Leigh Anne,

Welcome to the forum. I'm pretty much a "newbie" to this forum too. Do NOT be embarrassed by your lack of knowledge. This is my fifth year with my pool and it's my FIRST year to be pro-active and actually learn about my pool! You have found the right place! These people are great.

I'm sure you'll get some responses to your post. You'll get the BEST help if you can POST some NUMBERS so people will know more about your pool and it's water ... so they can help you the best way possible. If you have a test kit (I ordered Ben's finally! from the pool solutions website) that is a DROP-BASED kit -- you can get it at Wal-Mart or somewhere like that ... and test for the following and then post #'s:

FC
CC
TC
pH
Alk
Cal
CYA

Here are some suggestions that will help you (did me -- and I'm still learning!):

#1 - Find the "stickies" at the top of each topic on this forum
(i.e., "Best Guess Chart", A beginner's guide to pool chemistry, etc.) and read these.

#2 - Also go to www.poolsolutions.com and read everything there. There is a long list of reasons a pool can be cloudy -- that's why #'s are important -- so that people here can give you the best response possible!

#3 - Ask Questions! Great people here -- just keep checking back -- somebody will chime in to help you out.

#4 - Learn POP (Pool Owner Patience -- I believe it's the hardest thing to learn of all! LOL)

#5 - Glad to have you at the pool forum -- read, read, read -- somebody else may have the exact problem and you check out all those responses!