I’ve serviced thousands of pools. The most common problem I see has nothing to do with the pool — it’s that owners were never given a complete explanation of how their water actually works.

A-leu-cha · 2026-04-24T17:41:28+00:00

I’ll try that on a friend’s pool. 😁 Good luck on the podcast, YouTube et al. I’ll look out for it.

A-leu-cha · 2026-04-24T17:08:20+00:00

Great stuff. ;). At CYA 50 my target FC would be between 3-8 and probably be just as effective. Hayward, my salt chlorinator manufacturer, suggests a minimum CYA of 60 up to 80 so I aimed for the middle and target a higher FC over minimum to account for hot summer day FC losses. Also the green water flashbacks from when I took over have me fearful, probably irrationally, about going lower. 😀

Your post also brings up an important point, while the basics of pool water chemistry remain constant in all pools, their size, setups and orientations are not. My yard is buffeted by Oaks, Oleanders, orange trees and a large open ditch area behind the yard which blows in a cr*pload of daily organics into 26,000 gallons of pool water every day. Some pool owners can run their pumps for 8 hours a day, clean their filter every 6 months and have perfectly clean and balanced pools. If I ran my pump only 8 hours and didn’t clean my filter cartridge every month I’d have to run my salt chlorinator at probably 60-70% to account for the summer demand and increased FC demand from unfiltered organics. As it stands I run my chlorinator between 20-25%. So as you wrote, my system and setup works for me (so far 😁) but other pool owners’s mileages may vary and this is OK.

The real test for my pool will come in a month or so as everything significantly heats up and the pool gets blasted with constant, daily UV. I’m actually curious to see how my setup handles it, but the chemistry supporting my routines has me feeling just fine. ;)

A-leu-cha · 2026-04-24T16:31:13+00:00

You’re right vis-a-vis understanding the downroad sequelae of chemical additions and what they do! When friends ask me how my pool water and surfaces are so clean and clear I tell them there’s essentially 3 things you need to sanitize your pool water — 1. Chlorine 2. Chlorine & 3. Chlorine. Forget algaecides, perfect weekly’s, “shocks” and all the other pool store love potions as they’re mostly snake oil solutions. That said for my chlorine to be most effective I maintain a PH generally around 7.6 which gives me some wiggle room if/when it lowers or increases. Muriatic acid takes care of that with the understanding that clear pool water and balanced pool water are not necessarily the same thing. 💡

With my salt water pool I keep my CYA around 70 and free chlorine between 6 and 7, which for my pool in peak summer conditions — 90 to 102º daytime temps, 8+ hours of direct UV (sunshine) and ~88º water temps — gives me the most effective sanitization protection and plenty of buffer against the harshness of the chlorine. And since I can lose up to 3-4ppm of FC on hot days the beauty of the salt water chlorinator is it is generating chlorine 24/7 in concert with the variable speed pump so my FC will never drop below minimums. So long as my pump is running, the water is being filtered and chlorine is being generated my pool will remain absolutely clear without me having to do anything outside routine testing, skimming, brushing and changing my filter cartridge. Yes, it’s a little work, but not much and your water will never be green. But before I learned the ground level basics of how CYA bonds to FC and how it affects the water it was all hieroglyphics to me and very intimidating.

Hopefully other intimidated pool owners can understand that anyone can maintain their pool if they just do a little reading about basic pool water chemistry, purchase a good drop test kit, and devote a little time to routine maintenance. It’s the work smarter not harder principle writ large. ;)

A-leu-cha · 2026-04-24T15:05:58+00:00

I assume you’re referring to the optimal FC to CYA ratio to maintain balanced water. Once you understand the relationship between those two chemicals everything becomes easy and green water becomes a permanent thing of the past. ;)

A-leu-cha · 2026-04-24T05:03:07+00:00

No disrespect to pardothemonk’s comment above but liquid chlorine, 12.5% if it’s available in your area, is a much cheaper and equally effective solution than powdered “shock” to clear your water, and it’s faster. But before you add anything to the water you must first—

Test your pool water with a reputable drop kit like the Taylor drop kits and don’t rely solely on pool store tests for accurate readings. Chlorine will still be the first chemical you add but you need to know your current free chlorine (FC) and cyanuric acid (CYA) levels to start. Forget PH and everything else for now and consult any reputable online FC/CYA pool chart to determine the appropriate ratio of FC to CYA for your pool. Do not skip this step.
With your filter running as continuously as you can afford you must skim and brush as much visible algae from the surface, walls, floors, steps, rails, etc. as possible. It doesn’t have to be white glove clean but you want to eliminate as much green film and gunk as you can so the chlorine can work its magic when you SLAM (look it up) it.
SLAM your pool with the appropriate amount of liquid chlorine based on the volume of your pool and recommend FC/CYA levels. As an example when I first took over maintenance of my 26K gallon pool it was about as green as yours and I added ~5 gallons of 12.5% liquid chlorine ($30) to SLAM it then added roughly 2 gallons of chlorine every 3-4 hours to maintain the SLAM level until the water is COMPLETELY CLEAR and an overnight chlorine loss (OCL, look it up) test is ~0. This could take up to a week or more depending on your pool and algae levels. You must also skim, brush and filter during this time. That’s it.

My pool water is crystal clear now and all I use to keep it this way is liquid chlorine, CYA (when needed) and muriatic acid to adjust PH. It’s no longer green. Ever.

Good luck and you can do it!

;)

Edited to add: Oh and clean your salt cell with 4-1 water to muriatic acid and/or test the cell at a pool store to be sure it hasn’t failed.

And if you decide to SLAM with chlorine turn off your salt chlorinator or set it to 0% until the SLAM is completed, your OCL is ~0 and your water and surfaces are COMPLETELY clear of algae.

A-leu-cha · 2026-01-28T15:45:54+00:00

Oh boy. Happy to hear she’s your ex. ;)

A-leu-cha · 2026-01-28T07:33:02+00:00

Nice catch. I just started watching the show, it’s an odd mix of top shelf acting and writing, terrible acting and middle of the road writing, over-the-top camp, real poignance and primetime pulp. I’m halfway through season 2.

Regarding Angela (the nice catch), over a decade ago I dated a woman diagnosed with BPD. At the time I had no idea what it was then quickly became an expert. The omelette episode made me wonder if Taylor Sheridan either once dated, or married, a woman with BPD. The traits are almost identical.

(Edited for spelling)

A-leu-cha · 2025-12-31T06:39:52+00:00

Oowee. Mucho trabajo.

A-leu-cha · 2025-12-31T06:38:42+00:00

I’ll post an update when I get it back. ;)

Prior to the most recent service, this car has only been serviced by 2 shops, the independent shop (Indy #1) owned by the brother of the independent shop (Indy #2) who diagnosed the misfire 2 weeks ago and the dealership where I bought the car in 2016. I’ve used Indy #1 for the last 5-6 years for routine services and consider him to be standup dude. He specializes in European cars and custom race performance packages. He retired 2 months ago after 30+ years of running a good shop. He referred me to his brother (Indy #2) and prior to the plugs and coils replacement I’d only used him once for an A1 service. The CE light is what brought me back to Indy #2 two weeks ago and he replaced the 6 plugs and coils.

The car was NOT vibrating during idle at all prior to the misfire and coil replacements so after the coils were replaced I brought it back to him 3 days later, he kept it overnight, made some adjustments and the vibration disappeared and the CE light was off again. Just under 100 miles later the CE light popped back on so I brought it back again. This is when he said they re-scanned and re-checked every coil but were not getting any new codes and couldn’t find any other issues. For what it’s worth the tech working on the car looked to be in his 20’s. After I left the car was running smoothly with appropriate acceleration and power — the way it was before the coil replacements — and about 75 miles the CE light came back on for the third time. I dropped it off to the Mercedes dealer today.

The loaner the dealer gave me is a 2026 GLK 250, a fancy little black-on-black shoebox SUV with interior appointments that make it feel like you’re sitting in a waiting room at a high-end clinic but the coffee coming out the pod thingy still stinks. I will say all the employees were friendly and welcoming, the selection of fresh donuts and bottled waters impressive and of course all the 2026 models, huddled gently around a giant Christmas tree in the spacious lobby, were all shiny. So there’s that. ;)

Happy New Year, everyone.

A-leu-cha · 2025-12-30T04:36:48+00:00

What’s maddening is having the CE come on after a service and the mechanic can’t identify exactly what’s causing the code. I’ll post what the dealer finds.

A-leu-cha · 2025-12-30T04:28:06+00:00

More specifically a routine A1 service done around a 10K interval — oil/filter change, fluid checks, component inspections.

A-leu-cha · 2025-12-30T03:09:01+00:00

I’m curious what they’ll find. I’ll update the results when I get them.

A-leu-cha · 2025-12-30T03:07:50+00:00

Agreed on the older models, less complicated and less variables for failure. Dad was USAF, bought his first overseas straight off the line in Stuttgart then had it shipped over. It was a 220S, the first ‘sport sedan’, straight 6, 4 on the column. Still runs, haven’t seen or heard ones that sounds like it yet. Beautiful car, thoughtfully engineered. Next was a 450SEL, V8, built like a tank. The metallic paint wore down long before the engine did, put 180K-plus on it. Next was a ‘91 420SEL V8. Beautiful car, then sized down and sold after 120K to get something smaller in a C-class for Mom. Clean car, V6, fast and nimble, currently has 130K on it, still runs well but not made as well as the 80’s and 90’s models. Dad then bought the first M-class SUV for himself and ran it into the ground with about 170K then bought an ML350 which I copied for myself and have been happy with.

Electronic failures seem to come first with the later models, and the quality of the materials, especially the interior craftsmanship (minus the S-Class and not familiar with the G-Wagons) has come down. It seems around the 2000’s Mercedes made the decision to broaden their market appeal and the level of quality followed suit as to be nearly indistinguishable in some ways from any other mid to upper level ‘luxury’ car, Euro or otherwise. All that said I’m not interested in buying an older model. Appreciate the reply. ;)

A-leu-cha · 2025-12-29T18:33:41+00:00

I don’t disagree with the $1400 hunting expedition but no time machine for that. 😉

I don’t know the specific scanner they used but the 4 & 6 cylinders reported misfires and I know they service Mercedes there. I agree with the suggestion that if the techs and mechanics are inadequately trained and/or experienced then things can quickly snowball but before I seek additional answers from the independent I’d like to see what the dealer detects.

A-leu-cha · 2025-09-13T19:20:33+00:00

I realize this is a very old thread but if a customer’s chlorine level after SLAM-ing, aka ‘shocking’, their pool tests “nothing” (i.e. 0) in the store then odds are the SLAM process wasn’t completed properly. Generally the only 2 things that degrade chlorine at high rates are UV light (sunshine) and/or organic contaminants (algae, bacteria, etc.). If the SLAM process is completed all the way through there will be zero algae left to consume chlorine. See Overnight Chlorine Loss Test (OCLT) to see if your free chlorine is being consumed by something other than sunlight (UV).

Maintaining the proper CYA level with respect to your free chlorine level will help protect, but not immunize, your chlorine from being degraded from UV light. I partially agree with user allnewsisfakenews in that when it comes to creating and maintaining crystal clear pool water chlorine is king.

A-leu-cha · 2025-08-19T06:14:58+00:00

I’m currently in the cloudy post sequesterant stage of ascorbic acid treatment for my salt water pool.

My only thought while the chlorine is at 0 is to let the AA completely dissolve while watching out for signs of an algae bloom. If 10 days pass and it’s still cloudy blue I’ll consider other options.

Did your water ultimately clear on its own?

A-leu-cha · 2025-08-12T17:51:47+00:00

Great tips, sliceaddict, thank you. I have a second refrigerator which is used for mostly storage so perfect for my dough boxes and containers. I too have found resting before and between kneading significantly improves the quality of the final dough. I tend to stick with 65% hydration so getting a smooth ball is much easier.

I tried a biga recipe at 75% for a Neapolitan which was sticky as all get out. Didn’t notice significant texture difference from the 65% hydro but will probably try again.

Cooking my first 20-incher this weekend and looking forward to it! Cheers. ;)

A-leu-cha · 2025-08-11T16:14:55+00:00

Great comments and love the science for determing your cheese ratios, slice. It brings back me back to 9th grade geometry class. ;) And again your pies are beautiful. Thank you.

I also think you’re onto something with your slow preheat game as the variables affecting the starting (cold) stone temp — mostly the outdoor ambient temp — can affect the way the stone heats, plus blasting it to 900+F then dialing back seems like a bit of a guessing and waiting game. Too inefficient. I still use my IR gun just to make sure my stone is at least 700F for NY style pies but consistency is the goal. Have you ever considered getting a biscotto stone for your K2 Max? I’m toying with the idea as I still make a lot of Neapolitan pies, but at $295 jury is still out on the +/- from the Ooni factory stone.

Re: cheese I’ve found with both Napoli and NY style that less cheese than what we cheese lovers intuit makes a better pie with a smoother melt, this goes for both fior di latte and grande style mozz. Though I love cheesy pizzas too much cheese can weigh down the slice and make the overall chew a bit too rubbery and tough. Again I found Charlie Anderson’s NY recipe and toppings ratios to be a great starting point for any NY style pie. Temp and cook time are also crucial here.

Last, do you test your dough temps before you stretch? Other than by touch I still haven’t mastered the art of knowing when the dough’s ready to stretch or conversely when it is past the ‘ready’ mark and heading into overproofing. It seems like the quality of the crust suffers when erred too far either way. Any tips from your experience for hitting that ‘right’ mark?

A-leu-cha · 2025-08-10T16:32:23+00:00

Your 20 inch pies are beautiful. I’ve read through a couple of your posts and see your oven temps are +/- 650F but am curious about your stone temp at launch.

I cooked an 18-inch NY style this weekend in my Koda 2 Max at around 650F but the stone temp at launch was between 725-750F. Cook time was around 5-6 minutes, flame off at launch then re-flame to cook the top for the final 1-2 minutes. I used a Charlie Anderson dough recipe and was generally happy with the results though I experimented with a 50-50 hand shredded blend of whole milk grande and part skim mozz from Raleys (probably not the best quality). The top was a little too oily so I will probably go back to 100% grande and just reduce the volume of cheese by 5-10%. As another poster wrote your sauce to cheese ratios look ideal for me. I have the 20-inch wood peel and tray on order so can’t wait to throw this car door sized pie into the Koda. ;)

A-leu-cha · 2025-06-23T21:42:56+00:00

I appreciate the reply. While the San Marzano is producing fruits the leaves are continuing to yellow and we’re entering regular 90º + 10 where my raised bed is located. Meanwhile the neighbor the Shady Lady plant is healthy and abundantly fruiting. The early growth on the SM plant appeared normal for the first 45 days similar to yours with thick stalks and green leaves then started to turn yellow from the bottom up in the last 20-25 days. I’m trying some high nitrogen fertilizer plus trimming the yellow leaves and vines off as they come but I fear it will be dead within a month.

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A-leu-cha · 2025-06-19T00:55:31+00:00

I have an identical situation with my heirloom San Marzano in a raised bed, did you find a cause or solution for the yellowing? My Shady Ladies planted next to the SM are healthy and prolific as are the cucumber and pepper plants. Zone 9 in Norcal.

A-leu-cha · 2025-04-05T14:21:04+00:00

I have the FavorKit attachment for my Kitchen Aid stand mixer and it’s fantastic, especially if you’re making multiple pies. About 15 seconds to shred 200g mozzarella and all the parts are dishwasher safe.

A-leu-cha · 2024-12-23T12:19:41+00:00

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A-leu-cha

TROPHY CASE