Hello, all! Here I go.... first off, love this forum! You're helping countless of us out here, who don't have a clue what we're doing. Or, we know just enough to be dangerous.
That said, I grew up with pools, love them. Everyone in my family had a pool, including us, and I remember spending summers with siblings, cousins, friends, in the water. What I don't remember, is ever having to deal with it. My Father took care of it all, and with 5 older siblings, I never got involved with pool care. Yet, I always told myself... someday I'll have a house with a pool. Well, that finally happened about 4 years ago. We moved, and found a wonderful house with a new pool!
Excitement quickly turned to anxiety, when we had to put in a brand new filter (DE, sand, glass medium...) it send me on a journey that hasn't stopped yet. Between friends of mine, our local pool company, countless Google searches, and so many opinions it makes my head spin, I STILL don't really know what I'm doing...BUT I seem to become more knowledgeable with each passing pool season.
So here we are, end of May, here in Southern Vermont, the pool is opened (we do it ourselves, and save $600 with lovely checklist that I put together, from research and a friend's advice). This will be our 3rd pool season, and I'm wondering what it may hold. The first year, it went pretty smoothly, and I thought... piece of cake. The second year (last summer), it was hot, and we ran our heater, our solar cover crapped out on us and fell apart, we battled algae for the first time, and then battled cloudiness (now I know it was from ALL the calcium from the shocking that we did) and then battled algae again. We had CYA lock and all season long, our chlorine was high, and not killing the algae, we drained the pool 1/2 way, sort of fixing it, only to (quite ignorantly) begin the process all over again. Not this year! I researched over the winter months, opened the pool (it was pristine, and only needed some PH up - Baking Soda), and this year I'm trying out Pool RX (I know, I know... I found TFP AFTER I made the decision, and right after installing it) what's done is done. It's in there now, so far it still looks good, so our fingers our crossed. We also went with a brightline glass media in a brand new sand filter, which is supposed to filter down to .5 microns. Our pool does look good each season, so no complaints there, BUT I've now read enough of your threads to start to feel that I'm STILL doing it all wrong.
God help me.
That all being said, our pool was our haven last year during covid. With the loss of a job, a close friend's beloved Mom, 3 of my siblings who caught it early on, and one who was hospitalized for weeks, our pool was our sanctuary. This year, we're fully vaccinated, as our all of our friends, family, neighbors, and anyone we've ever had over to swim, so we're looking forward to splashing around with people again this year. Hopefully, in water that is crystal clear, perfectly balanced, and without swaths of green, slimy goo down one side of the pool like last year.
A guy can dream...
Thanks for listening!
Ray
That said, I grew up with pools, love them. Everyone in my family had a pool, including us, and I remember spending summers with siblings, cousins, friends, in the water. What I don't remember, is ever having to deal with it. My Father took care of it all, and with 5 older siblings, I never got involved with pool care. Yet, I always told myself... someday I'll have a house with a pool. Well, that finally happened about 4 years ago. We moved, and found a wonderful house with a new pool!
Excitement quickly turned to anxiety, when we had to put in a brand new filter (DE, sand, glass medium...) it send me on a journey that hasn't stopped yet. Between friends of mine, our local pool company, countless Google searches, and so many opinions it makes my head spin, I STILL don't really know what I'm doing...BUT I seem to become more knowledgeable with each passing pool season.
So here we are, end of May, here in Southern Vermont, the pool is opened (we do it ourselves, and save $600 with lovely checklist that I put together, from research and a friend's advice). This will be our 3rd pool season, and I'm wondering what it may hold. The first year, it went pretty smoothly, and I thought... piece of cake. The second year (last summer), it was hot, and we ran our heater, our solar cover crapped out on us and fell apart, we battled algae for the first time, and then battled cloudiness (now I know it was from ALL the calcium from the shocking that we did) and then battled algae again. We had CYA lock and all season long, our chlorine was high, and not killing the algae, we drained the pool 1/2 way, sort of fixing it, only to (quite ignorantly) begin the process all over again. Not this year! I researched over the winter months, opened the pool (it was pristine, and only needed some PH up - Baking Soda), and this year I'm trying out Pool RX (I know, I know... I found TFP AFTER I made the decision, and right after installing it) what's done is done. It's in there now, so far it still looks good, so our fingers our crossed. We also went with a brightline glass media in a brand new sand filter, which is supposed to filter down to .5 microns. Our pool does look good each season, so no complaints there, BUT I've now read enough of your threads to start to feel that I'm STILL doing it all wrong.
God help me.
That all being said, our pool was our haven last year during covid. With the loss of a job, a close friend's beloved Mom, 3 of my siblings who caught it early on, and one who was hospitalized for weeks, our pool was our sanctuary. This year, we're fully vaccinated, as our all of our friends, family, neighbors, and anyone we've ever had over to swim, so we're looking forward to splashing around with people again this year. Hopefully, in water that is crystal clear, perfectly balanced, and without swaths of green, slimy goo down one side of the pool like last year.
A guy can dream...
Thanks for listening!
Ray
You've found the right place!
