A pool can look perfect on Friday, then turn an eerie green tint right after you shock it and suddenly everyone swears it’s algae. We’ve seen it on routes and heard it from homeowners: clear walls, no visible growth, but the water has a strange color cast that shows up fast. The fix starts with stopping the guesswork and running a simple, chemistry-driven test that tells you what you’re actually fighting. We’re joined by Joe Laurino of Culator Products to unpack the real causes o...

Pool water can look crystal clear and still be quietly destroying your surfaces and equipment. We sit down with Joe Laurino of Periodic Products, known to many pool pros for Culator metal elimination, to break down what “balanced water” really means and why it is the first step in preventing metal staining, corrosion, and costly repairs. If you’ve ever wondered why a heater fails early, why plaster starts to feel rough, or why stains keep coming back, the answer often starts with aggres...

Your pool route does not need more hustle, it needs a cleaner sales system. We walk through how to position PoolRx as a high-value, once-a-year upgrade that helps prevent algae, improves water clarity, and lowers chlorine demand, while also protecting your profit when chemical prices keep moving. We share a simple Good Better Best framework you can apply immediately: buy during spring promotions to save on the backend, pass the cost through as an annual fee, or charge a fair markup based on ...

Algae that keeps coming back can make even great pool techs feel like they are chasing ghosts, especially when a customer says, “But we already added the mineral unit.” I’m joined by Fred Square from PoolRx to get brutally practical about what actually changes outcomes: correct sizing by gallons, clean filtration, smart placement, and pump run time that lets minerals dissolve the right way instead of dumping into the pool all at once. If you want clearer water with lower chlorine demand, the ...

A black stain shows up on the pool floor right after you add cal-hypo and your brain jumps straight to “drain it and acid wash.” We slow that moment down and explain what’s usually happening: copper that was already there, hiding as copper sulfate, getting oxidized by chlorine into black copper oxide. Once you understand that chemistry, you stop chasing the symptom and start fixing the cause. We also get practical about what actually works in pool stain removal and metal control. Ascor...

Borates get talked about like they’re a cure-all for pool problems, but that belief is exactly what gets pool owners and pool pros into trouble. We sit down with industry veteran Bob Lowry to separate hype from real pool water chemistry, and to explain what borates actually do when you add them to a swimming pool. If you’re chasing constant pH rise, fighting recurring algae, or trying to make a saltwater chlorine generator pool easier to manage, this conversation will give you a clearer, calm...

Chlorine tablets can feel like the simplest path to a clean pool, until the water starts fighting back. We dig into what really happens when trichlor becomes the main sanitizer: cyanuric acid (CYA) climbs, chlorine gets “slower,” and algae can show up even when your test kit says the free chlorine looks fine. We walk through the practical chemistry behind it, including why CYA is more than just “sun protection” and how a rising stabilizer level changes what a safe chlorine target should be. ...

“99% trichlor” sounds like a mic-drop statistic, but it’s also one of the most persistent sources of confusion in pool care. We sit down with Bob Lowry to untangle what that number actually means, why “purity” is not the same thing as “chlorine strength,” and how the industry’s use of available chlorine (based on a chlorine gas reference) warps the way products get talked about on the truck and at the counter. We walk through the real chemistry behind the label: what free chlorine is doing i...

Copper sounds like the perfect pool hack: add a “mineral system,” fight algae, and use less chlorine. The reality is more complicated, and that gap between marketing and chemistry is where stains, green hair, and unsafe water conditions show up. We’re joined by industry legend Bob Lowry, whose voice and teaching still carry weight across the pool industry, to give a clear-eyed answer to the question pool owners ask every year: is copper safe to use in a swimming pool? We talk through how cop...

A pool finish can look “ruined” overnight, yet the real cause might be completely normal plaster behavior. I walk through the plaster problems that trigger the loudest complaints, the ones that quietly build over months, and the ones that only show up years later, right when the pool service pro is the easiest target. If you’ve ever inherited a pool with weird discoloration, streaks, or blotchy shading and felt your stomach drop, this conversation is for you. We talk about plaster modeling a...