When Leslie’s, Frog, and River Pools don’t agree (calcium edition)
I run a River Pools I30 fiberglass, a Pool Frog XL Pro with the mineral pac for day-to-day sanitizing, and I get water tests at Leslie’s. Same backyard, three “official” voices — and they don’t match.
Here’s how the published targets line up side by side (Leslie’s AccuBlue ideal ranges, Pool Frog XL Pro water-balance guidelines, and River Pools’ fiberglass care guide):
| Target | Leslie’s AccuBlue | Pool Frog XL Pro | River Pools (fiberglass) |
|---|---|---|---|
| pH | 7.2–7.8 | 7.2–7.8 | 7.2–7.4 |
| Calcium hardness | 200–400 ppm | 200–400 ppm | Under 120 ppm (don’t add calcium) |
| Total alkalinity | 80–120 ppm | 80–120 ppm | 80–120 ppm |
| Free / total chlorine | 1–4 ppm FAC | 0.5–1.0 ppm FC (with Frog minerals) | 1–3 ppm |
| Cyanuric acid (CYA) | 30–100 ppm | 20–80 ppm | 30–50 ppm |
| Metals | 0–0.2 ppm | — | 0 |
| TDS | 0–2500 ppm | Under 1500 ppm | Under 1500 ppm |
The loudest mismatch is calcium hardness. Leslie’s and Frog both treat 200–400 ppm as ideal. River says keep calcium under 120 and don’t add calcium — cal-hypo shock is on their no list for this shell.
So what do you do?
I pick the one that owns the finish: River Pools. Store printouts and sanitizer manuals are often built around plaster/concrete defaults, or around a minerals + low-chlorine setup. My gel coat doesn’t care about Frog’s hardness chart — it cares about scale and staining risk when calcium and pH run high.
How I’m applying that
- Day-to-day chlorine still comes from the Frog pacs, and I run the mineral pac (since 2024). I treat Frog as the feeder, not the boss of balance targets — so I keep free chlorine at River’s 1–3 ppm rather than Frog’s 0.5–1.0 band.
- I recently switched my shock/boost to liquid chlorine (what River wants). I still have bag shock (cal-hypo) and I’ll likely use that up, but I’m not buying more of it for this pool.
- For about a year I’ve used Leslie’s Pool Perfect (~weekly) as a polish. I just started Orenda SC-1000, which is the chelator River Pools actually points at for metals/calcium binding — Perfect and SC-1000 do different jobs, so I’m running both for now.
Same idea shows up on the other rows: River’s pH band is tighter, CYA ceilings differ, and Frog’s low FC band assumes you lean on their minerals to do more of the work. I run the minerals and still hold River’s chlorine range. The pattern is the same: when the charts fight, ask who pays if the shell gets stained or scaled — then follow that guide.
Owner-DIY takeaway: the store ideal isn’t wrong for a pool. It can be wrong for your pool.
