Pool Chemistry and Maintenance From a Backyard Pool Owner
Nadia Caldwell · July 14, 2026
You’ve probably encountered two conflicting pieces of advice online or heard them poolside: “Just buy a suction cleaner, they’re cheap and easy,” versus “Suction cleaners will destroy your filter in one season if you have trees.” One of those statements is misleading, and the other misses crucial context. The truth sits in the middle — … Read more
Nadia Caldwell · July 5, 2026
It’s Wednesday, and the water still looks brilliant — until you notice them. Three palm fronds clustered near the deep end, maybe a scatter of dirt. Two minutes with the wrong equipment turns into thirty. You weigh the options: hunt down the skimmer basket, thread the vacuum hose, bleed air from the line while your … Read more
Nadia Caldwell · July 1, 2026
October, 7 a.m., at a Scottsdale community pool. Three sycamores towered over the deck, their branches shedding leaves with industrial efficiency. I’d cleared the skimmer basket before sunrise. By 9:30, the pump was cavitating hard. Four service calls later — noon hadn’t even arrived — homeowners were already lighting up my phone. You’ve been there … Read more
Nadia Caldwell · June 29, 2026
No product manual spells this out, and the guy behind the counter at your pool supply won’t mention it either: the cleaner type you buy determines whether your pump stays healthy, your filter lasts a full season, and whether fine sediment actually leaves the water or just circulates through your system indefinitely. I discovered this … Read more
Nadia Caldwell · June 29, 2026
Skipping a vacuum step in above-ground pool maintenance leads to algae blooms faster than you’d expect — and once spores take hold in that confined water volume, chemistry alone won’t save you. Over years of poking around pools across Arizona and Nevada, I watched pools deteriorate in 48 hours flat when sediment settled and decomposed … Read more
Nadia Caldwell · June 19, 2026
Talk to two different pool owners online or at your local pool store and you’ll hear contradictory advice: one insists manual vacuuming is the backbone of proper pool maintenance, while the other claims it’s an outdated chore. The first statement contains truth; the second one is incomplete. Manual vacuuming isn’t wrong — it’s just unnecessarily … Read more