First season as pool owner here!

[The Houlagans]

Hello everyone! We bought our home in Southern NH last Fall and this will be our very first season as pool owners. We have basically ZERO experience with pools and want to do this right. We have 5 dogs that LOVE to swim and hope to get the pool just perfect for all of us to enjoy!

Our specifics about our pool:
24' round AG vinyl pool
Salt Water
14K gallons
Starbright DE-35 Filter
Pentair IC-40 Intellichor salt chlorine generator
Pool is uncovered, unheated, in full sun
Lots of pine trees at periphery of property, but no trees overhanging pool area

Excited to learn more about pool chemistry and hope to have some fun this season! Our pool was officially opened & cleaned last week (early for Southern NH, but we took the appointment we could get) and they return tomorrow to test the water and make recommendations. I would like to have a better understanding of the science and chemistry and also looking to do at home testing to get our water to perfection.

Looking forward to the learnings!
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[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum!
You need a proper test kit, see Test Kits Compared. I suggest the TF-100 A proper test kit is needed to get the accurate water chemistry results needed to follow the TFP protocols.
I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry.

 

[The Houlagans]

Thank you! I will start my reading there!

 

[Casey]

Definitely get a TF100 from tftestkits.net. I love my DE Filter. It is the best filter for filtering but can get temperamental with a green pool.

 

[The Houlagans]

Our test kit arrived yesterday! I am so excited to run our first test later today and compare to the one from the pool store. Right now our pool is crystal clear -- hope to learn alot here to help keep it that way!