[jjparrish:Edit to add easier-on-the-eyes paragraph breaks] 
Newbie from AZ, in the middle of our great Southwestern deserts.
Total newbie to pool care. Bought an Oasis pool - from the SuperSplash pool line. One of those soft side, metal frame, above ground pools that they say is so tough it can stop a bullet. Hope it's as good as they say! It was delivered Memorial Day weekend.
Allowed myself to be talked into froggie, along with the backpack and algae killer. Used the algae killer, the only bad thing is a light green ring around the pool at the waterline. Used one backpack, and after reading here, was glad I only got two.
The other one is sitting in my shed in case I go on vacation. I still have froggy hooked up, still have the mineral cartridge and am allowing water to flow through it. I am not, however, allowing the chlorine to go as low as they say you can, at least not on purpose.
Trying to keep it at 1.5 or so. I am still using trichlor for primary pool source, have it in a floater, but am using bleach now for shock and to raise the chlorine level if it's too low (which it got when a tablet ran out and I didn't realize right away) or if I want it to be a little higher for a higher than usual swimmer load (party this weekend, including two toddlers.)
So far it seems to be working okay, my CYA level was a little low to start with (using test strips - I know, not the best - but it was well under 50) So I figure if it gets to about 50 I will totally stop the trichlor.
I have a little bit of a problem with the skimmer; it's the round in the pool floating "hat" kind, and the "hat" gets too high and water stops going into the skimmer. I've tied the hat down, so it works better that way, but now surface gunk sometimes floats out of the basket when the pump is off. Not entirely sure what to do. Other than that, everything seems to work well; water is clear, no algae, PH stays stable, and I don't spend my life taking care of the pool! Love to swim!
Newbie from AZ, in the middle of our great Southwestern deserts.
Total newbie to pool care. Bought an Oasis pool - from the SuperSplash pool line. One of those soft side, metal frame, above ground pools that they say is so tough it can stop a bullet. Hope it's as good as they say! It was delivered Memorial Day weekend.
Allowed myself to be talked into froggie, along with the backpack and algae killer. Used the algae killer, the only bad thing is a light green ring around the pool at the waterline. Used one backpack, and after reading here, was glad I only got two.
The other one is sitting in my shed in case I go on vacation. I still have froggy hooked up, still have the mineral cartridge and am allowing water to flow through it. I am not, however, allowing the chlorine to go as low as they say you can, at least not on purpose.
Trying to keep it at 1.5 or so. I am still using trichlor for primary pool source, have it in a floater, but am using bleach now for shock and to raise the chlorine level if it's too low (which it got when a tablet ran out and I didn't realize right away) or if I want it to be a little higher for a higher than usual swimmer load (party this weekend, including two toddlers.)
So far it seems to be working okay, my CYA level was a little low to start with (using test strips - I know, not the best - but it was well under 50) So I figure if it gets to about 50 I will totally stop the trichlor.
I have a little bit of a problem with the skimmer; it's the round in the pool floating "hat" kind, and the "hat" gets too high and water stops going into the skimmer. I've tied the hat down, so it works better that way, but now surface gunk sometimes floats out of the basket when the pump is off. Not entirely sure what to do. Other than that, everything seems to work well; water is clear, no algae, PH stays stable, and I don't spend my life taking care of the pool! Love to swim!
