Ty Woody! I won't do a thing without starting a pad thread and making sure I cover all the bases. 
Daily FC Loss - Is this really cheaper?
- Thread starter DoubleD
- Start date
I too have a relatively large pool. I started with the TFP method last year after having the pool resurfaced and have yet to need to do a SLAM. Water has been crystal clear throughout, including this past winter. Startup this spring was the easiest ever (I've had this pool for 17 years) and only required a couple gallons of bleach and some MA. I test FC and ph every other day and currently use about 3 gallons of 10% per week (just picked up 8 gals at Atwoods for $1.88/gal). TFP method is substantially cheaper than pool store method (no shock, algecides, clarifiers, etc.).
not to mention the gas to drive to the pool store, the time wasted, etc.
We're always dismayed by folks who will drop a few bills at the Pool Store on X, Y and Z chemicals as if that's just something you just have to do if you have a pool, yet balk at buying a little bleach.
When i took possession of the house/pool, the storage closet contained over $400 worth of buckets and bottles. There wasn't even an OTO test kit and the pool was green. Apparently the strategy was spend lots of money for no results. I've given away as much as I could, but I still have many buckets of Alk-up, dry acid, magic this, special that... Aside from falling for the hype in the first place, I really want to know what motivated them to only use the top half of any given bucket before going out and buying another!
ah-ha! Not to mention the special stuff becoming less special. This makes more sense than my previous theory, which was that LPS raised prices, so they rushed out to buy more at a higher price because spending more means spending better?
I still have a full 25 lb bucket of shock on hand as well as a nearly full 50 lb bucket of pucks. It will be a long, long time before these are used up, if ever.