Hello everyone,
Last fall, I bought a house with a pool and became a first time pool owner! I knew nothing at all about pools and as we were moving in, the pool looked great so I didn't pay much attention to it at first. Perhaps 3 days or so after we moved in, I started to see green stuff forming on the pool walls around the water line. At that point I figured, "Hey, it's time to take care of this thing... let's go to Home Depot!"
I bought some tabs and shock and was able to clear the pool up pretty quickly. I let the pool go into autopilot mode using the tabs and a weekly shock treatment while we were busy getting established in our new home. It was a couple of months later when I started to get this gnawing sense of uncertainty, "I don't even know what I'm putting in the pool or what the chemical levels are."
I started searching for pool care topics and came across Trouble Free Pool. The approach resonated with me as I'm a scientific thinker and like to make evidence-based decisions. I ordered a Taylor K-2006C and found that my FC was close to 50 and my CYA was around 200 (had to do a diluted test). As I learned about the TFP approach, I came to realize that the regimen I had been blindly following essentially kept the pool in an eternal SLAM, hence why I wasn't having any issues. Lucked out there for sure!
With my particular property layout, I don't have a great solution for draining 14k gallons of water. So, living in Central Florida, I have kept the FC levels high and let our torrential rains slowly dilute my CYA level (as well as CH). It's been a common occurrence to have rain raise my pool level by 2 inches or so and then I drain that small amount out to my backyard. I've definitely watched my numbers come down slowly over time. I will say that buying an electronic pH tester was a huge help, as the FC levels I have to maintain cause the pH drop test to be inaccurate.
My current test results:
FC 16
CC .5
pH 7.7
TA 110
CH 440
CYA 120
CSI 0.22
Temp 82
My pool water is the best looking that I've ever seen in person. I used to think my friends' pools looked great, but this is a whole new level! I've gotten to really know my pool. For example, I just took a 3 day trip and since I knew the approximate amount of FC that I'd lose during that time, I was able to dose up the pool with a couple of jugs of chlorine before I left. When I got back, the FC level was almost exactly where I thought it would be. Thank you to all the contributors to this site... it's been super educational and I feel really good about my pool, where 6 months ago I had no clue whatsoever
Rusty
Last fall, I bought a house with a pool and became a first time pool owner! I knew nothing at all about pools and as we were moving in, the pool looked great so I didn't pay much attention to it at first. Perhaps 3 days or so after we moved in, I started to see green stuff forming on the pool walls around the water line. At that point I figured, "Hey, it's time to take care of this thing... let's go to Home Depot!"
I bought some tabs and shock and was able to clear the pool up pretty quickly. I let the pool go into autopilot mode using the tabs and a weekly shock treatment while we were busy getting established in our new home. It was a couple of months later when I started to get this gnawing sense of uncertainty, "I don't even know what I'm putting in the pool or what the chemical levels are."
I started searching for pool care topics and came across Trouble Free Pool. The approach resonated with me as I'm a scientific thinker and like to make evidence-based decisions. I ordered a Taylor K-2006C and found that my FC was close to 50 and my CYA was around 200 (had to do a diluted test). As I learned about the TFP approach, I came to realize that the regimen I had been blindly following essentially kept the pool in an eternal SLAM, hence why I wasn't having any issues. Lucked out there for sure!
With my particular property layout, I don't have a great solution for draining 14k gallons of water. So, living in Central Florida, I have kept the FC levels high and let our torrential rains slowly dilute my CYA level (as well as CH). It's been a common occurrence to have rain raise my pool level by 2 inches or so and then I drain that small amount out to my backyard. I've definitely watched my numbers come down slowly over time. I will say that buying an electronic pH tester was a huge help, as the FC levels I have to maintain cause the pH drop test to be inaccurate.
My current test results:
FC 16
CC .5
pH 7.7
TA 110
CH 440
CYA 120
CSI 0.22
Temp 82
My pool water is the best looking that I've ever seen in person. I used to think my friends' pools looked great, but this is a whole new level! I've gotten to really know my pool. For example, I just took a 3 day trip and since I knew the approximate amount of FC that I'd lose during that time, I was able to dose up the pool with a couple of jugs of chlorine before I left. When I got back, the FC level was almost exactly where I thought it would be. Thank you to all the contributors to this site... it's been super educational and I feel really good about my pool, where 6 months ago I had no clue whatsoever
Rusty
That Gold badge looks good on your profile. Thank you. 
