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 13, 2026
The phone rings in July, and it’s always the same story: “My above-ground pool turned green overnight, and I swear I’m doing everything the manual says.” I ask a few questions about their routine, and the culprit emerges almost immediately — they’ve lifted their maintenance strategy straight from in-ground pool playbooks. That approach fails spectacularly … 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 · June 30, 2026
A call came through one Tuesday morning from a property manager in Tempe: “The water looks fine, but the bottom feels gritty. My guy says we don’t need to vacuum because the filter’s running 24/7.” I drove out that afternoon. The pool floor was carpeted in a half-inch layer of silt, algae spores, and decomposed … 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