Swimming Pool Tips and Reviews

New pool service pros often inherit “rules” like keeping free chlorine at 2–4 ppm and calling it good, then wonder why algae keeps coming back. A core mistake is not understanding how cyanuric acid (CYA) changes chlorine strength. With CYA in the water, most chlorine becomes bound and only a small fraction is immediately active as sanitizing hypochlorous acid (HOCl). Add in the way pH shifts HOCl versus OCl-, and the effective killing power can drop fast. That is why a pool can test “high chlorine” and still grow algae. If you run a pool service business, this is one of the most important pool chemistry concepts for consistent, algae-free results and fewer emergency cleanups. Once you accept that the active sanitizer is what matters, the free chlorine target has to scale with CYA. The practical field rule discussed is simple: keep free chlorine at about 7.5% of the cyanuric acid level to prevent algae. So if CYA is 100 ppm, free chlorine needs to be about 7.5 ppm, not 3 ppm. This refra...

Pools that “won’t hold chlorine” are one of the most common and expensive headaches in pool maintenance, especially for pool service pros trying to stabilize water fast. When someone says they’re adding two or three gallons of liquid chlorine a day to an 8,000 to 10,000 gallon pool and still reading near zero free chlorine, the first move is not panic dosing. It’s investigation. Chlorine demand usually has a cause: organics, contaminants, or active growth. Start by looking beyond the water test and into the yard, the deck, and the daily habits around the pool. Grass clippings, fertilizer drift, landscaping debris, and rain runoff dripping from dense vegetation all add organic load that chlorine must oxidize. Even well-meaning actions like washing the deck so dirty rinse water flows into the pool can wipe out chlorine overnight.   Once you suspect contamination, think like a detective and list every source of oxidizer demand. Heavy bather load can create big swings, especially ...

Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) is one of the most ignored numbers in pool water chemistry, even though it quietly influences how water behaves. TDS simply means the total amount of dissolved material in the water, measured in parts per million, and it is not the same as visible debris or suspended solids. Modern pool service pros usually measure TDS with a digital meter that reads conductivity and converts that to a ppm estimate. That convenience is why it exists, because the old-school “total dissolved residue” method required evaporating a carefully measured sample and weighing what was left. The key takeaway for pool maintenance is that TDS rises as you add chemicals over time, and that rising baseline changes the way your test results and balance calculations perform. A practical way to think about TDS is the “kettle scale” analogy: keep boiling water away and you eventually see what was dissolved all along. In pools, the biggest contributors are often chloride and sodium. Every time...

Cyanuric acid (CYA), often called pool stabilizer or pool conditioner, is usually introduced as a simple shield that protects chlorine from sunlight. But the deeper story is what makes or breaks clear water: CYA changes chlorine effectiveness by binding most of the chlorine in the water and controlling how much active sanitizer is available at any moment. In this conversation, Bob Lowry explains why “normal” chlorine readings can be misleading, how CYA acts like a buffer in pool water, and why understanding the stabilizer to chlorine relationship is a cornerstone of reliable pool maintenance for service pros and homeowners alike.   The key insight is the equilibrium between free chlorine and chlorine bound to cyanuric acid. Once CYA rises above about 30 ppm, a very large percentage of chlorine becomes bound, leaving only a small fraction immediately active. That does not mean the chlorine disappears, it means it releases more slowly as the active portion gets consumed. The pra...

Constant high pool pH is one of the most common pool water chemistry problems, and it usually is not “mystery water” at all. A persistent pH rise is often driven by carbon dioxide off gassing, which is controlled largely by total alkalinity (TA). When TA is high, the water is effectively overcarbonated, so CO2 wants to escape until it reaches equilibrium with the air above the pool. As CO2 leaves, the pH rises, which leads to the familiar cycle of adding acid, watching pH drop, then seeing it climb again. If you want stable pH, the strategy is less about chasing numbers and more about reducing the conditions that accelerate CO2 loss. The practical takeaway is to rethink alkalinity targets when you are dealing with chronic high pH. Many “standard ranges” for total alkalinity are too broad to solve real-world pH drift, especially in modern pools with lots of aeration. A target around 90 ppm TA can be a starting point, but if pH still climbs, lowering TA to 80 ppm or even near 70 ppm can ...

Metals in pool water are one of the most common reasons otherwise clean pools end up with ugly stains, tinted water, and frustrated customers. The key idea from this conversation is simple: sequestering agents help manage metals, but they do not remove them. Dissolved metal ions can stay in circulation and later oxidize from chlorine or oxygen, turning into solids that “plate out” on plaster, steps, and fittings. That is why a true pool metal removal approach matters, especially when draining is expensive or impossible. Joe Loreno explains how the Culator polymer works differently by binding metal ions while the polymer itself does not dissolve, letting you physically take metals out of the system.   To solve a problem, you also have to know where it starts. Common sources of pool metals include fill water and source water, pool equipment, certain pool chemicals, filter media, plaster and masonry materials, and metal parts in water features. Outside the pool, runoff can bring ...

Summer pool maintenance gets harder for one simple reason: the pool finally gets used. When swim season hits, water chemistry shifts from “stable and quiet” to “high demand and unpredictable.” In many regions, the season timing has changed too, with milder spring weather and a longer warm stretch into fall, which can fool homeowners into thinking the pool will behave like it does in April. For pool service pros and hands-on homeowners, the real lesson is to plan for summer conditions early, not after the first algae bloom or the first frantic call before a weekend party. Better summer pool care starts with expecting higher chlorine demand, faster pH movement, and more scrutiny from customers who suddenly notice every detail in the backyard.   The biggest summer variable is bather load. More swimmers means more organics, more sunscreen, more sweat, and more debris in circulation, all of which consume free chlorine and can cloud water quickly. A pool can look fine on a Monday se...

The Bottom Feeder Adjustable Thrust Ring The new Adjustable Thrust Ring gives pool pros greater control over thrust and maneuverability, allowing you to fine-tune performance for different pool conditions and cleaning environments. It's a simple upgrade designed to help you work smarter, move more efficiently, and get the most out of your vacuum. Increases thrust to propeller in shallow water. Removable. https://thebottomfeeder.com/products/adjustable-thrust-ring The Science Behind the Bottom Feeder Adjustable Thrust Ring: Mastering the Kort Effect For professional pool technicians, efficiency isn't just about saving time—it is about maximizing the performance of every tool in your truck. Portable pool vacuums have revolutionized route speeds, but regional variables like shallow water steps, heavy debris loads, and fluctuating water depths often challenge conventional propeller setups. The introduction of the Bottom Feeder Adjustable Thrust Ring ($24.95) addresses these exa...

Pool pop-ups are one of those pool industry fears that get repeated so often they start to sound inevitable, especially when a customer asks for a full drain to lower cyanuric acid, do an acid wash, or start over with fresh water. The truth is more practical and more technical: most concrete, plaster, or pebble pools are heavy enough that a pop-up is rare, but the risk rises when groundwater and saturated soil create upward buoyant force under an empty shell. If you’re a pool service professional, understanding the real mechanics behind “pool popping out of the ground” helps you make better calls, protect your customer’s property, and protect yourself from avoidable liability. The physics is simple but easy to underestimate. A typical 15,000-gallon pool holds well over 120,000 pounds of water, and that weight acts like an anchor. Once you drain it, you’re left with the shell weight alone, which might be closer to 10,000 to 15,000 pounds for a plaster pool. After heavy rain, especially ...

A pool skimmer is the first line of defense for surface debris, and when it underperforms you feel it fast: leaves hover on top, bugs collect in corners, and the water looks “tired” even when chemistry is fine. Good skimming keeps debris from getting waterlogged and sinking, which also helps reduce bottom mess and the workload on your pool vacuum. Even on an infinity edge pool where builders sometimes skip skimmers for looks or because debris spills into a catch basin, a working skimmer can still play a vital role in day-to-day pool maintenance by keeping the surface cleaner between service visits. If you want to improve pool skimmer suction, start with circulation. In an ideal world, water movement pushes floating debris toward the skimmer in a predictable pattern, but many pools have dead spots where returns don’t move the surface enough. Adjusting return jets can help create a clockwise or counterclockwise sweep that guides debris across the surface and into the skimmer throat. On r...

Pool filter upgrades usually come down to one decision: does the system just need fresh filter media, or is the entire filter tank near the end of its life. “Filter media” is simply what does the actual trapping inside the filter, and it changes by type: cartridge filters use cartridges, DE filters use grids coated with DE powder, and sand filters use sand (sometimes glass media). Each option has a different lifespan, maintenance style, and failure mode, so smarter troubleshooting starts with matching your symptoms to the media. If your pool struggles to stay clear despite solid water chemistry, or you see steady pressure rise and poor circulation, that often points to filtration capacity, clogged media, or worn parts rather than a sanitizer problem. Sand filters are the trickiest to diagnose because the sand can seem “fine” for years, yet filtration can slowly degrade. Some owners never change sand, while others plan a five to eight year interval. A practical trigger is performance: i...

Starting a pool service business sounds simple until you hear the warnings: most small businesses fail, there’s no safety net, and the pool industry has hidden hurdles. The truth is that “failure rates” often reflect bad execution, not bad markets. When an owner skips customer service, underestimates costs, or runs without a plan, the business bleeds out fast, just like any poorly run local shop. But a pool route in a solid area has durable demand, recurring monthly revenue, and clear ways to stand out through reliability. If you treat pool service like a real business with pricing discipline, scheduling, and communication, the odds shift strongly in your favor. A big fear is job security, especially with AI and automation. The episode makes a practical case: many office roles can be replaced quickly because software scales cheaply, while hands-on service work is harder to automate. Pools still need testing, chemical handling, equipment checks, and on-site problem solving. That doesn’t...

Residential pool service and commercial pool maintenance may look similar from the road, but they operate under totally different rules. A commercial pool is any pool used by a broader community like apartments, HOAs, hotels, the YMCA, or city facilities, and that definition instantly brings the county health department into the picture. Residential pool care usually happens behind a single-family home and is far less regulated, which means fewer third parties, fewer mandatory procedures, and fewer surprise shutdowns. For many pool pros, that lighter compliance load is the first big reason a residential pool service route feels easier to run and easier to scale without adding administrative drag.   Regulation changes everything in a pool care business. Commercial accounts can require CPO certification or county-specific credentials, along with strict safety codes and documentation. Health department inspection pressure adds a constant “must be perfect today” factor, because a ...

The sodium bromide debate in the pool industry often gets reduced to a scary word: bromate. But the real conversation is about exposure, how regulators model risk, and what happens when guidance is built on limited field data. Pool service professionals have used sodium bromide based algaecide products for decades, especially for stubborn yellow algae, and many were blindsided by the EPA-driven label language that says “not for use in outdoor pools.” That label shift sparked fear at distributors and on service trucks, even though the product remains legal to purchase. The bigger issue is how pool chemistry, real-world dosing, and actual human exposure differ from worst-case assumptions. A key scientific point raised is that bromate does not automatically equal harm at any detectable level, especially when exposure is tiny. The discussion leans on research suggesting the stomach’s hydrochloric acid can rapidly reduce a large share of trace bromate back into bromide, which is far less co...

The EPA interim decision on sodium bromide has sent a shock through the pool industry because it forces a label change that effectively removes outdoor pool use from products many pool service professionals relied on for fast algae knockdowns. If a sodium bromide-based algaecide now reads “not for use in outdoor pools,” distributors and retailers often stop stocking it entirely, even if the product chemistry did not suddenly change overnight. That’s why names like Yellow Treat and No More Problems keep coming up: they became shorthand for a simple, dependable algae treatment process that many technicians considered “bulletproof,” especially when paired with a strong liquid chlorine dose. A big piece of the controversy is bromate formation. Bromate is considered a probable human carcinogen, and the EPA’s interim approach assumes a worst-case scenario of 100% conversion from bromide to bromate in outdoor pools. Scott Hamilton explains that this is not chemically realistic, but it is cons...

Variable speed pool pumps promise energy savings, but most owners and even seasoned pool service pros still end up guessing at RPM settings. That guesswork shows up later as cloudy water, weak heater performance, noisy plumbing, or a filter that slowly clogs until circulation quietly drops. On the Pool Guy Podcast Show, Sean McDermott from H2 Flow Controls introduces the Nautilus VSF pump, built around a simple idea: speed is just a tool, but flow is the outcome that actually runs a pool. By monitoring real flow instead of relying on a theoretical pump curve, the pump targets consistent circulation that supports both water quality and efficiency.   The standout feature is adaptive flow, which lets you enter pool volume and choose a constant flow mode or a turnover mode. Instead of “set it to 2,200 RPM and hope,” the pump adjusts itself to maintain the required gallons per minute as conditions change. Filters load up gradually, in-floor cleaning systems cycle, water features op...