Hi runstin...welcome and congrats on your new pool!

This is my first year of owning a pool, so I've got plenty yet to learn. But, I believe PoolSolutions has certainly helped speed up my learning curve.

Some things (not in any order) that have helped me manage my pool within it's first year (which so far seems successful).


First off...get a good test kit. Have you got one now?

I've got Ben's test kit and paid a little extra money to have it put in at a rush order. I did pay a little more for it...but it came in fairly quick. Because you will have to wait some time for a kit to come in...try and get a nice drop test kit from Walmart or your nearby pool store.

Get some stabilizer in your pool. Have you added any CYA to your pool yet? If your test kit test for CYA...great. If not...you'll have to rely on a pool store to help you with the reading until your test kit comes in.

I have mine set at 40...but do some reading and find where your "target" number is. It seems that whenever your making changes or adjustments to your pool (chlorine, CYA, Ph, TA etc) you'll always want to know your "target number" before you start making the adjustments.

I'm sure you've already added bleach to your pool. For me...the bleach/chlorine method has really worked nicely. My water almost always looks incredible with very low maintenance. I've only had one algae bloom, which was my fault, and with some persistence my water (again) looks great.

Getting to know your pool and it's bleach consumption may take some time. So...take measurements often enough for you to feel confident that you know what you're water is doing. ALso...pay attention to heavy bather loads and rainfall! Take a look at Ben's best guess CYA chart to match up the CYA level you have in your pool with the necessary maintenance levels of chlorine and "shock" levels that must be reached if you need to shock your pool.

Also download the bleach calculator. Once you do...punch in the amount of water in your pool...concentration of the bleach you use...and make the adjustment 1ppm. Now comment this number to memory. Because any time you need to raise your chlorine level...you will now know the amount to add that raises up one point. Now you just multiply that amount of chlorine by the number of points you want to raise the chlorine.

When your pool is "running good" it seems like it's taking care of itself. But you really want to stay on top of things. Measure often, stabilize your water (Ph and TA included), vacuum or run a cleaner at least once a week or more often if needed, turn and be sure to do the proper filter maintenance (back flushing or cleaning the cartridge that's needed). Have persistence when trying to make some changes (such as TA changes or fighting algae) and have faith in the system here. It works.

It's also nice that you have a support group, here at PoolSolutions, that is knowledgeable, friendly and quite helpful.

enjoy your pool!
dan