OMG, I must have jinxed myself. We walked around in the pool today and were puzzled about how it felt -- alot bumpier than we thought it would be. That's when we realized that either our PB or the installer made a big mistake, because we have regular pebbles rather than the mini-pebbles. There's a huge difference between the 2 -- we put the samples we had in the pool and there was no question we didn't have mini-pebbles. The good thing is we have our e-mail where we told the PB our final selection, so it's clearly not our fault. We're waiting to hear what the PB has to say -- they've been great so far, so I know they'll fix it. I just don't relish the thought of what it will take to drain the pool, scrape out the pebbles and re-do it all, so we're trying to decide if we can live with it. We actually really like the look of the larger pebbles, but I'm still not sure I feel like sitting on them in the spa. I'll keep you posted. At the very least, I can show you some pictures of Tahoe Blue regular pebbles, and if we decide to have it redone, I can show you both! There's never a dull moment with a pool build, is there?

David...I have Ocean Blue PebbleSheen, the Sheen equivalent of Midnight Blue Pebble Tec. Yes, the adjacent trees on/near our property do reflect off the surface of the water, making parts look green at different times in the day. And, it's not just the trees, it's also the shrubs and low plantings we have - all at least 5' away from the water's edge. The only way I can see to getting around the green reflections is to surround your pool with concrete for quite some distance! I suspect, as you do, that the reflection of green will happen no matter what pool finish you choose...however it would be intensified if you choose a finish/color that has a green look to it already. Because you have a heavily wooded backyard, your pool color, even with green reflections would probably look better in your environment than a bright blue finish with no reflections (if that were even possible). As far as lights are concerned, we have 2 SAm lights in a 40' pool, depth 3-6', and we can see the bottom just fine with all colors, although some are more illuminating than others.

We are having our pool re-plastered and upgrading from the previous plaster to pebblesheen. We initially were looking at pebbletec and when we opted for sheen instead it was the same cost, no upgrade. I'm thinking you might want to check with a different company. There should not be an upsale cost between tec and sheen unless you are including additives that were not present in the tec.

Sounds like you got the wrong color. Can you post some pictures? I have the tropics blue and it looks just like the pictures dogpaddle posted. It is a beautiful blue color and not dark at all. Have you given your startup chemicals time? On initial fill the water will look darker and greener. Should clear in a few days. We also were the victim of a shoddy stonescapes job - there were dark splotches all over that did not go away after 2 weeks of brushing. Had to do a drain and acid wash to fix. Also have a less than perfect trowel job which frustrates me but nothing can be done about it and PB considers it normal.