A Sloshing Mystery
Water in the open basins that commonly surround fountain jets or nozzles is never tranquil while these systems are in operation.  It will slosh around in response to the upward thrust of those jets or nozzles as well as the splashing the rising water makes as it drops back into the basin.  If the circumstances are right, this disruptive splashing will produce waves in a distinct, consistent pattern.  By exploiting these waves, it's possible to produce an effect I find
Remembering Andreas Sofikitis
Andreas Sofikitis, president of Sofikitis Decorative Stones, passed away on October 28, 2014, the victim of a hit-and-run accident.   I first met him at a trade show more than a dozen years ago and was immediately struck by what a nice guy he was as well as his level of enthusiasm and passion for his work.  But I was even more impressed when I saw what he was producing in his fabrication shop and recognized that he was a game-changer in
Finding Balance
Decades ago, people in the pool industry started becoming aware that there was more to pool maintenance than just adding sanitizers to the water (to kill algae and bacteria) and filtering it (to help keep it crystal clear).  Gradually, we learned that even properly sanitized and filtered pool water could become unbalanced.   Further, we figured out that unbalanced water could be either scale-forming, in which case a layer of
The Aquatic Quiz #19
New Open-Air Swimming Pool to Float on European Capital's River  
Froggy Paradise
The life of a pond installer is dotted with moments of quiet satisfaction.  Getting a contract signed is an obvious one, as is accepting final payment.  But in between, you have to take positive moments where you can find them - and for me, there's nothing more soul-satisfying than introducing aquatic animals to a new pond I've built. In the specific project covered
The Aquatic Quiz #18
Which Oscar-Nominated Movie Left Out the Swimming Angle?  
Gliding Step by Step
When I prepare my Travelogues, I always spend some time, usually midway through the process, looking at what's available on the Internet to support the basic observations I'm getting ready to offer.  Often, for example, I'll confirm information I already have about designers or engineers or installers (and their clients), touching all the bases to get the details right. As important, I'm on the lookout for
Overbearing Rockwork
It happens more often than it should:  Even in times when trade shows and educational enterprises such as Genesis 3 all stress the importance of knowing the basic forces at work within and around pool shells, I am all too often called in to investigate cases in which a builder has made a large and careless mistake that can have disastrous consequences. The point these contractors are overlooking is that the bond beams of many (if not most) pool shells are engineered in such a way that
Swimming in It
It's not the kind of story you want to see in your newspaper or stumble upon while surfing the web:  According to researchers at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., the waters of a sampling of well-used swimming pools in Indiana and Georgia were tested and found to contain a whole list of chemicals you might not want to
Pumped-Up Savings
Through the years, professional watershapers have learned that good hydraulic design can significantly increase system efficiency while lowering the ongoing costs of operation.  Now they're also recognizing that achieving these efficiencies and finding these savings are perceived as "going green" - a key to helping