Yes, the aquarium is why I've ever cared. Oddly enough, it's more the impact chlorine has on the bacteria that process the nitrogen wastes than the impact it has on the fish. Chlorine levels in most municipal sources are high enough to irritate fish, but seldom high enough kill them (other than via long term exposure, where it's really secondary effects like damage to their gills and weakening of their immune system due to the stresses). But kill off the bacteria that handle nitrogen wastes, and ammonia levels will hit lethal levels in pretty short order.

I'm getting sick of this bloody animal already

I use HTH Brand Shock Powder, which is nothing more than Calcium Hypochlorite. It gives 49% free Cl. When you add it to the pool, it dissolves quickly and you can swim in 15 minutes. This of course is in a normal situation. When adding it to the green pool, it takes over night to have any effect. So you don't swim for at a minimum of several hours. You have to add it at night, or the UV rays from the sun will burn the Cl away. And believe you me, there is plenty of sun.

Also you need in the water a stabilizer which is Cyanuric Acid. Also a powder form. Anywhere from 30 - 100 ppm will be fine. That keeps the Cl from being destroyed by the aforementioned UV rays.

Also they make tablets of chemicals that slow release Cl and Cyanuric that you put in a float and leave it in the pool. But you have to watch those because you can get an overdose of cyanuric that way and then the Cl doesn't work. If that happens you have to drain enough water out and replace it with fresh water so the cyanuric is diluted back down to less than 100 ppm.

BUT, if you have the room and the patience, you could use just common bleach. I did that last year and had no problem. But it is a pain in the ass for several reasons:

1) Even the strongest bleach is weak by comparison to the shock powder so you need a lot of damn bottles of bleach
2) All those damn bottles need to be opened and dumped in the pool
3) All those damn bottles need to be recycled afterwards
4) You get weird looks at the grocery store when you buy 27 bottles of bleach all at once - if you really want to have fun, get your bleach AND some automotive chemicals as well. Or batteries.

For the most part, the Cl and the cyanuric are the ONLY chemicals you will ever need to add to a pool, other than stuff to adjust the pH up or down if needed once in a great while. None of the clarifiers or cleaners or algae killers they try to sell you are necessary, and they can actually make things worse.

Other than that, a good brush down on the walls once a week to break free any algae (plus run the filter pump and vacuum all night every night) and you're all set.

As far as safety goes, never ever ever ever mix pool chemicals together outside of the pool water. They can explode, burn, emit deadly gases or (usually) all three at once in a very short amount of time.

There is never any free Cl2 gas emitted from the pool water because it is not in it's elemental gaseous form.

Wait a bit after adding chemicals...the package says 15 minutes, but we usually wait an hour or so.

Don't eat it, inhale it, drink it, rub it on your skin, grind it into an open wound, flick it into your eyes, snort it, aurally ingest it, jump around in it, have sex in it, use it as a shampoo, use it as a pubic lice killer or any of the other 863 different things that any common moron would do just for fun.

Pets are not allowed in or near the pool (at least my pool) for any reason whatsoever. If you have small children, gate a f*cking pool fence and locking gate or I will personally kick your ass three ways to Sunday. Every. F*cking. Summer. there are at least 2 or 3 small children drownings in the Phoenix area. It disgusts me because it is 100% preventable.

100% preventable.

Wife and I just moved into a brand new place. We signed the contract while it was still a dirt lot. So every weekend we'd go visit our lot and watch it grow bit by bit. Finally 2 weeks ago we got our keys and the ok to move in.

Unfortunately I was experiencing some back problems so fortunately I was at home all this week. I got a few "friends" from the Home Depot parking lot and a moving truck and all our boxes were in and ready to be unpacked after only 3.5hours.

The thing was one "friend" was clearly working harder than the other and the lazier one also dropped a few items, nothing special at least. So when I paid them one guy got $50 and the other got $40. I almost laughed in his face when he said to me, "But you gave my friend 50!"

Here is a good tip (and one I just used recently): In a bathroom sink or tub, there is usually an overflow. This will look like a hole (or holes) near the top of a sink, or a narrow slot under a tub drain lever. When you have plunge a tub or sink to remove a clog, you MUST plug these holes. A wet rag will do. If you don't, then the plunging is useless, as the air you force into the drain to push the clog along just escapes from these overflow holes (they connect to the drain). You're going to LOVE me in this thread