Thanks for all the replies guys.. since I posted last I have had the new startup orientation and to be honest I learned way more from my own research, than by those guys. a tech came out to do the orientation because their startup people were out for personal reasons. I ask a lot of technical questions because I really wanted to understand the bare bones basics of everything and then build my knowledge from there. the guy was very hesitant to give me a good answer, like they were trade secrets or something. I do really want to start the BBB method just educating myself a little before I start that. I bought a basic test kit from LESLIES for now. im going to buy the Taylor soon (thanks for the suggestion). everything is going good so far. water is crystal clear and freezing a** cold. My pump will flow anywhere from 15gpm at setting 1 to 101gpm at setting 4. If I leave the speed at 2 which is around 30gpm and 1100rpm it takes about 8 hrs to filter my pool. its 12k gallons. I run the quick clean cycle 2x a week and scrub the interior and tile 1x per week and that seems to keep the water perfect. oh, its a cartridge style filter not DE sorry. Thanks for all the replies again.