And just to be clear, the 17,500 number that I was working off of before, was just something the PB offhandedly said while we were chatting one day. I just asked for a ballpark of the size, he glanced at the gunite shell for about 15 seconds, and then said "probably about 17 and a half thousand...

He should be coming by shortly, so I'm going to hold off until he gets here so I don't mess anything up. The startup instructions do say to immediately start the pump but I don't see what a couple hours is going to hurt. I have a K2006. No brush yet, but that's included in the stuff PB is...

Yeah that's what I'm struggling with now, too. The contract doesn't specify a volume and gives all dimensions as "approximate" so I'm not sure I have a strong contractual claim against the PB. And I'm sure they'd point out that we were there the day they painted it out and didn't have any issue...

Thanks Kim! I won't be shy about asking questions. Have been lurking on the forums for a while and think I've read every Pool School article several times over. I have a chemistry degree that I never get to use anymore, so this is all scratching an itch for me! He hasn't given me anything yet...

Fill's done! And... it took a lot less water than I was expecting? Our PB estimated a volume of 17,500, but our water meter only showed a total usage during the fill just shy of 13,500? Is a 20% difference normal? I guess my water meter could be off but that seems unlikely, much more likely that...

And the sun rises on a NEW POOL! A couple more glamour shots: My understanding from reading the forums is that once the PB gets things started up and the chemistry balances, the green tint will likely go away?

PB. He's supposed to handle the first 3 weeks or so. I think I'm going to play dumb and let him do what he wants to do, but watch him like a hawk so I know what's going in on any particular day. And of course I'll be testing the water as we go, just for practice.

About 5000 gallons in! I don't have the patience for this!

Acid wash: AND WE FILL! Don't worry, I put a sock on the end of the hose and moved it to where it's flat in the deep end rather than running down the side. Was getting 6.5 gpm so I ran a second hose and am now up to 11 gpm. Took my fill time from 45 hours down to 26!

First of all, the "water meter trick" is absolutely brilliant! So simple and yet I never would've thought of it in a million years. I know not to interrupt the fill. PB estimates 24-36 hours to fill ours with a single hose. I have a second hose bib on the opposite corner of the house but I...

So after months of construction, we had plaster installed today, acid wash will be tomorrow, and then WE FILL! Going to use water from the hose so I thought I'd test our tap water with my brand new K2006. Here's what I got: pH: 8.0 CH: 125ppm TA: 175ppm I don't think I needed to test anything...

PLASTER!