Toofast,I made an executive decision yesterday and dismantled the cover and support frame from over my ponds. I lost two fish over the winter. One a beautiful Shabunkin about five years old and a small goldfish from last years breeding frenzy. All the rest look good and of course have grown over the last five months, since I covered the ponds over. This is the earliest I have ever uncovered the ponds, but since the long range weather forecast seems fairly good, I went ahead and opened it up. If we get more snow it will not stay long and any ice the may form on the surface should melt pretty quickly now the temperatures are rising above freezing during the day light hours. The winter bubbler/aerator, I will leave in place for now to continue doing it's job. Depending on, how the weather actually turns out, will determine my next moves. I may start up the filter and waterfall next week, we will see? It is not the day time temperatures that are my concern. It is the low night time temperatures, that could still possibly freeze a line and bring on much gnashing of teeth and tearing out of hair. If it all goes west! The main pond is due a complete emptying, so as I can cull out some fish and do a general inspection of the liner and pond in general. I will not attempt that for a few weeks yet and allow the fish to build up their immunity and stamina after going through winter. I'm going to take it one day at a time and keep an eye on the weather forecasts as they come out. With this lovely weather we are having at present,living in the "Banana Belt" of Southern Ontario, it is tempting to throw caution to the winds and go full speed ahead and get everything done in and around the pond. Remember that the fish are at their most vulnerable state, after coming through the winter. Stirring up gunk from the bottom of the pond can release all sorts of parthenogenes and other evil doers, that can harm winter weakened fish. "Horton"

Mike worth all the headaches...turned out great! Enjoy Sally

Quote: "Today I took sample to Leslies and they said my PH is 7.8 and alkalinity is 270. They recommended 4 gallons of acid Adding 1/2 gallon every 2 hrs." I guess they were trying to fix the high TA number, but first you should concentrate on getting the PH where it needs to be. According to Jason's pool calculator (link below) for a 20k pool to lower your PH from 7.8 to 7.4 should take 22 oz. of muriatic acid. Quote: "This is a remodel with spa addition, so I have no clue how to configure the valves to include the spa in the circulation. I expect my service guy will be available tomorrow. Do you think my spa will be ok until then? My Hydrazzo is french Gray which is pretty dark,so I know that I need to stay on top of this. In the mean time I am brushing, brushing brushing!" It's probably OK since you're brushing it, but you do need to get the circulation going soon so you can filter the plaster dust out. It's not as critical since you have a pebble finish. Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.poolcalculator.com/

Neither of my pool builders pulled the lights for the startup. And I talked directly with the pebble plaster manufacturer on my last pool who said not to be concerned with the acid level, he said "don't worry about your equipment, the acid level will not harm it." Having said that, (as I recall...its getting blurry) he indicated the startup as 3 gallons of acid per 10,000 gallons and your talking about going a bit more concentrated than that....just as an FYI. You should end up around a pH of just less than Also, I was having to add more acid by day 4 because the plaster had neutralized all of the acid of the startup and I wanted to keep it below 7 for at least 7 days. So, you may find, your only at that pH for the first 24 hours.