New member seeking assistance with opening and maintaining pool independently

[jszramka]

Hello, my name is Jeff. I live in Maryland and have had a inground pool for several years now. It’s that time of year again where I get ready to open the pool. I have always had a pool company open my pool but this year i plan to open the pool myself. My hope is that with resources from this site and guidance from its members, I’ll be able to accomplish that.
Now, since the beginning, I have use Bioguards beginnings and renewal; as recommended by the pool company/store that maintained my pool. Never really had any issues with the product but it is very expensive. No one from the company could give me a straight answer of why i need to use the bio guard products. And there is little information that i can find that describes the difference of this product versus generic chemicals. Therefore, I will not be using the Biogurad products anymore.
I would like to open the pool in the next several weeks. To help me determine what products to add and how much, what do I need to do?
Thank you in advance for your support.

Jeff S.

 

[duraleigh]

Welcome to the forum

You will get a ton of help from everyone here.

The first thing I would suggest is to read Pool Care Basics Archives. That one article in Pool School is the foundation for everything we teach.

Secondly, we are mostly DIY folks so what we teach is pointed directly at you.

What does your water look like right now and do you have a recent chlorine test?

 

[Newdude]

Hey Jeff and Welcome !!!

I too was on the Mineral Springs turnip truck buying bags of mostly salt for $38 each. I see they are $50 now.

I just bought water softener salt in the hot water heater aisle at HD for $8.06 each. Yeah. Good times.

You need a reliable test kit to DIY, but it costs *hundreds* less than the BG opening. Seriously I was paying $800 in beginnings each year.

The TFpro salt from tftestkits.net is the hands down winner in the higher cost bracket VS the K2006C and the TF100 salt is the hands down winner VS the comp K2006.
Test Kits Compared

Either TF kit can be upgraded to the SLAM option which doubles the FC tests newbs and those with swamps will be blowing through at first. It's best to have it upfront and not run out.

Mix for at least a day to get a good reading with your test kit. The pool had months to stratify and CH, CYA and salt are slow to mix.

It's going to be overwhelming at first with info overload but we'll ride together the whole way and happily guide you.

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

Nothing from Bioguard is unique other then their marketing and prices.

You can buy 40 lb bags of salt to add or you can buy Bioguards Beginnings which is salt with some borates added.

Bioguard wants to hook you on spending money on Renewal adding it every week to make your pool sparkle. First of all it is not necessary. Secondly you can add the borates once a season to get the same effect. But then you don’t spend so much money at your Pool Store.

Salt - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Borates in pool - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[jszramka]

Welcome to the forum

You will get a ton of help from everyone here.

The first thing I would suggest is to read Pool Care Basics Archives. That one article in Pool School is the foundation for everything we teach.

Secondly, we are mostly DIY folks so what we teach is pointed directly at you.

What does your water look like right now and do you have a recent chlorine test?

Thank you for the welcome message. I’ll make sure to read “pool care basics”.
I have a dip stick test kit but haven’t tested the water in a couple months. Looking for advice on which test kit to go with for my pool.
The water is currently clear and still covered. Plan to open in a couple weeks.

 

[proavia]

Test Kits Compared

The TF-Pro Salt would be best suited for your SWG pool.
It has more of the testing reagents used by residential pool owners.

If you order one this weekend, it will ship on Monday and you should have it later in the week.