Hi everyone, my wife and I are in process of buying a house with beautifully designed 20 year old in-ground pool with spa/grotto/waterfall and slide and floor system. Pool and spa feature pebble tech coating, nice deluxe pool but needing TLC!
I’m still working on calculating the gallons/capacity of the pool/spa, we are draining the pool next week to begin a major renovation so I haven’t tested the water chemistry yet, but will be testing regularly and using TFP method going forward after the renovation is complete.
I have already checked out “Pool School” and “ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry” and found these to be very informative and helpful resources,
Currently wanting to get some feedback/advice on possibly installing a SWG system, and any general advice and best practices you can share are greatly appreciated,
We are in process of draining the pool next week to complete overhaul of the grotto and concrete rocks surrounding the pool, with some minor crack sealing/repairs, re-staining, re-sealing, also rebuilding a couple rocks with significant cracks, and replacing current water slide with custom concrete slide that will be built into the rocks to replace the worn out plastic slide that is contributing to issues with the adjacent concrete rocks. We are working with a very experienced local contractor to complete the grotto/rock overhaul/repairs, he has over 25 years experience working with several of the top local aquascape companies and now working independently, he came to us highly recommended from a well-connected contractor we are using for some of our other house renovations and he is offering us a very fair price for the job, we feel good about working with him and excited to see this transformation happen over the next few weeks.
After the grotto/rock renovation is complete we are also having the current 20 year old pebble tech chipped out, and installing fresh pebble tech in the pool/spa.
Also, I’m a lighting designer and wanted to update the underwater lights during the pool renovations, so we are replacing the current halogen pool/spa lights with new J&J PureWhite 500watt equivalent LED light in the pool, and 300watt equivalent PureWhite LED light in the spa. The current spa light fixture is full sized pool style halogen fixture, and we are replacing with another full-size LED fixture since I wanted to use a bright full-size light fixture in the spa that will also light up the interior of the grotto at night, (being in Las Vegas, hopefully we will be able to see if any spiders/scorpions are crawling around in the grotto before we jump in the spa at night!) I opted for PureWhite fixtures since we want a classic natural look and I’m not interested in multi-color light show in my pool/spa, (we have enough colored light shows in Vegas, I don’t need one in my pool!)
Pool currently includes 2hp Hayward single speed pump/filter for the skimmer with recent bearing replacement/overhaul, separate 2hp Hayward single speed pump/filter for the floor system with recent bearing replacement/overhaul, and includes a couple additional 2hp single speed pumps for the spa/water features that are in rough condition and look like they need replacing, so we are planning to swap out the existing single speed pumps on the skimmer and floor system for 3hp variable speed pumps for the skimmer and floor system daily operation in the near future, and we will use the recently overhauled single speed pumps for spa/water features occasional use.
I’m not sure yet the brand/specs on the current filters, I know they are not sand filters and I believe they use 4x cylinder cartridge filters per filter, (seller left me 4x extra filter cartridges in the garden shed) planning to clean out both filters and confirm exactly what we have next week.
After reading several posts here on water testing and chemicals best practices I already ordered the Taylor K-2006C test kit and digital PH tester on Amazon, and planning to follow TFP method to test/maintain the pool water chemistry after renovation is complete.
Original owner has been using 6x trichlor tablets weekly in 2x floaters to maintain the pool, also he used occasional shock packets, water seems to look ok with no visible issues, but I haven’t tested the water chemistry, there is heavy scaling on the rocks/pebble tech at surface level after 20 years of use with minimal chemical maintenance/testing, also the chlorine floaters are drifting into the shallow pebble tech beach entrance area, and the floaters are totally bleaching out the pebble tech in the shallow entrance area, so we are getting rid of the tablet floaters after the renovation.
Pool has auto-fill valve, and with high levels of evaporation here I expect there is a significant amount of water delivered to the pool each day via the auto fill valve, current owner told me he rarely drained the pool and has not removed water from the pool in several years so evaporation is just being replenished currently.
Surprisingly the water looks ok and I have already taken a few dips in the pool without any health issues, but I am concerned about the scaling, and also I’m sure there are issues with the current CYA levels since trichlor tablets have been used for so long without draining the pool so I’m not sure how safe/sanitary the water is, (wanting to fix/avoid these issues when we refill the pool after renovations!)
Before researching and learning about the TFP method I was planning to install in-line chlorinator to continue using tricolor tablets without bleaching out the pebble tech in the shallow area, but now after educating myself here I understand this pool will need daily attention, and I understand there will be issues with CYA build up using tricolor tablets continuously, so now I have been debating using liquid bleach daily, or thinking seriously about just paying the money now to immediately install a SWG system and save the cost/hassle of hauling endless gallons of liquid bleach home from Costco!
I have been looking at the Pentair IC40 system that seems like it would be a good fit for our mid-sized pool/spa, seems like installing this now would save me a lot of hassle and money long term, does anyone have feedback on the IC40, or any alternate SWG systems I should be looking at?
Would there be any reason for me to run a full set of tests on the current water chemistry before we drain the pool? Or since we will be starting fresh after the renovation is this a waste of time?
Any other general advice and best practices you can share are greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance for your feedback and support! -John
I’m still working on calculating the gallons/capacity of the pool/spa, we are draining the pool next week to begin a major renovation so I haven’t tested the water chemistry yet, but will be testing regularly and using TFP method going forward after the renovation is complete.
I have already checked out “Pool School” and “ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry” and found these to be very informative and helpful resources,
Currently wanting to get some feedback/advice on possibly installing a SWG system, and any general advice and best practices you can share are greatly appreciated,
We are in process of draining the pool next week to complete overhaul of the grotto and concrete rocks surrounding the pool, with some minor crack sealing/repairs, re-staining, re-sealing, also rebuilding a couple rocks with significant cracks, and replacing current water slide with custom concrete slide that will be built into the rocks to replace the worn out plastic slide that is contributing to issues with the adjacent concrete rocks. We are working with a very experienced local contractor to complete the grotto/rock overhaul/repairs, he has over 25 years experience working with several of the top local aquascape companies and now working independently, he came to us highly recommended from a well-connected contractor we are using for some of our other house renovations and he is offering us a very fair price for the job, we feel good about working with him and excited to see this transformation happen over the next few weeks.
After the grotto/rock renovation is complete we are also having the current 20 year old pebble tech chipped out, and installing fresh pebble tech in the pool/spa.
Also, I’m a lighting designer and wanted to update the underwater lights during the pool renovations, so we are replacing the current halogen pool/spa lights with new J&J PureWhite 500watt equivalent LED light in the pool, and 300watt equivalent PureWhite LED light in the spa. The current spa light fixture is full sized pool style halogen fixture, and we are replacing with another full-size LED fixture since I wanted to use a bright full-size light fixture in the spa that will also light up the interior of the grotto at night, (being in Las Vegas, hopefully we will be able to see if any spiders/scorpions are crawling around in the grotto before we jump in the spa at night!) I opted for PureWhite fixtures since we want a classic natural look and I’m not interested in multi-color light show in my pool/spa, (we have enough colored light shows in Vegas, I don’t need one in my pool!)
Pool currently includes 2hp Hayward single speed pump/filter for the skimmer with recent bearing replacement/overhaul, separate 2hp Hayward single speed pump/filter for the floor system with recent bearing replacement/overhaul, and includes a couple additional 2hp single speed pumps for the spa/water features that are in rough condition and look like they need replacing, so we are planning to swap out the existing single speed pumps on the skimmer and floor system for 3hp variable speed pumps for the skimmer and floor system daily operation in the near future, and we will use the recently overhauled single speed pumps for spa/water features occasional use.
I’m not sure yet the brand/specs on the current filters, I know they are not sand filters and I believe they use 4x cylinder cartridge filters per filter, (seller left me 4x extra filter cartridges in the garden shed) planning to clean out both filters and confirm exactly what we have next week.
After reading several posts here on water testing and chemicals best practices I already ordered the Taylor K-2006C test kit and digital PH tester on Amazon, and planning to follow TFP method to test/maintain the pool water chemistry after renovation is complete.
Original owner has been using 6x trichlor tablets weekly in 2x floaters to maintain the pool, also he used occasional shock packets, water seems to look ok with no visible issues, but I haven’t tested the water chemistry, there is heavy scaling on the rocks/pebble tech at surface level after 20 years of use with minimal chemical maintenance/testing, also the chlorine floaters are drifting into the shallow pebble tech beach entrance area, and the floaters are totally bleaching out the pebble tech in the shallow entrance area, so we are getting rid of the tablet floaters after the renovation.
Pool has auto-fill valve, and with high levels of evaporation here I expect there is a significant amount of water delivered to the pool each day via the auto fill valve, current owner told me he rarely drained the pool and has not removed water from the pool in several years so evaporation is just being replenished currently.
Surprisingly the water looks ok and I have already taken a few dips in the pool without any health issues, but I am concerned about the scaling, and also I’m sure there are issues with the current CYA levels since trichlor tablets have been used for so long without draining the pool so I’m not sure how safe/sanitary the water is, (wanting to fix/avoid these issues when we refill the pool after renovations!)
Before researching and learning about the TFP method I was planning to install in-line chlorinator to continue using tricolor tablets without bleaching out the pebble tech in the shallow area, but now after educating myself here I understand this pool will need daily attention, and I understand there will be issues with CYA build up using tricolor tablets continuously, so now I have been debating using liquid bleach daily, or thinking seriously about just paying the money now to immediately install a SWG system and save the cost/hassle of hauling endless gallons of liquid bleach home from Costco!
I have been looking at the Pentair IC40 system that seems like it would be a good fit for our mid-sized pool/spa, seems like installing this now would save me a lot of hassle and money long term, does anyone have feedback on the IC40, or any alternate SWG systems I should be looking at?
Would there be any reason for me to run a full set of tests on the current water chemistry before we drain the pool? Or since we will be starting fresh after the renovation is this a waste of time?
Any other general advice and best practices you can share are greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance for your feedback and support! -John
