When I lived in TN I used mainly Mills Magic Mix (which was "local") and sometimes Rose Tone. Ingredient for ingredient they are much the same. I favored the MMM - I think it did a better job in the clay soil (for which it was designed), but that is an opinion, nothing scientific. Also, Rose Tone changed its formulation the third year I had roses to make it much closer to the MMM forumulation. The contents of MMM was much under discussion here on the forums during that time and I compared lables on everything in the market. Here, in NC, with no ready, relative inexpensive supply of MMM, a strong, willing DH and a nearby Southern States, I do it myself, much like rjlinva. I buy the bags of alfalfa meal, cottenseed meal, fish meal etc. and feed from my own "mix". We can get compost $20 for a ton and have a trailer that will haul 3 or 4 yards (depending upon how wet it is). The first roses went in the ground here in August 2005 and I've been adding new beds a couple each calendar year, so I'm doing a lot of soil amending. I have been adding the compost to the 'established' beds once a season, the newer beds are getting it twice to help get the soil turned around. I thought I knew clay, but NC clay is different than TN clay. I'm sooo grateful for the ready and inexpensive supply of compost. I also use epsom salts in the spring. If I think a rose needs a pickmeup, I'll go with the liquid Ironnite or something like that. There are several brands of liquid food that do that well. I also keep a bottle of fish emulsion handy for that purpose. I have a couple of roses that seem to require a little more iron than the rest of the crowd - its easy to spot them when they get needy.

I agree with maybeldingeldine's instructions completely. They have the procedure as well as the ingredients, which mine did not. Those instructions will give you an authentic New England clam chowder. The point about mashing a few of the potatoes is a good one. Starch from the potatoes was the only thickening in chowder made by old time Yankees. They may have used a higher proportion of potatoes than I do or they may have cooked them more or maybe they just liked a thinner chowder. One point not discussed so far is preparation of the clams. Big hardshell clams (chowder quahogs) are used. Traditionally the clams are shucked by someone who is handy with a clam knife and the raw clams are chopped or run through a meat grinder. For those who find shucking clams to be daunting, the clams can be opened by steaming them, only as long as necessary to get them open. Cooking toughens clams. Note that they are added near the end of making the chowder for that reason. Use just the amount of water necessary for steaming, so as to not dilute the precious juice more than necessary. Another trick, when live clams "clam up" too strongly, making them difficult to open, is to place them in the freezer for a while to relax them. Chowder can probably be made from canned clams and bottled clam juice. I won't attempt to say how because I haven't done it. Fresh chopped clams are sometimes available in fish markets too. Jim This post was edited by jimster on Mon, Dec 24, 12 at 17:08

mudn...yes..ours is a PV3 system. There are 3 different heads that can be installed in each opening in the pool floor (small, medium and large). The only differnce in each head is the opening, all other dimensions of the head are identical. The small heads (small openings) are for steps and other more complicated features under water. These areas are engineered to have a higher concentration of heads to get the hard to clean nooks and cranny's present in these more complex features. The smaller heads have a lighter jet action and are also good for placement near the perimeter of the pool in shallow water to prevent splashing when the head is blasting right at the perimeter of the pool. The larger heads (larger holes) are for cleaning larger areas and allow more water to exit and creates a stronger jet. These are typically found in the deeper ends of the pool where there are large flat surfaces to clean. The medium heads are for heads near the perimeter of the pool in deeper water and for areas of the pool that may have more curvature and slopes. Paramount will get a design of your pool from your PB. They will then engineer the floor cleaning system by specifying location and size of each head in each zone. There's typically 6 zones in their design and this is determined by the 6 port valve that comes with the Paramount system. More zones are possible by placing more than one multi-port valve in the system. This is usually for larger pools and most pools only have one multi-port valve and it will be 6 zones. Paramount will look at the shape of the pool floor and shapes of the perimeter as well as depths, steps, beaches, tanning ledges and determine the proper location for each head in each zone. They will also specify the size of head for each location. This is all on one print and I would ask you PB for this print once it is complete. After the rough plumbing is complete, I verified each head location with a tape measure and had their locations changed accordingly on a few heads. After gunite, I then inspected each head location and looked at how it would be projecting it's jet to see if it would reach the places it was intended knowing what size each head was to be in the end. This was an important inspection because we had a step added near our beach during gunite that was not on the original plan. We also added a grotto bench in front of our waterfall which was not on the original plan. Both of these additions required a change to the specified head locations and sizes. The modified plan was sent to Paramount and they recommended new head locations based on the new features that were added. This involved chiseling out channels in two areas of the gunite and adding a few more head to reach these new places. Morale of the story, if you make any changes during gunite, which I understand is pretty common, make sure Paramount has an opportunity to review the changes and make the necessary updates to their engineered system. This will require a litte extra work with chiseling and such, but the end result will be a floor system that performs as it was designed. Finally, during start-up, the start-up person will be the one who installs the heads into each opening by swimming to each opening in the pool floor. Make sure you have the blue print with you at this time. This is when the right head size gets placed into the proper location. My start-up guy said he has been doing it so long he can tell which size goes in each hole just by looking at it. He was surprised by some of the sizes that were called out on the print when I was telling him which size went in each hole. After all that, adjust the pressure being delivered to the cleaning zones to about 18-22 psi recommended by Paramount(some zones will be different than others because of different size holes in each of the heads of that zone). There is a gage at the top of the multi-port valve to tell what the pressure is. I had a bypass valve installed upstream of the multi-port valve to allow the pressure to be adjusted for optimum performance and efficiency. The MDX drain will be plumbed in parallel with the skimmer and SDX drain. You will be able to balance the flow between skimmer and drains by closing or opening the port in the skimmer. Closing the skimmer port will cause more suction at the drains and less flow at the skimmer. After a few weeks you will find a sweet spot allowing the skimmer to do its job as well as the main drain suction to be adequate to suck in debris that is passing near it. I run our system at high speed (18-22 psi at the multi-port valve) for 2 hours per day to ensure each head has made a complete revolution with proper jet action to do its cleaning job. This also provides good skimming action. The rest of the day is spent at low speed cycling the heads and delivering clean, chlorinated and sometimes heated pool water to the floor of the pool. Well that was a long explanation..maybe too long...but wanted to share my experience with installation and setup of the Paramount PV3 system for those who may be considering one. We've been happy with it's performance and haven't had any problems or maintence items for 4 swim seasons now. It just does it job without being seen. The appearance of the pool is always clean without unsightly hoses and cleaners in the pool. Everyone always comments "How do you keep your pool so clean" Hope this helps!

Being in Texas, saving water is an important aspect. Cartridge filters help some in that they don't get backwashed. Have the PB put a 3 way valve on the pump exhaust so you can lower the water or vacuum to waste with a cartridge filter. Some PBs put a hose spigot on instead but this prevents vacuuming to waste. Your fill water is pretty hard but not overly so. Calcium will build up in the water so watching it is called for. It is one of the chemicals in pool water that can only be removed by diluting. The water has a slightly high pH and high alkalinity. This will need to be brought down with acid added. Not a big deal to do but skipping it will cause the calcium to drop out of solution and stick to various surfaces like steps and pool walls and floors where the circulation is slower. This is called scaling and is random in where it occurs in the pool. It also takes time to form and is a gradual process. It isn't something that would stop you, just something to be aware of when maintaining your pool. While seemingly premature in the discovery process of building, taking it into account can help you later in making your equipment choices and layout. Blazing hot means a relatively a high evaporation rate. Have an auto-filler so you don't have to put a hose in every day during the Summer. Remember, calcium doesn't evaporate so the CH value will rise. Occasionally, you will need to lower the water in the pool and put in a significant amount of fill water. This will also lower your salt level and raise your alkalinity and pH levels when you refill. Your blazing hot Summers may lead you to a desire for a cooling solution. Some opt for a heat pump that works in reverse or solar panels that when the pump is run at night, radiate the heat and cool the pool. Please note that this is additional run time. A pool pump needs to run during the day. Scott