Wish I found this forum before building....Not too late? Pics!

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J

jbb2388

0
May 8, 2017
102
Wolcott, CT
Hello everyone. New pool owner in Connecticut. Pool is still mid-construction but I wish I had found this forum before agreeing to all the various options and equipment, etc. Normally I do my research. Not sure what happened this time. :( So the pool is a 16 x 34 "Mountain Lake" shape. Need to find out the volume. Along with the included equipment is a Frog Leap twin pool frog system which from what I've read here is a mistake. Its already installed but it wouldn't take much for me to eliminate it or just not use it going forward. Also included was a 1 HP pump. Seems a bit on the small side. Let me know your opinions. Don't worry about me being offended or insulted. I can take it. ;)

BTW, What does "BBB" stand for? I already know I need to do it...:p

Have a lot more to read here, just thought i'd say hi.


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Hey JBB! Welcome to TFP!

BBB was an old acronym for "Bleach, Borax, Baking Soda"....three items we use in pools instead of their expensive pool store versions. We stopped using that term when folks mistakenly thought they needed to go out and buy all that...when in actuality they may not. Bleach is the one thing every pool uses at one time or another though!

Your build looks good..... fun days ahead!

Can I be a debbie-downer on one item though? That mineral/chlorinator device. We *never* suggest folks put metals in their water (silver, copper, etc) which is what that mineral pack does. And pucks will also add too much stabilizer if you're not aware of it and watch out for the problems it brings when the CYA stabilizer gets too high.

I would invite you to dabble your toes in the Pool School articles, starting with ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry.

Have you ordered your test kit yet? We recommend only two on the market: The TF-100 or Taylor K-2006C. Both use Taylor reagents but the TF-100 is set up so that you have more of the reagents that you'll use most often. You can buy either at: tftestkits.net or Pool Supply World.com or Amazon. I'd go for the first, as they ship out of NC and will get to you fastest.

Bring back any new pics you get as well as questions!! We loveeeee pics!

Maddie :flower:
 
Welcome! :wave:

I did a little googling. It looks like your pool is somewhere between 17000 and 19000 gallons. My pool is 16000 gallons and my 1 hp works just fine. I manage with only a couple hours a day.

Order the test kit now so you'll be ready. And ditch the frog as soon as the builder completes his startup and leaves.
 
If I were to make a recommendation, it would be make sure your pump is at minimum, a 2 speed pump. The low speed will save you a lot of electrical usage and still filter the water just fine and produce a lot less noise than a single speed pump.

Of course if you wanted to go all out, the variable speed pumps are awesome. And if your electric costs are 20 cents KWH or more, the VS pump would definitely pay for itself in saved energy costs.
 
Wow, such helpful members. Thank you all.

YippeeSkippy said:
BBB was an old acronym for "Bleach, Borax, Baking Soda"....three items we use in pools instead of their expensive pool store versions. We stopped using that term when folks mistakenly thought they needed to go out and buy all that...when in actuality they may not. Bleach is the one thing every pool uses at one time or another though!
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Hi Maddie(My Daughter's name :D) Thanks for all of your help. Yeah I don't plan on using the frog system after reading many of the posts here about it. Seems very expensive and not at all what I am after. In fact I am somewhat disappointed that my builder suggested it for me. As far as the test kit goes I need to find out what the builder provides me but if its not the TF-100, I will be ordering that one right away.

Richard320 said:
I did a little googling. It looks like your pool is somewhere between 17000 and 19000 gallons. My pool is 16000 gallons and my 1 hp works just fine. I manage with only a couple hours a day. Order the test kit now so you'll be ready. And ditch the frog as soon as the builder completes his startup and leaves.
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Thanks Richard! I was calculating around 19K myself. Glad to hear the pump should be fine. Wish I could find the model information on the Hayward website though. Its a Model SP1607z1m and there is no sign of it on the website anywhere so I'm guessing its an older outdated model. I wanted to confirm its a single speed motor. I'm guessing it is.
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borjis said:
Wow what a gorgeous build! Is it 8 feet deep in the end?
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Thanks. Yes, 8 feet.

Divin Dave said:
If I were to make a recommendation, it would be make sure your pump is at minimum, a 2 speed pump. The low speed will save you a lot of electrical usage and still filter the water just fine and produce a lot less noise than a single speed pump.

Of course if you wanted to go all out, the variable speed pumps are awesome. And if your electric costs are 20 cents KWH or more, the VS pump would definitely pay for itself in saved energy costs.
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Thanks Dave. Unfortunately as I said above I think its only single speed. You would think it would say it somewhere on the pump :rolleyes:



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poolneophyte said:
It's your money to spend the way you see fit. I'd ditch the frog and go for a SWG instead. You will be much happier in the long run.
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If you go with a swg, make sure your ladder, diving board, etc are salt water rated. My pool was installed with a pool frog hybrid swg system and they didn't use a salt water rated ladder or diving board. I've already replaced the ladder, and need to do the diving board stand soon.
 
When y'all are ready for the SWG (I'd guess by next year when you tire of lugging jugs of bleach home) the space that Frog system sits now will easily accept the SWG. It won't be difficult to slap that puppy in there at all. You and your husband may be able to do it yourselves if y'all are the slightest bit handy.

Maddie :flower:
 
YippeeSkippy said:
When y'all are ready for the SWG (I'd guess by next year when you tire of lugging jugs of bleach home) the space that Frog system sits now will easily accept the SWG. It won't be difficult to slap that puppy in there at all. You and your husband may be able to do it yourselves if y'all are the slightest bit handy.
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Lol, I AM the husband and yes I am very handy. :p I can't imagine that bags of salt are any less desirable to lug around, lol.

Spoke to my installer over the weekend. He said no problem about taking out the frog system and would take care of it. He sounded confused though and asked me what my plan was to treat the water and asked if I was planning on using chlorine floaters. I said no, liquid chilorine and that I have been doing quite a bit of reading the last few weeks. I ordered my TF-100 test kit. It should be here this week. I am very anxious to get started. Our bldg inspector has been dragging his feet getting over to give us the go ahead to start backfilling the pool so all work has been at a stand still and it just sits there completely full as I wonder how long before it turns green with algae. Supposedly the inspector is coming this afternoon and they will be finishing the backfilling and plumbing and getting the pump and filter running tomorrow. I sure hope so. I am dying to get started.
 
jbb2388 said:
I can't imagine that bags of salt are any less desirable to lug around, lol.
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It's better than you think! You'll need maybe 10-12 bags (40#) to get started, and then maybe 1-2 each season. It's easy to run the math to see if it's cheaper for you than lugging bleach around, but it's definitely less effort! It's easy to convert at any time, so you can always wait until the bleach thing gets too annoying. :)
 
YippeeSkippy said:
You can go ahead and put some chlorine and cya in the water while waiting for the inspection...can't you?
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I don't know. Can I? I still haven't gotten any equipment or anything from installer so I was concerned about putting liquid chlorine in before having the returns running to mix it or at least before having a brush to mix it manually. Is there anything I can do at this point? Thanks guys for the replies.
 
I'll let the others chime in on if you should add the cya and chlorine without having any equipment to mix it up but I do want to say that is a beautiful pool, even more so once you get all the landscaping done and the water is TFP crystal clear!! :)
 
If you're not sure about a SWG, I recommend a Stenner pump w/15 gal container for the chlorine injection...one of the best things I ever did! I fill the tank every few weeks. I have a dual electronic timer, one for the pool pump and one for the injection pump. Chlorine gets added 3 times a day for about 15 min each time. A few folks from this forum have installed them, so you can do a search and see some pics.
 

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