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To answer your question: I don't. I eyeball it. After owning your pool for a bit, you'll start to see how it reacts to each chemical you add. Eventually you'll remember that all recommended ranges for chemicals are just that -- ranges. Don't make this more complicated than necessary. :)

All else being equal, a pump running 20-hours/day seems pretty excessive unless it's a variable speed pump running at a very reduced speed.

Seeing that you're in Salisbury and winter is quickly coming, I would winterize it, cover it (if it came with a cover), and deal with it in the spring.

Thanks for the info. Our liner still seems 'pliable' but I don't have any experience with any other pools, so I don't know what to compare it against. I'm tempted to see how long it will last us since I'm of the mindset that if something is working, don't mess with it. ;)

Pool is from 2007, vinyl liner, and I *believe* it is the original liner. I can tell it has faded a bit from the original color since the small circle behind where the ladder touches the wall is slightly darker than the rest of the liner. It has a decent number of wrinkles around the main...

Any luck? If it were me, I would consider shutting off your skimmers for a bit and only using the main drain for suction until you get that deep end cleared up. That way, all the water going through the filter is being sucked from the deep end, and any dead algae that has accumulated in the...

Personally I'd ditch the idea for a textured tread under the liner. Vinyl in a clean pool (read: no algae) is not slippery, at least not in my pool. In fact, I get enough traction in my vinyl pool that if I stay in it too long it actually starts to tear the skin on the bottom of my big toe...

...and THIS, ladies and gents, is why you don't trust pool store results. Two separate pool stores, two wildly different test results, on a measurement that doesn't matter.

Done correctly, the SLAM process kills algae and then your filter removes the dead algae. Outside of some extenuating circumstances, there's no need for any other of those "POOL MIRACLE!!" products. Bleach is your friend.

Looking much better than the previous photos. Keep some POP (Pool Owner Patience) handy and you'll soon see a sparkling clean pool. :)

Something else to consider: don't test the pool water so often. Learn more how your pool 'behaves' and how much FC it consumes and extrapolate out the data. I only test my FC every 2-3 days now that I know what to expect of my pool when no one has been swimming in it, and the FC levels are...

Wow, this is going to be a huge pool. Good luck!

This. Small stuff like accumulated dirt on the bottom? Filter. Larger crud? Waste, but I try to scoop out with a net before vacuuming. I used to always vacuum to waste until I realized just how much water I was throwing out trying to suck up a bit of dirt on the floor of my pool. I...

Imagine you are looking into your pool, but you have to ask yourself it there is really water in it because the water is so clear that it looks like air. THAT is "clear". And is definitely attainable with the TFP methods. I'll keep sending my buddy pictures like this until he quits going to...

Yes, I read "calcium hardness" and my brain somehow translated that to "total alkalinity". Brain fart.

edit: confused CH with TA by mistake

That can be normal during a SLAM. Your filter is catching untold amounts of dead algae (and whatever else might have been growing in the pool) and quickly clogging up. Keep at it.

Sounds like you've had your first taste of the Pool Store Wheel of Misfortune. Hate you had that but hopefully now you see why we recommend you avoid the pool store at all costs. FYI, "BioGuard alkalinity increaser" is just overpriced baking soda. The same stuff you can get in bulk for cheap...

Then the entire graph would be green. ;) On a more serious note, I actually left that out on purpose to show just how quickly you can start to have issues purely from shocking weekly. It would definitely be worse if I added in the effects from using daily dosing with pucks.

I made some graphs to help explain. They're not perfect representations of what happens in real life (yes CYA slowly decays and decreases if you replace water, FC levels jump up and down as the pool is used or algae breakouts occur, etc), but these charts should give you a good idea of the...

It frustrates me to no end that I pay money to remove heat from my house and dump it into the atmosphere...and I also pay money to remove heat from the atmosphere and add it to my pool. But at the prices I see quoted in this thread, the fact that my pool does get decently warm in the summer by...

I'll throw my hat in the ring and mention this: it might just be dirt that is piling up due to slight 'ridges' in the vinyl liner. I have this exact same thing -- small piles of dirt/pollen that falls to the bottom of the pool and collects where a few pieces of vinyl are attached together...

I use the 1-gallon jugs of 6% "cleaning bleach" from Wal-Mart that they have for $1.77 each. It's a decent price, no additives, keeps my pool clean, and it's always in-stock with recent date codes (usually within the past 7-10 days). Yes I have to use a bit more than higher-concentrations but...

We won't be able to help much more until you get that testing kit and get some good numbers for us. :)

No matter what you choose, you're going to pay for it, either with electricity, propane, or natural gas. I suppose there's the solar panel option and while that's "free heat" you still have to pay for the initial equipment and setup. I have a heat pump and it works well for my particular...

The general recommendation for your situation is to add 1-gallon of bleach per day until your test kit arrives.

After reading about adding DE to a sand filter to improve filtration, I decided to try it. Thanks to TFPC my pool has always been crystal clear (looks like air) but I did notice some small 'specks' floating in the water at night in the glow of the pool light. You wouldn't really notice them...

I had a similar problem last year -- pump died from a nearby lightning strike a few days before hosting a birthday party for one of my kids. $140 for a new pump motor (from Amazon) and a bit of my time and I was back in business. For the time I was without the pump, I just brushed the walls...

Good gracious that's a large pool.

Keep at it. Is it possible that you have some hidden algae? Have you pulled out all ladders and inspected them? Maybe something behind any pool lights? Anything growing in the skimmers? Scrub, scrub, scrub all surfaces of the pool -- all sides, the entire bottom. Scrub everything.