Quote Originally Posted by medvampire
Gracy
..Water bear, waste, Carld, and the rest of the great folks here wont stear you wrong....
Quick! Run down to the pool store and buy every expensive chem they have! JUST KIDDING!!!!

That's exactly what we DON'T want you to do! Wisely, you've decided on discretion and skepticism.

Rather than retype EVERYTHING, I'll just hyperlink you to some stickies:

This is just basic definitions of B-B-B

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=1652

This is a step by step procedure for beginners to help understand how to maintain their pool. The second half has a little discussion of concrete pool: When you get there, the recommended level of calcium is 200 to 400ppm (you'll see what that is all about)

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=1113

Finally, here's a sticky to the Best Guess table we talk about. I printed it out (nicely formatted) and have it on the back of the door of my home office, at arm's length to this PC!

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=365

I hope all of this helps. We've all been there--that moment of panic, of "WOTTLE-EYE-DUE????" as a newbie. It will pass and things will get easier and you'll be able to balance it all like a kid on a bicycle--seems hard at first then you can't imagine not knowing how to do it.

These stickies are just the foundation...but they should help alot.