I'm in total agreement with you about green! Green = algae = not in my pool! Our plaster guy was really pushing Tahoe Blue, not sure why, although I got a hint from one of the installers that it might be one of the cheaper mixes. Anyhow... After looking at many, many pictures online and talking to people, I found that Tahoe Blue definitely has a bit of green to it. I'm guessing it's named after a lake because natural bodies of water are green-blue because of plants living in them. The ocean only looks pure blue on Sandals Resorts commercials. ;) We were between Midnight Blue and Tropics Blue and ended up using Tropics Blue (Stonescapes mini pebble) and we really like it. I think it's as close to a true medium blue as I've seen in a pool. It's dark enough to capture a little bit of heat but light enough to see the bottom clearly, and it has a really beautiful shimmer when the sun is on it. And we really like how the actual pebbles look where you can see them on the steps and in the spa. It's a really nice mix of colors. Now at some moments it might have a touch of the windex-look you're talking about. Thanks for that, by the way, I was calling it Kool Aid! But overall, it's a really nice, rich, shimmery, medium blue. I suggest that you search online for images of the exact color names you're looking at. Look at many pictures and take in the whole range. Don't just focus on one image you like because there's no guarantee of how exactly it will look in your pool, in your yard, with your sunlight, etc. Good luck!

I have fina. very smooth

jmck_nc, It's been several weeks since you posted. What is the status? Couple of points: - do not sign a contract until you hammer out all costs - get several bids and make sure each PB knows they are in a competition to get your business - it appears you have a "wish list" of a pool. And by that, I mean waterfall, in-floor system, pebble-tec, and vanishing edge. All "very very nice to haves," but with a very high cost associated with them compared to their alternatives. You can nickle and dime yourself and be disappointed... for instance, you scaled down the waterfall to save money and that's fine... but if not careful, you may end up with a pool that has a vanishing edge, pebble-tec, and a bunch of other features that are either missing, or inadequate. We priced pebble-tec (some whites and the caribbean blue). It was a $4100 upgrade. The caribbean blue would have given the water a warm and inviting color. So we went with a Quartz Aggregate for an aqua colored water instead, and put the $4100 into something that would provide more bang for the buck... like LEDs so we can make the water any color we want (at night anyway), larger decking, and IntelliFlo. If it were me: - the in-floor system would be the first to go... costs several thousands of dollars, and a $300 suction-based pump will get the job done - pebble-tec would be the second thing to go. Quartz Arrgregate is just as good. Read up on both on this forum. - get LEDs as a compromise for giving up pebble-tec -Gorilla

pebbletec vs. pebble finish.....apples and oranges. painful sores?...that is beyond an extreme example, and again, i really doubt it was pebbletec or pebblesheen. both of those products use smooth, tumbled pebbles, there are no sharp edges (especially pebblesheen....pebblesheen feels like a the surface of a basketball). there are other (less expensive) pebble products out there -- a lot of other companies decided to mix plaster and pebbles to cash in on the pebble trend -- but go look at their samples and their websites...you can even see in the photos that the pebbles are not rounded or tumbled, and they often have a more plaster (which is rough) exposed than the pebbletec products. i have a 16 year old and a 13 year old, both with a boatload of male and female friends who spend a hours upon hours playing and roughhousing in our pool. no torn up feet. no sore feet. no complaints. ask your pb. read a bunch of the pebbletec threads here and learn from pebbletec owners. go try the pools yourself.