Quote Originally Posted by CarlD
Pool maintenance is neither difficult, nor expensive. It just requires persistence--2-5 minutes a day, but EVERYDAY and you'll be fine.
This is where Carl and I always (respectfully!) disagree. I think that telling a new owner thay they have to do something to their pool EVERYDAY is a wee bit overkill. If you are maintaining with bleach, every three days is fine. If you are using a SWC, once a week is fine. During those times, I only check Cl and pH. Once a month (maybe) I check ALK and Ca. I check CYA 2 -3 times a year. If we've been getting lots of rain (we haven't) I'll check ALK and Ca more frequently, along with CYA. I feel that checking any more frequently than that is just wasting reagent. Your pool isn't going to change much in 24 hours.

Michael