r/pools

Walked into a pool recently looking like it didn’t know who it wanted to be when it grew up. Asked the homeowner and they said they didn’t touch it. It turns green right at the slope edge.

Pool is 20k. My first summer warm up. I'm in Texas, didn't expect this using liquid chlorine to get my CYA to 50. I started using tabs again 2 weeks ago.

Hi all! First time owning a pool, I was a lifeguard a while ago so I have faint ideas. However, ive never cleaned or mainted a vinyl pool before, just wondering what cleaning chemicals to use on the walls aswell as some of my ladders and rails? (And yeah, that diving board is NOT getting used.)

Asking for a friend….came home to this landscaper prep job for 21’ above ground. What do the powers that be have to say about this base and the leveling job in a slightly pitched yard?

I’ve been having a problem with keeping my chlorine levels up .I allways end at at 0.3 and my salt generator is at 100% . I added liquid chlorine yesterday evening and this morning back to 0 pool is crystal clean for a month now but still can’t keep chlorine up . Everything is brand new on the pool and my generator looks like it’s working cause I have bubbles from my jets. Any recommendations?

Pool size: ~35,000 L
Salt system currently around 70–100% output
Pool gets direct sun ~12h/day
Current readings:
Free Chlorine (FC): 0.18 ppm
Total Chlorine (TC): 0.18 ppm
Combined Chlorine (CC): 0 ppm
Salt: 3800 ppm
CYA/Stabilizer: 85 ppm
pH: 7.2
Total Alkalinity (adjusted): 75 ppm
Calcium Hardness: 211 ppm
Phosphates: 0 ppb
Copper: 0 ppm
Iron: 0 ppm
Pump runs 24/7

I see a lot of posts where people have difficulty opening a pool. I see posts about adding way too many chemicals, chasing test results.

Open pool, get filter up running first. Check for air leaks, etc. if alkalinity isn’t below 50 don’t worry, ph hopefully is low or in range. Brush, brush, brush. Add salt. Filter runs non stop. Then slam (10 to 15 ppm) it at night. The first slam will usually make the water go cloudy and overwhelm your filter. Expect the big cloud. FC will prolly be at 0 next morning. Don’t sweat it, vaccum and let filter run, it will prolly start looking better throughout the day as the filter does its job. Repeate the process at night. Prolly will need a backwash after 24 hours. The second slam usually does the trick.

Nothing else. Chlorine and your clean filter.

I did post this just to show the sock method for adding cya. 1 sock by the return key and 1 in the skimmer. 2lbs each sock. Cya takes forever to dissolve. Let a week go by for testing so you don’t over shoot your target. Also error on the side of not enough. Math wanted 5 pounds to get to 40 … so I did 4 lbs.

New pool .. 18 months .. staining all over .. any ideas ???

Deciding on my pool design. We’re new parents with water dog and entertain a lot of friends. Wondering if upgrading the pool to 30x40 is worth it.

Opening the pool up this season and noticed a large amount of rust around the skimmer. Any tips on fixing this bad boy? Took the plate off to see what the problem was. Is the only fix really to grind it?

First off, big thank you to Mike Wilson at Wilson Pools in Salisbury Massachusetts. He was a pleasure to work with from day one. Would recommend him to anybody looking for pool help.

My wife and I decided to pull the trigger on a pool build and went with a 12x24 Ecotherm. We had a certain budget limit and Ecotherm met the criteria. We were originally thinking of sinking it 2-3 feet into the ground but Mike recommended going all in and it was a great decision. I’ll post some pictures with a brief description of the journey.

First couple pictures are of the backyard before the build.

Next few are of them digging the hole and the pool being installed. They had that process done in 1 day.

Next steps was plumbing and electrical rough install

Once the electrical got its rough inspection, they backfilled

Concrete patio was next up. We ended up with a 3ft border on the side, 5ft off the stairs and 8ft off the backside. Came to a total of 378sqft of patio space. We didn’t want to take up too much of the lawn so the kids still had room for play. We also own a small bounce house the kids really enjoy so we still wanted to utilize that.

Next was liner install and fill with water. Came to around 9k gallons. Pool is 12x24 and 54” deep all around.

After that was topsoil. I got 14 yards of top soil to even the grade of the yard.

The pool equipment sits across the yard at the garage.

We ended up going with a single PAL light. I also went with the WiFi module and the app. Allows me to set timers, pick whatever color we like, has disco mode and can strobe with the music. Kids are loving that.

Next picture is of the grass growing in. I’m not good at a lot of stuff but growing grass has become a hobby of mine since buying a home. I’ve do done the DIY Rainbird kit and that was a game changer. Still some ways to go but vast improvement from where it started. I didn’t realize the amount of digging they would need to do for the pool so the whole yard got destroyed. Not a big deal since it’s all coming back in now.

Last few pictures are of the life saver pool fence we had installed. We didn’t want a perimeter fence around the yard because we mainly use the back door to come in and out of the house. We didn’t want our young kids to struggle opening the 4ft perimeter fence just to get in and out of the house so the life saver fence was a great option for just around the pool. It passes code and is safe for the kids. Chris, one of the owners at Life Saver, flew up from Florida and did the install himself and did a great job!

Last picture is of our newborn son! He was born yesterday on May 21st! He’s our 3rd child, we have a 6 year old daughter and 5 year old son, and we couldn’t be happier to bring him into the family! My wife and I will have all summer off so to get to enjoy a newborn child, our current children and a new pool is a dream come true! Looking forward to all the memories we’re going to make!

Let me know if there’s any questions about the build!

Pool opened but weather still on the cooler side for now and I refuse to turn on the heater just yet. Water chemistry is pretty much balanced but added some liquid muriatic acid to reduce alkalinity a bit.