New user about myself.

[arvil]

7th season for my pool. Same old story, the pool kid who came over and chemicalized my pool put all the stuff in and told me that the 'conditioner' was to condition the water so the chlorine worked better. End of education.

The OTO and pH tester was all I needed, right? My pool lived on pucks and dichlor for 5½ years. The last three years, started getting blooms in late July early August and was very difficult to get rid of on dichlor shock levels, it took several days to a couple of weeks.

Then, one day I found the HTH 6-way test kit at Walmart on sale for about $6. Found out I had CYA about 140. Last year browsed the net and stumbled across Ben's site, which ultimately lead me here. "Totally awesome dudes!" Wow, what an education.

I have no more dichlor, a bucket of pucks which I only use for vacation and to maintain CYA when it drops off a bit. This spring I ordered the TF-100 and will never go back. I still have the HTH as a backup. Actually I think the color change is better for the TA test in the HTH kit than in the TF.

Y'all have sold me on BBB, water's been crystal clear ever since. In my neck of the woods, 12½% bleach is the cheapest way to go, about $16 for 5 gallons. I am still working on the 3rd B, Giant only stocks so many boxes of Borax at a time. Got about 16 pounds in so far. I wish they could devise a titration method for pH and Borates. It would be much more accurate than a color chart and test strips respectively.

Thanks for the education, folks. Replaced the original 1 hp pump with ¾ hp pump when it went bad and this year re-plumbed the old tygon style tubing with hard pvc pipe, it now flows better than original. Thanks for the education, folks. Every time I browse here, I pick up something new or learn a bit more about the chemistry from Chemgeek and the rest of ya.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Thanks for the testamonial. This is the best place to learn about pool stuff ain't it?

 

[reindeerboy]

Absolutely. Its like talking greek to people who dont have even a basic understanding on the different kinds of chlorine, how to use them, when to use them, and how it works differently in your pool.

I did actually find an old Leslie's book when cleaning out the garage. It was like 30 years old, but you know what, it was exactly correct with the chemical discusions and how CYA/Chlroine work hand in hand. Funny how some things never change, now matter how old it is.

Some people I have talked to over the years actually are open to advice so usually I just give them TFP's website. Its easier for them to figure it out on their own when they can go to Pool School and read on everything that they have questions on. Even had a couple people tell me how much better they are now by going BBB.

That makes me smile because I have been on it for over 2 years now and still get a chuckle from my local PB trying to tell me that I MUST put CH in my pool or the liner will crack? :blah: Thats a funny one. I do have to give them credit as I did give the owner this website and he said it was the best one he has seen for pool people. He even uses it with his employees now he said because it explains all the basic pool chemistry they need!

Have one on me guys! You deserve it!