I'm going to try to make a long story a fairly short post. I've been around pools all my life. As a kid my family had an inground gunite pool. To this day,some of the happiest moments of my life revolved around that swimming pool. Summers were all about swimming with friends and family and just plain fun. As a kid I luckily had no responsibility for caring for the pool, but I remember my Dad working fairly hard to keep it up(I do remember some swearing involved on his part).
When I grew up and had my own family I wanted to build a pool for my daughters to enjoy and love, the same way I had enjoyed my family pool. I talked to my Dad about this and he reccomended against it. I was literally stunned. What I had remembered as a joyous addition to my childhood, he remembered as a continuing pain in the a**, with algae blooms, numerous trips to the pool store for advice, and lots of money for chemicals that didn't always do what was promised.
I built a pool anyway, an inground gunite like my family's. I soon learned what my dad was talking about. I followed all the pool store advice and the Bioguard plan. I would open in the spring to a green swamp. Two weeks later, after lots of work and $, the water would sparkle for about a month. Then came what I like to call AA. August and Algae. It seemed like no matter how much I tested(with drops) and kept my pool balanced(according to the pool store) the first week of August brought Algae and a ton of money lost to Bioguard. I would close to a partially green pool with relief (thank god I don't have to worry about that for a while). I understood what my Dad had gone through. The joy of a swimming pool was gone for me.
Three years ago, in desperation, I found Pool Solutions and Ben. I was skeptical. Laundry Bleach! Baking Soda! Come on what was this guy selling? But I was desperate. I had literally nothing to lose. So I tried it. Hook,line and sinker. And the really funny thing is- it worked! My pool has sparkled for the last two and a half years. No AA. No spring swamp. No hole in my wallet to Bioguard.
I know this post has gone on too long(it's my first) and for that I'm sorry. But there is no quick way to thank you all for what you have done. You've brought back the joy of a swimming pool to me. I now have what the pool stores and the Bioguards never let my Dad have, the simple joy of swimming in a pool with your kids and not having to worry about constant and unending problems.
I've lurked here for three years. I can't express the thanks I have to Ben for all the work he puts into this site. This is what the internet should be. Ben, you have done something amazing here. Keep up the fantastic work. To all the regulars that I have listen to for the last three years, Carl D, Watermom. Aylad,MWSmith, Thank you all so much. You have brought the joy back for me and my family. Thank You All.