Cool splashes are enjoyable as long as the water is clean and sparkling. Cleaning the pool is easy, but, how to maintain the swimming pool water's chemistry? Scroll down for easy and apt solutions.
We love splashing around in the swimming pool, but would you even step into a pool that creates splashes of contaminated and impure water, filled with bacteria and algae? Well, no, we don't even want to think about it. Those who own a swimming pool know how important it is to maintain it. And they will also know, most of the time, cleaning it to its best is quite a task. Cleaning the pool and its surroundings is easy, but what about the most important element of the pool? What would we do to maintain the water? The water in the pool is undoubtedly the most important element which requires maximum effort to clean and which also deals with maximum infiltration and contamination.
Tips to Maintain Pool Water Chemistry
Don't you feel that maintaining the water's chemistry is a big thing, and it should be simplified? Well, ease out all the complications. Maintaining pool water chemistry is not a task only for professionals! It's simple, and trust me, once you follow the proper guidelines and take appropriate care when sanitizing and chlorinating your pool water, cleaning and maintaining the water will be a quick fix for you. Now let's get to some easy tips on sanitizing and maintaining the pool water chemistry. We have them listed below, let's take a look.
- The most important thing is to keep your water clean. Once in the pool, make sure you maintain the pool cleanliness, it may be a weekly or a monthly task, depending on the usage of the swimming pool. Make sure the pool is free of dirt and debris at the bottom.
- Next comes chlorine and chlorinating the water. Depending on the water, you can add chlorine to it. You also get tablets and liquid chlorine that you can use. Look for good quality of chlorine that has proper concentrations of it. Salt water chlorinators are a popular option that can help sanitize pool water. Bromine is also another alternative to using chlorine to sanitize the water. These treatments should clean the water off along with bacteria and other forms of contamination.
- Once the task of the chlorine is accomplished, the used chlorine will no longer be effective, and you will need fresh chlorine to add to the water, to kill the used chlorine or as they are called chloramines. You will need to circulate fresh chlorine in the tank to keep the water treated.
- To avoid the burning of chlorine, due to sunlight and other factors, one may use a stabilizer, like cyanuric acid, this helps in suppressing chlorine dissipation, while maintaining the disinfectant properties of chlorine.
- Maintaining the alkalinity of the water is important too. The correct salt content in water will let the chlorine work effectively. The alkaline balance of the water is responsible for its pH balance. If there is no balance in the pH of the water, the chlorine will not be as effective.
- Keep a check on chlorine levels, pH, bromine and alkalinity of the pool water a minimum of twice a week, when the pool is used often. In case of any difficulty in checking the pool water chemical balance, you can take a sample of the pool water at a pool store, where they can check the water for you.
- A testing method at home is a strip test, where you dip a strip in the water and observe the changes in the color. It will show you the imbalance, if any, in the pool water chemistry. There is another effective method of testing the water, and most of the people will prefer it over the strip test, it is called the liquid drop type pool test. A digital tester can also help in giving you the correct reading for the pH balance of the water.
- The ideal pH should be between 7.2 to 7.8. High levels of pH will not let the chlorine sanitize the water. Issues like irritation of the eyes can also be experienced. The water of your pool will also be more cloudy. In case of high pH, you can use options that will lower the pH like pouring liquid hydrochloric acid also known as, muriatic acid. You may also use sodium bi sulfate, or dry acid. Make sure the water is circulating when adding these substances. In case of low pH of the water, you can add soda ash or sodium carbonate to the water.
- Maintaining the calcium hardness in the water also keeps the water chemistry in place, in case of high calcium dissolved in the pool water, the water can turn cloudy. Maintain these levels by adding certain products available, specially for lowering or increasing the calcium hardness in water.
- Make sure to follow the instructions on the container when adding any acids to the pool. While taking care of all the above things, make sure you have enough quantity of water in the pool. Too much or too little water, makes a difference to the chemical balance.
- There are other substances that cause the chemicals in the water to get imbalanced, like sun screens, lotions and swimmers waste, pollen, etc. These can be termed as dissolved solids in the water. So, in case of heavy use of the swimming pool, make sure you change the water in the pool with freshwater, at least once every 2 years.
Once you understand the nature of the pool water, maintaining its chemistry will no longer be a time and effort consuming task. With following simple guidelines and steps, one can easily get control on the water balance in the pool. So now, with these tips, let your pool water worries dissolve and with no worry of maintenance, you have more reason to enjoy the cool splashes and rejuvenating swims in a sparkling clean and hygienic pool!
