best approach to crystal clear water

I plan to open the pool soon. Last year was a particularly difficult year, i had the water tested at the local pool store weekly and they said everything was fine. so i kept shocking the pool and the algae would die and i'd vacuum it all up and a few days later it would start again. towards the end of the summer someone suggested that phosphates were my issue. after using some sort of phosphate remover that seems to help but the water wasn't what it needed to be.

where as my neighbor had zero issues wit his pool, crystal clear water and rarely did anything, if at all (he does however have an inline chlorinater).

so im looking for some good advice on where to start and what to use.

Hi, Mike. Give us some more information about your pool -- type, volume, size of pump, type of filter. Also we need some current water testing results taken with a drops-based kit. What all have you added to the pool -- meaning ingredients, not just "shock."

its a 12-24 above ground pool, i have a 2 speed (3/4 and either 1.5 or 2hp) it run it on 3/4, only use the high speed for vacuuming. Cartridge filter. i dont have any water testing result as i haven't opened the pool yet. i can test it tonight and get back to you. however i dont have drops based tests only strips.

We don't put too much faith in test strips. The kit we recommend is the Taylor K-2006 or 2006C. Take a look at it on this page. test kit info page

We really can't offer too much advice without some good numbers. One bit of advice I can give you at this point is to do some reading. Read through a lot of the posts here on the forum -- especially the stickied threads at the top of some of the sub-forums. Also read on our sister site www.poolsolutions.com. Lots of good information that will be very beneficial to you to learn. This is a good time to do your homework -- before your pool is open!