From reading athe above responses, what I take away from them is that all of you have gone through a process of "getting to know" you pools in order to figure out how often to test. You each have developed a schedule somewhat individual to your pool and environment, not a hard and fast rule except for chlorine/ph.

I would offer up that as a newbie, I find I am most comfortable testing in the morning and at night. I've been doing all 5 tests twice daily and charting results since getting my Taylor2006 kit. Maybe I'm overtesting, but I see it as an investment in the long term and in educating myself about my pool. After 2 weeks I have stopped daily testing CYA and Hardness since they are not shifting. I've started noticing patterns in what the Ph/chlorine/alkalinity do as a result of weather/bather loads, etc. It is also helping me recognize cause and effects when adding chemicals.

Once my honeymoon with the pool is over, I'm sure I'll be able to get to that 2-5 minutes a day to stay ahead of my pool. For now, using the BBB method and with all of your support, I am pleasantly obsessed!