First off, thank you all for your incredible advice on this forum and the pool solutions site.

I became a first-time pool owner when I moved to NJ and purchased a house with an above-ground 18x30. My wife and I have two young boys and decided we'd keep the pool for a year and see if we used it/liked it. Needless to say, we love it, but I'm still a newbie. Last year I had to swap out the pump since the bearings froze up (twice). I have a Hayward 1.5hp with a sand filter. Since I inherited the pool with the house, I have no idea what condition the sand is in.

Everything worked ok last year, with some random water fogging and algae blooms. For the most part I'm using chlorine tabs in a addition to the BBB method. I've only used test strips, but my K2006 is on order (sorry, didn't see the Amazon link until after I ordered it!).

I'll let you know some readings when I open the pool soon, but thanks for the tips so far!