New here

[RobKlyver]

Hi
Have a home with a pool that was remodeled in the 90s and doing my best to take care of it.

 

[Gary Davis]

Glad to see you. I'm, like you, a normal outdoor non-automatic standard-pool owner, where it took me a few years to learn the half-dozen basics, which are, in general...

1. Test your pool chemistry yourself & use a good pool-math calculator on your mobile device
2. Use only liquid chlorine (no tablets, no granules, no powders) for sanitization
   • (keep your cyanuric acid level as low as feasible, where 25 ppm to 30 ppm is a good inflection point to aim for)
   • (maintain free chlorine at least 7.5% higher than the CYA, and then plus 1 or 2 ppm)
     • (maintain free chlorine at less than 7.5% of your CYA - e.g., half that - only if your phosphates are extremely low)
     • (this eclectic algae assessment is rarely discussed but it came from either Richard Falk or Bob Lowry, as I recall)
3. Maintain the water's calcium saturation equilibrium within +/- 0.33 of the zero crossing point
   • (generally that means aim for calcium saturation & carbonate alkalinity to be within typical ranges)
   • (as you have no control over the temperature & not much control over the pH and/or TDS)

If you don't fully understand any of those basics, don't worry as everyone here knows them inside & out (so you can read up on each of them).

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome to TFP!

 

[setsailsoon]

Rob,
Welcome aboard!