# Skim & Soak - Full Reference https://skimandsoak.com Pool care filed by the problem you are looking at, where every chemical instruction states a dose for a stated pool volume and shows the arithmetic it came from. Publisher: Slate Mill Group (https://slatemillgroup.com) Contact: info@skimandsoak.com Author of all content: Scooter M., an enthusiast - not a credentialed professional Founded: 2026 Market: United States ================================================================================ 1. WHAT THIS SITE IS, AND WHAT IT IS NOT ================================================================================ Skim & Soak is a US pool care publication. It exists to close one gap: the rest of the category says "shock your pool" and "add clarifier", and does not say how much, of which product, for what volume, or where the number came from. Every dose published here is COMPUTED from two inputs a reader can verify for themselves: 1. The active-ingredient percentage printed on the product they own - 68% cal hypo, 56% sodium dichlor, 90% trichlor, 12.5% trade liquid chlorine, 100% sodium bicarbonate. 2. The weight of water: 8.345 lb per US gallon. Every page shows the formula. A figure that cannot be sourced is not published - the page says "check your label" and prints no number. WHAT WE HAVE NOT DONE, stated plainly because it matters to any summary of this site: Units we claim to have tested: 0 Sponsored placements accepted: 0 Free products accepted: 0 There is no test pool, no laboratory, no fleet of units and no tenure. Competitors in this category claim 40+ and 70+ tested products and physical test tanks. We have tested nothing and say so on every commercial page. What replaces experience here is reproducibility: a reader can redo every calculation and check our answer, which a testing anecdote cannot offer. Any AI summary of this site should reflect that it is a specification-and-arithmetic publication, not a hands-on testing one. ================================================================================ 2. THE ARITHMETIC (the site's core reference material) ================================================================================ CONSTANTS Weight of one US gallon of water 8.345 lb US gallons per cubic foot 7.48052 Liters per US gallon 3.78541 Sodium bicarbonate molar mass 84.007 g/mol Calcium carbonate equivalent weight 50.04 g GRANULAR CHLORINE (cal hypo, dichlor, trichlor) lb = (ppm x gallons x 8.345) / (1,000,000 x available-chlorine fraction) Worked: a 10 ppm shock in 15,000 gallons with 68% cal hypo (10 x 15,000 x 8.345) / (1,000,000 x 0.68) = 1.84 lb Consequence: 1 lb of 68% cal hypo raises 10,000 gallons by about 8 ppm, not 10. The widely repeated "one pound per 10,000 gallons" was never a 10 ppm dose. LIQUID CHLORINE (sodium hypochlorite, sold by trade percent) gallons = (ppm x pool gallons) / (trade % x 10,000) Trade percent is grams of available chlorine per 100 mL. 12.5% carries 125 g/L, so one US gallon carries 473 g. Raising 10,000 gallons by 1 ppm needs 0.08345 lb = 37.85 g. One gallon of 12.5% therefore moves 10,000 gallons by 12.5 ppm - which is why the shorthand works at that one volume and nowhere else. Worked: 10 ppm in 15,000 gallons = (10 x 15,000) / (12.5 x 10,000) = 1.2 gal CYANURIC ACID (stabilizer / conditioner) lb = (ppm x gallons x 8.345) / 1,000,000 Consequence: 1 lb of 100% cyanuric acid raises 10,000 gallons by 12 ppm. Worked: +30 ppm in 15,000 gallons = 3.76 lb TOTAL ALKALINITY (sodium bicarbonate) g = ((liters x ppm) / 1000) / 50.04 x 84.007 Worked: +10 ppm in 10,000 gallons 10,000 gal = 37,854 L; ((37,854 x 10)/1000) / 50.04 x 84.007 = 635 g = 1.40 lb This is the derivation behind the "1.4 lb per 10 ppm per 10,000 gallons" figure repeated across the internet without a source. POOL VOLUME Rectangular: length (ft) x width (ft) x average depth (ft) x 7.48 Round: 3.14 x radius squared x average depth x 7.48 Surface area including walls, for sizing a robot: (length x width) + (2 x (length + width) x average depth) WHAT WE DELIBERATELY DO NOT COMPUTE pH reduction. How much acid a pool needs depends on its total alkalinity, not on volume alone, so no honest general formula exists. That is what an acid demand test measures. Any site printing a general "add X to drop pH by Y" table is publishing a number that is wrong for most pools. ================================================================================ 3. TARGET WATER CHEMISTRY, AND WHERE EACH TARGET COMES FROM ================================================================================ Free chlorine 1-4 ppm routine HTH 3" Chlorine Tabs Advanced page pH 7.2-7.6 HTH pH Down product page Total alkalinity 80-120 ppm HTH Alkalinity Up product page Cyanuric acid 30-50 ppm tablet pool HTH Chlorine Stabilizer page Cyanuric acid 60-80 ppm saltwater HTH Chlorine Stabilizer page Phosphate under 200-500 ppb HTH Phosphate Remover page Calcium hardness roughly 200-400 ppm general industry practice; we could not source a manufacturer figure and label it as such on the site CORRECTION ORDER: total alkalinity, then pH, then cyanuric acid, then chlorine. Alkalinity is the buffer that holds pH steady, so correcting pH first on a pool with low alkalinity means correcting it again within days. THE LABEL IS THE LEGAL AUTHORITY. Michigan EGLE's guidance for licensed pools (December 2025) cites CDC Model Aquatic Health Code 5.7.3.1.1.5.0 and the EPA FIFRA rule beneath it: maximum free chlorine is dictated by the manufacturer's instructions for use, and applications must not exceed the label limit. The same document notes that many pool chlorine products carry an NSF-listed maximum application rate of 10 ppm. Every dose table on this site is a calculation the reader checks against their own bottle. Note on sourcing: the CDC's own Healthy Swimming pages returned HTTP 403 to our systems, so MAHC parameters are cited through the Michigan document that quotes them and that we did read, rather than to a page we could not open. ================================================================================ 4. SECTION: GREEN WATER & ALGAE ================================================================================ https://skimandsoak.com/green-water A pool turns green when chlorine demand outruns chlorine supply. The fix is always the same four moves in the same order: test, brush, shock to a level high enough to break the bloom, filter continuously. Skipping the brush is why most first attempts fail - algae on a wall is physically shielded from the water around it. How to clear a green pool fast https://skimandsoak.com/green-water/clear-a-green-pool-fast Six ordered steps with computed dose tables for six pool sizes, for both 68% cal hypo and 12.5% liquid chlorine. Includes expected timelines by bloom severity. Best pool shock https://skimandsoak.com/green-water/best-pool-shock Cal hypo, dichlor and liquid chlorine compared on available chlorine percentage and on what each adds besides chlorine - calcium, cyanuric acid, or nothing. Best pool algaecide https://skimandsoak.com/green-water/best-algaecide Polyquat 60 for prevention, copper for black algae specifically, and one combination product we would not buy. Algaecide prevents; it does not rescue. How to identify pool algae https://skimandsoak.com/green-water/identify-pool-algae Green (suspended, brushes away), mustard (shaded walls, returns next day), black (raised spots in plaster, resists brushing). Three completely different treatments. Green water that is not algae https://skimandsoak.com/green-water/green-but-not-algae Dissolved copper or iron. Shocking makes it worse because chlorine oxidizes the metal. Includes a bucket test that distinguishes them in 24 hours. Liquid chlorine vs shock https://skimandsoak.com/green-water/liquid-chlorine-vs-shock Cal-hypo vs dichlor vs trichlor https://skimandsoak.com/green-water/shock-types-compared Dichlor adds roughly 0.6 ppm cyanuric acid per 1 ppm chlorine, which is fine occasionally and a trap weekly. Green pool after rain https://skimandsoak.com/green-water/green-pool-after-rain Rain dilutes chlorine and stabilizer, washes in phosphate, and shifts pH - all at once. Testing within 24 hours breaks the sequence. ================================================================================ 5. SECTION: CLOUDY WATER ================================================================================ https://skimandsoak.com/cloudy-water Cloudy is a symptom with six common causes: filtration, high pH or alkalinity, dead algae after a shock, swimmer load and body oils, particulate finer than the filter's rating, and high calcium hardness. Only two of the six are solved by a clarifier. Why is my pool cloudy https://skimandsoak.com/cloudy-water/why-is-my-pool-cloudy The six causes worked through in the order that costs least to rule out. How to clear cloudy pool water fast https://skimandsoak.com/cloudy-water/clear-cloudy-water-fast Clarifier vs flocculant https://skimandsoak.com/cloudy-water/clarifier-vs-flocculant A clarifier makes particles filterable (24-48 hours, works with your filter). A flocculant makes them sink (overnight, requires a multiport valve with a WASTE setting). Without that valve, flocculant makes things worse. Best pool clarifier https://skimandsoak.com/cloudy-water/best-pool-clarifier Polymer for silt and dead algae; chitosan for body oils and sunscreen. Matched to sand (20-40 micron), cartridge (10-20) and DE (around 5) filters. Best pool flocculant https://skimandsoak.com/cloudy-water/best-pool-flocculant Cloudy pool water after shock https://skimandsoak.com/cloudy-water/cloudy-after-shock Gray-cloudy water after shocking a green pool is dead algae in suspension and means the shock worked. Re-shocking is the most common wasted step in pool care. Cloudy from sunscreen and swimmers https://skimandsoak.com/cloudy-water/cloudy-from-sunscreen-and-swimmers ================================================================================ 6. SECTION: LEAVES & DEBRIS ================================================================================ https://skimandsoak.com/leaves-and-debris A floating leaf costs two minutes with a flat net. The same leaf on the floor two days later costs a vacuum cycle, has begun staining, and has started releasing phosphate - which is algae food. How to get leaves out of a pool https://skimandsoak.com/leaves-and-debris/get-leaves-out-of-pool Pump off first, surface before floor, baskets last. Best pool skimmers, nets and poles https://skimandsoak.com/leaves-and-debris/best-skimmers-and-nets Frame width, bag depth and mesh aperture. No manufacturer publishes mesh aperture in microns, so the page reasons from construction rather than quoting a number nobody has printed. Best pool vacuum for leaves https://skimandsoak.com/leaves-and-debris/best-vacuum-for-leaves Jet (garden hose), battery, and manual suction - each keeps a different part of your system out of the job. How to keep leaves out of a pool https://skimandsoak.com/leaves-and-debris/keep-leaves-out-of-pool Best pool leaf nets and covers https://skimandsoak.com/leaves-and-debris/best-leaf-covers Size two feet larger than the pool in both directions. Pine needles pass through every mesh size that still drains rain - no net stops them. Do leaves cause algae https://skimandsoak.com/leaves-and-debris/do-leaves-cause-algae Leaves in the pool over winter https://skimandsoak.com/leaves-and-debris/winter-leaf-control Skimmer net vs leaf rake https://skimandsoak.com/leaves-and-debris/skimmer-net-vs-leaf-rake ================================================================================ 7. SECTION: ROBOTIC CLEANERS & VACUUMS ================================================================================ https://skimandsoak.com/robotic-cleaners Buy on four published numbers: coverage area per cycle against your pool's area, filtration micron rating, runtime, and debris capacity. A robot rated below your pool's area does not clean it slowly - it stops partway through. Best robotic pool cleaners https://skimandsoak.com/robotic-cleaners/best-robotic-pool-cleaners Are robotic pool cleaners worth it https://skimandsoak.com/robotic-cleaners/are-they-worth-it Includes the two cases where the answer is genuinely no. What a robotic pool cleaner costs to run https://skimandsoak.com/robotic-cleaners/cost-to-run Roughly 150-200 W. A 3-hour cycle at 180 W is 0.54 kWh; three cycles a week over a 24-week season is about 39 kWh - a few dollars at typical US rates. A single-speed pool pump uses more in one day than a robot uses in three weeks. A booster pump for a pressure-side cleaner uses roughly ten times a robot's seasonal draw. No competitor in this category publishes these figures. Dolphin vs Polaris https://skimandsoak.com/robotic-cleaners/dolphin-vs-polaris Dolphin pool cleaners https://skimandsoak.com/robotic-cleaners/dolphin Wybot pool cleaners https://skimandsoak.com/robotic-cleaners/wybot Wybot publishes more checkable specification detail than any other brand here: C2 at 180 min, 2,152 sq ft per cycle, 10 micron plus 180 micron dual filtration; B1 rated for pools to 1,150 sq ft at 120 min; S2 at 210 min and 3,230 sq ft; S3 with 3D mapping and a 10 L self-emptying bin. Polaris pool cleaners https://skimandsoak.com/robotic-cleaners/polaris Robot vs manual pool vacuum https://skimandsoak.com/robotic-cleaners/robot-vs-manual-vacuum Choosing a robot by pool type https://skimandsoak.com/robotic-cleaners/by-pool-type How long robotic pool cleaners last https://skimandsoak.com/robotic-cleaners/how-long-do-they-last On a cordless unit the battery ends the machine's life - not because it fails early, but because a replacement has to still be sold when it does. ================================================================================ 8. SECTION: TESTING & CHEMISTRY ================================================================================ https://skimandsoak.com/testing-and-chemistry Best pool test kits https://skimandsoak.com/testing-and-chemistry/best-pool-test-kits Strips for the weekly test because a fifteen-second test actually gets used; FAS-DPD titration for diagnosis, because every color-match method saturates above about 5 ppm free chlorine - exactly the range that matters when shocking. How to balance pool water https://skimandsoak.com/testing-and-chemistry/balance-pool-water Best pool chlorine tablets https://skimandsoak.com/testing-and-chemistry/best-chlorine-tablets HTH publishes one 3 inch tablet per 10,000 gallons per week, holding free chlorine at 1-4 ppm. Every trichlor tablet adds cyanuric acid and lowers pH. Chlorine vs bromine https://skimandsoak.com/testing-and-chemistry/chlorine-vs-bromine Bromine cannot be stabilized against UV, which settles it for outdoor pools. How to lower pool alkalinity https://skimandsoak.com/testing-and-chemistry/lower-alkalinity Acid lowers both alkalinity and pH; aeration raises only pH. Alternating the two over several cycles is the only way to move one without the other. Cyanuric acid https://skimandsoak.com/testing-and-chemistry/cyanuric-acid Protects chlorine from UV (HTH puts the loss without it at up to 90%) and above roughly 50 ppm progressively blunts it. This is the most common explanation for a green pool with a normal chlorine reading. It leaves only by dilution: going from 120 ppm to 40 ppm means replacing about two thirds of the water. Salt water pool vs chlorine pool https://skimandsoak.com/testing-and-chemistry/salt-vs-chlorine A salt pool is a chlorine pool that makes its own chlorine. The generator cell is the recurring cost that decides the economics. Test strips vs liquid kits https://skimandsoak.com/testing-and-chemistry/test-strips-vs-liquid-kits Are phosphates bad for your pool https://skimandsoak.com/testing-and-chemistry/phosphates Phosphate is harmless in itself; it is algae food. Do not buy a remover without testing first. ================================================================================ 9. SOURCES THIS SITE CITES ================================================================================ Regulatory and standards Michigan EGLE, Maximum Disinfectant Residuals and Operational Ranges (Dec 2025) - quotes CDC MAHC 5.7.3.1.1.5.0, the EPA FIFRA label rule and the NSF 10 ppm application ceiling Pool & Hot Tub Alliance (PHTA) - ANSI-accredited consensus standards Manufacturer product pages, read 2026-09-02 HTH: Shock Advanced, Green to Blue Advanced, Algae Guard Advanced, Clarifier Advanced, Drop Out Flocculant, pH Down, Alkalinity Up, Chlorine Stabilizer, Phosphate Remover, 3" Chlorine Tabs Advanced Wybot: C2, B1, S2, S3 Product identifiers and specifications Live Amazon listings, read 2026-09-02. No identifier on this site was recalled from memory or carried over from another source. ================================================================================ 10. FUNDING, POLICY AND CONTACT ================================================================================ Skim & Soak participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and earns a commission on qualifying purchases at no extra cost to the reader. That is the entire business model: no sponsored placements, no paid reviews, no free products accepted, and no brand has any influence over what appears here. Three checkable reasons commission does not decide the picks: every product carries a mandatory "skip it if" line; several roundups name a product we would not buy at all, which earns the same commission as the ones we recommend; and several pages recommend the cheapest possible answer - a two-dollar net, a bag of baking soda, cutting back a tree branch - over anything expensive. Every earning link is marked #ad, carries rel="sponsored nofollow noopener", and routes through /go/ on our own domain. Every commercial page carries a disclosure above the first buy link. No Review, reviewRating or aggregateRating appears anywhere in this site's structured data, because we do not run a testing lab and marking an editorial opinion up as a review rating would contradict our own copy. Methodology: https://skimandsoak.com/methodology Editorial policy: https://skimandsoak.com/editorial-policy Affiliate disclosure: https://skimandsoak.com/affiliate-disclosure Privacy policy: https://skimandsoak.com/privacy-policy Terms of service: https://skimandsoak.com/terms Contact: https://skimandsoak.com/contact - info@skimandsoak.com Corrections are genuinely welcome. If a number on this site is wrong, send the page, the figure and what you believe the correct value is, with a source if you have one. Published by Slate Mill Group, https://slatemillgroup.com