I think you're right! I certainly trust my own shaky judgment more now than the guy over at The Pool Store that uses a test strip to test my water. He's the fellow that sold me a $25 bottle of phosophates remover, causing my sparkly pool to turn cloudy, then gumming up my nearly-clean DE filter to the point I had to backwash it. I won't add that stuff in again! Wish I had read more deeply in this forum before I blindly followed his advice.

I don't over-estimate my knowledge -- I'm a pool chemistry neophyte still -- but I've got a reasonable handle on pool chemistry now, and a majority of what I've learned has come from this website and the little pamphlet that Taylor helpfully includes inside their K-2006 kit. I've hit a few other pool-related websites for information, too, but this site and the people in it have been by far the most helpful. The fact you have such active and knowledgeable moderators makes a huge difference. What I'm most pleased with is I've got a strategy for how I want to handle my pool maintenance duties that I've quickly developed, without having to go through a terribly long process of trial-and-error. I'm feeling pretty confident about keeping my pool clear and clean (and if I DO run into trouble, I'll come back to this forum to find some answers).