Pool Tips
How to raise pH in pool water
Low pH eats plaster, corrodes metal, and stings eyes. Raising it is easy, but the product you choose changes what happens to your alkalinity. Here is how to pick.
What pool chemicals do you actually need?
A pool store aisle has forty products. You need about six of them. Here is what each one does, the number it is supposed to hit, and which bottles you can leave on the shelf.
Mustard algae in a pool: why it keeps coming back
Yellow dust on the shady wall that brushes off and comes back by morning is mustard algae, not dirt. It hides from your chlorine and lives on your pool toys. Here is how to clear it for good.
What is a pool skimmer and how does it work?
The skimmer is the square opening in your pool wall, and it does more work than any other part of the system. Here is what is inside it and why the water level decides whether it works at all.
How to get rid of black algae in a pool
Black algae is not a stain and it will not wipe off. It grows roots into the plaster and wears a shell that normal chlorine cannot get through. Killing it takes brushing, not chemicals alone.
How long should you run a pool pump in Texas?
The old answer was eight hours a day. Turnover, pump type, and a Texas summer all change that number. Here is how to find the run time your pool actually needs.