Nice! I love seeing pics.
I'm hard plumbing my 18' AG pool from the get go. I've heard the horror stories and the benefits of doing it, so I figured why not. The horror stories don't scare me, it's really just for the efficiency of it all. Thanks for sharing.
It's also nice to see people doing the same thing as me with somewhat similar sized pools. Yes, mine is smaller. Darn-it!!! lol. I've got an 8000g with 200 sf cartridge filter and 1.5hp 2 speed pump. 2" pvc though. My low speed will surely do the job with this setup. I think it uses 2.8 amps @ 120 volts on low. Not bad.
Good luck and thanks for the pics!