I would just like to introduce myself to the forum. I actually joined yesterday, but didn't see the introducing thread until today. My name is Matt Giovanisci and I'm from Williamstown, NJ. I have been working in the pool and spa industry since I was 13 years old...
I started as a young lad at a local pool & janitorial store in my hometown. I would work weekends and after school testing water, stocking shelves and helping customers. I worked there until I was 17 and about to graduate high school. I decided it was time to move on to bigger and better things. So, I went down the street and got hired working at a bigger pool company. I was the first 17 year old the company had ever hired and it was all based on my experience.
I still work there to this day, but I have moved up in the world. I am now the company's marketing director. While I have been with this company I have done many things. I started as a basic retail employee. I quickly moved up to assistant manager. I left the company for a year because another pool company wanted to hire me (they actually called me at work cause they had heard about me). I was the manager at this other company and also did some service work when they needed help.
I was hired back at my original job as manager now, left again to do marketing, then hired back. When I worked at the store I was considered the Golden Child because I never got in trouble. The boss in corporate loved me and everyone was jealous. I guess that's why I am his right-hand man these days.
In my spare time, I created a website called SwimUniversity.com. It was my goal to mash up two things I was very interested in: websites and swimming pools. I built the site from scratch and filled it with as much content as I could. I am constantly working on it every day, writing new posts, adding videos, tools and etc.
I am here at TFP to expand my knowledge while imparting my knowledge to homeowners. Our sites have the same goal in common.
I started as a young lad at a local pool & janitorial store in my hometown. I would work weekends and after school testing water, stocking shelves and helping customers. I worked there until I was 17 and about to graduate high school. I decided it was time to move on to bigger and better things. So, I went down the street and got hired working at a bigger pool company. I was the first 17 year old the company had ever hired and it was all based on my experience.
I still work there to this day, but I have moved up in the world. I am now the company's marketing director. While I have been with this company I have done many things. I started as a basic retail employee. I quickly moved up to assistant manager. I left the company for a year because another pool company wanted to hire me (they actually called me at work cause they had heard about me). I was the manager at this other company and also did some service work when they needed help.
I was hired back at my original job as manager now, left again to do marketing, then hired back. When I worked at the store I was considered the Golden Child because I never got in trouble. The boss in corporate loved me and everyone was jealous. I guess that's why I am his right-hand man these days.
In my spare time, I created a website called SwimUniversity.com. It was my goal to mash up two things I was very interested in: websites and swimming pools. I built the site from scratch and filled it with as much content as I could. I am constantly working on it every day, writing new posts, adding videos, tools and etc.
I am here at TFP to expand my knowledge while imparting my knowledge to homeowners. Our sites have the same goal in common.
but a lot of the information you present runs counter to what the tried and true TFP'ers do to maintain their pools. If it works for you, then great. I personally will continue to use bleach, baking soda and borax, not to mention an occasional flirtation with dry acid or muriatic acid. My pool is clear, clean, and has no scent, just brilliant sparkle, making me a member of the Sparklypoolitis Club. 
). Most people will just regurgitate what they have been taught, if it is true or not. I can honestly say that I have learned more about swimming pool chemistry in the short time that I have been on this page than I have in the last 20 years of pool ownership and being in the industry, and I was taught by (arguably) the best!